'Wild' Bridge Between the Peaks

Interesting story, good for both the animals and people. I remember seeing deer literally jump off I-540s high bridges in Arkansas because of the limited (but available) crossings. I-540 mostly spanned bridges, but it had a few tunnels which appeared to be for wildlife to cross over and cars to go under.

By the way, the Times Union actually does a pretty good job covering issues in the Adirondacks. This story is probably gone by now, but stop by the main site here.

By BRIAN NEARING, Staff writer
Click byline for more stories by writer.
First published: Sunday, December 20, 2009
Dresden

The decrepit and soon-to-be-demolished Champlain Bridge is many miles away to the north. But this portion of the border between New York and Vermont, where the states are separated only by a narrow strip of Lake Champlain, may represent another kind of bridge that endures unnoticed.

Running through more than 30 miles of mostly undeveloped forest country in the Lake Champlain Valley is a sort of natural span that experts believe has allowed solitary, wide-ranging predators such as bears, bobcats and fishers to migrate between the Adirondacks in New York and the Green Mountains in Vermont.

Now, a quarter-million-dollar, federally supported study of about 1,700 square miles between Whitehall and Rutland will seek ways to protect this "wild" bridge between the two ranges, and lessen the dangers presented by roads -- especially north/south roads like Route 4 above Fort Ann and Route 7 above Rutland. The study will also examine how to keep key sections of up to 5,000 acres of forest in this corridor intact, either by purchase or through conservation easements.

"This area is a pinch-point between the Adirondacks and the Greens," said Michelle Brown, a conservation scientist with the Adirondack Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, which is coordinating the five-year study with the New York Department of Environmental Conservation and the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife, as well as the Wildlife Conservation Society and The Conservation Fund.

Brown and DEC wildlife biologist Joe Racette recently visited Dresden in northern Washington County to look over a Nature Conservancy purchase in the heart of the wildlife corridor, near the Chubbs Dock area. This land was purchased recently to help protect waterfowl habitat.

"It is helpful to think of large animals like this as electricity, in that they will follow the path of least resistance to avoid humans," said Racette. "What we are looking at here is trying to maintain a connection instead of restoring one."

Large carnivores like bears can range up to 10 miles in a single day, and up to 40 miles over the course of a season, he said. Even a smaller predator like a fisher, a member of the weasel family that can reach four feet long and weigh 10 pounds, can cover three or four miles a day.

Keeping the forest link open between the mountains allows for continued genetic mixing between animals, Racette said. When animal populations become isolated, genetic variability declines, making animals more susceptible to disease outbreaks.

...

Since roads can be deadly to wildlife...

"We will be looking at low-cost things to help make roads more permeable for animals crossing, like reconfiguring some culverts to make sure they are big enough for larger animals to pass through," said Brown, who noted that even changing where guardrails are placed can redirect where animals chose to cross a road.

...

Building roads with wildlife pass-throughs has been regular practice for years out west, where large animals like elk and caribou migrate in large herds. Such measures are being added slowly in New York, said Deb Nelson, an assistant operations director at the state Department of Transportation. One of the first roadway wildlife mitigation measures in the state, she said, was on Meadowdale Road in Altamont, where culverts were added to facilitate the passage of salamanders.

The state has also added wildlife-accessible culverts at Stewart International Airport in Newburgh and in the Utica area, and is using motion-activated game cameras to measure how many animals pass through, Nelson said.

DOT expects the Champlain Valley study will "help us make sound investment decisions based on sound science. We don't want to put something in and find that it's not working," said Nelson. "There are a million culverts under the roads in the state. Those culverts can serve as passageways for wildlife, or as barriers. We want to minimize those barriers."

...

For the Champlain Valley study, "our interest right now is making sure that we identify the most important landscapes for all the specific species that could benefit from it," Austin said.

The Champlain study is part of a larger, four-state project including New Hampshire and Maine that seeks to protect connections in the forests of the northeast.

Brian Nearing can be reached at 454-5094 or bnearing@timesunion.com.



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The Real Pittsburgh Stealers

What happened over the last decade in Pittsburgh makes you wonder just how serious that fan is. When the situation in a major league city is so bad that the fans in that city wonder if they will be traded, you know you are doing a bad job as a baseball organization or a business in general.

If you want a business to succeed it requires initial investment, and continuous reinvestment. Great example of this would be both Merck and Coca-Cola. Coke thought it had the market forever, and just produced Coca-Cola and watched itself slip into obscurity despite being among the most recognizable symbols in the world. Merck, sitting on ridiculously long drug patents and proving patents DON'T spur innovation, shut down most of it's R&D division in the 1990s. A company that invents drugs can't grow without new drugs, and unfortunately R&D spending creates drugs.

On the flip side, the NY Yankees are a shining example of building a business, and turning it into an empire – the “Evil Empire”- via the principle of reinvestment. Yes, New York is the nations #1 media market, but it's also a place where competition for revenue is high. The Yankees share a city with other high profile events, a second baseball team who is in the national league (New York is a traditionally national league town), and they are within a 1.5-2.5 hour drive of 2 other major markets. Still, the Yankees have managed to capitalize on every possible aspect of revenue.

When George Steinbrenner purchased the team in 1973 for $10 million the who could have predicted the Yankees would be the worlds first $1B sports franchise, or that Yankee Stadium in it's current location could draw 3M and then 4M. No, not even George Steinbrenner believed he could draw over 3M at 161^st St.

So how did he do it? How did he build the “Evil Empire”? Simple really, the Yankees were (and still are) an old school, rich mans pissing match. It's the essence of a sports franchise, Steinbrenner built it to win while innovating, he built it for championships, he reinvested the earnings into the team year after year like a business. It was a commitment to winning above all else that led to a quality product.

Remember the movie line, “If you build it, he will come.” “Build what,” he says to the voice? “Build a winner and they will come from miles and miles around. They will come to Cleveland, they will be bored, they will get back in their cars and they will drive to Pittsburgh. They will drive towards the lights, they will come to the gate, ask for a ticket, and they won't care about the price. “$30” you say, “I'll take 4,” they'll say. They'll buy jerseys, hats and giant foam fingers, sit in their seats eating hotdogs and Cracker Jacks. If you build it, THEY will come!”

And now we turn back to Pittsburgh. It's a team owned and run to make a profit first and foremost, just like many other franchises in baseball, winning is secondary. If they did win, sure it would be magical, after all, success usually isn't purely based on luck. You need a few good players here and there on a 25 man roster.

Bold statement, eh? I mean Pittsburgh is a beaten down blue collar industrial town, nestled in a country that doesn't produce anything anymore. It's a city that peaked in the 1950s and has been headed downward for decades. Right?

Wrong!

Pittsburgh has a bad reputation, which is truly a shame. It's honestly one of the most picturesque cities I have been to. Sitting at the confluence of 3 rivers, flanked by deep ravines and steep hillsides that give commanding views of the cities unique architecture, and 455 bridges. No, I didn't add a number via a typo, Pittsburgh has the most (piered) bridges of any city in the world, many of which are magnificent.

Oh, and it's now one of America's cleanest cities, after a long stretch of being on the American Lung Associations dirtiest. At times it held the lofty honor of dirtiest.. It's also a huge sports town, but another surprise is that it is a city with a lot of culture. Despite the blue collar nature of the city, it's also a city of old money and education. The result is a lot more culture than you'd expect. Pittsburgh is a city that could have completely died, but it reinvented itself impressively.

Of course, it's only a city of less than 400,000 people, with a total metropolitan population of 2.5M people. Pittsburgh is probably barely big enough to support a sports team, let alone 3 professional teams, and a few colleges. Naturally, under the best of circumstances Pittsburgh won't be able to outspend the Yankees, or even the Seattle Mariners. However, what the ownership of the Pirates has done over the last decade is simply criminal.

Most people don't realize that baseball, while not having a salary cap, has both a luxury tax and revenue sharing. What this does is penalize teams like the Yankees for spending a lot of money. How it works is essentially redistribution of wealth. The Yankees generate gigantic sums of money, which they then spend, and pay a tax on the excess spending. MLB then distributes this money, along with other MLB revenue (national TV revenue, official apparel, sponsorships, etc) to small market teams. The Yankees don't receive MLB revenue, they pay their own way, and then some.

What does Pittsburgh do with it's revenue sharing proceeds? Darn good question, and if you can tell me then you are a step ahead of me. There is $400 million floating around somewhere from the last decade that Pittsburgh ownership is hiding. Certainly they haven't spent it on their team, nor the beautiful stadium which was publicly funded. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention PNC Park is a class ballpark. It would be beautiful in Staten Island, New York, but with the waterfront location, the bridges and skyline in the backdrop, it is simply the best park in baseball.

So where is the $400 million? Not on the field, not in the stadium, not in scouting, not in signing the good young players they have had to long term contracts on the cheap, and overall not in building a product or business that will grow. It's definitely not in hiring baseball people, because every time Pittsburgh gets a guy good enough to sell a jersey with his name on it, he is traded for 4 guys that cumulatively don't equal his level of play now or ever.

The Pirates are a joke, not because Pittsburgh can't support them, they are a joke because someone is milking them for the revenue stream.

JFK said, “Ich bin ein Berliner” (loosely translated, “I am a jelly doughnut”)

I say, “I am a Pittsburgher.” (loosely translated, “I am tired of being ripped off while watching bad baseball”)

Mr Selig, TEAR DOWN THIS WALL of ownership picking owners who won't compete. End the repression, sell the team to Mark Cuban, and watch a yearly pissing match between the Steinbrenners and Mr Cuban develop. Lets get some competition in the game, lets bring back the spoiled rich owners who play fantasy baseball with real money. Lets bring baseball back to it's roots, we don't want parity like football and basketball. Parity equals average, which means low quality. Parity is the restaurant with 3 star reviews; you want 5 stars and a certified master chef. We want competitive rivalries, we want dynasties, we want spectacular!

Live Free or Die In Fear of Rescue

Yes, it seems this is in fact the new state motto of New Hampshire. I suppose the state was in need of a makeover after their entire identity was wiped out when the "Old Man" of the mountains died, following years on life support and steel feeding tubes, bonded by epoxy and wire.

Many times have I been asked what my goals in the backcountry were. Sure I have better answers but usually the first thing that pops into my head is to never need to be rescued. It sounds simple, but the reality is that it's a loftier goal than one would think. It doesn't take a lot to get hurt, lost, bogged down by bad weather. It's the reason we go out there, to challenge ourselves, while enjoying the solitude of nature.

I actually agree with both the premise, and the actual intent of the law outlined in the article below. And it seems that the people in this article should have payed some of the bill. How in Gods name do you spend 3 days on Mount Washington, and then go for the summit? Does anyone else feel like that kid was camping? Who blames a blaze on a rescue, did they have a map? And how do you miss a trail by 50ft and end up spending 3 nights on a mountain? Go up, or go down for god sakes. That said, enforcement of the law seems completely arbitrary. For instance, often you will change plans on the fly, or create plans IN THE BACKCOUNTRY. This is part of going into the wilderness and escaping the real world. This doesn't make you negligent or reckless. I've often "base camped" places and created my hikes in the backcountry. Having a hard set itinerary is great, but conditions change, and minor injuries change plans. So if you don't have a "flight plan" filed you foot a bill? I find it hard to believe that the idea that wilderness travel needs to be as rigid as air travel is not complete nonsense.

Taking a wrong turn happens in the backcountry. Missing your return time happens. Underestimating trail conditions and taking longer than expected just happens.

The rigidity and arbitrary nature of New Hampshire law means, I can no longer take a side trail, a detour, and I can't choose to bushwhack back because if something happens to me I'm going to foot the bill. Edward Abbey, the great American philosopher and conservationist, would be rolling in his unmarked desert grave if he heard of this nonsense.

"A venturesome minority will always be eager to set off on their own, and no obstacles should be placed in their path; let them take risks, for godsake, let them get lost, sunburnt, stranded, drowned, eaten by bears, buried alive under avalanches - that is the right and privilege of any free American." -Edward Abbey

Now let me tell you the flip side. I realize New Hampshire's alpine mountains are a mere 4000-6000ft, in terms of elevation they are a joke when compared to "real" mountains around the world, but the weather is actually brutal and unstable at times (as in often), and the result is woefully unprepared hikers. Elevation is misleading, a 5000ft mountain in the Arctic is much higher in relative terms than a 5000ft mountain at the equator. There are many reasons for this, but I won't bore you. Similarly, a 4000ft mountain range in a part of the world which sits in the path of multiple converging storm fronts is far more fierce than a range that has weeks on end of stable weather. The fact is, I have seen people with nothing more than a Poland Spring bottle, cotton clothes and a shirt tied around their waist, hiking above treeline on a day when we previously were pounded by storm force winds, and brutal cold. These conditions can turn for the worse at any time, and often do.

These people are far more likely to be unprepared for self rescue and/or survival in deteriorating conditions. They have no food, no shelter (shelter can simply mean adequate clothing), no navigation aids (maps, compass, altimeter, or headlamp), and they are oblivious to the dangers. Ignorance is truly blissful for them.

Accidents happen to all hikers and climbers at some point. Most accidents are minor, most times self extraction is possible, but occasionally help is needed, and people shouldn't be afraid to contact SAR or to wait for rescue if it is needed. These laws, or more aptly their enforcement, make an unwillingness to ask for help a reality. The law should be specific, if you are truly unprepared, truly lacking the equipment and skills required for your endeavor you should pay the actual cost of rescue. Not for the volunteers time, or regular working hours of state or federal rescuers. This would allow the state to recoup legitimate expenses, but not cause a prepared hiker to pay a bill. Likewise, there should be a panel setup to determine in certain terms whether the rescued was negligent or not.

New Hampshire's current guidelines are totally bogus, and create an unsafe environment for everyone involved. No, Daniel Webster, there is no longer a sign that says: "In the mountains of New Hampshire men are made," those days died with the Old Man.

Hikers in NH must be prepared -- or pay for rescue

By Norma Love, Associated Press Writer | October 29, 2009

CONCORD, N.H. --Stranded with a sprained ankle on a snow-covered mountain, Eagle Scout Scott Mason put his survival skills to work by sleeping in the crevice of a boulder and jump-starting evergreen fires with hand sanitizer gel.

He put plastic bags inside his boots to keep his feet dry as he sloshed through mountain runoff hidden beneath waist-deep snow. After three cold days last April, rescue crews spotted him hiking toward the summit of Mount Washington, the Northeast's highest mountain.

New Hampshire officials praised his resourcefulness. So grateful was he for his rescuers that Mason, 17, sent $1,000 to the state.

Sometime later, New Hampshire sent him a bill: $25,734.65 for the cost of rescuing him.

New Hampshire is one of eight states with laws allowing billing for rescue costs, but only New Hampshire has made frequent attempts to do so -- even strengthening its law last year to allow the suspension of hiking, fishing and driver's licenses of those who don't pay, according to an Associated Press review.

National search and rescue organizations insist just the possibility of being billed is dangerous policy. Hikers may delay calling for help while they think about the cost, and that could put them -- and the mostly volunteer corps of rescuers -- at greater risk.

Other states with laws allowing them to recoup costs rarely, if ever, enforce them, largely for that reason, the AP found.

"If it had happened in Colorado, he would have been applauded for being able to survive for three days," said Paul "Woody" Woodward, president of Colorado's Alpine Rescue Team. "New Hampshire is way out on their own on this one."

New Hampshire officials counter that being properly prepared -- not the size of the scout's bill -- should be the message about visiting wilderness areas. And, fish and game officials say, many of the state's trailheads are posted with signs warning hikers they may be billed for rescue costs if they aren't properly prepared.

Mason, now an 18-year-high school senior, from Halifax, Mass., has hired a lawyer to try to negotiate a settlement. Officials said he was found to be negligent because he veered off the marked path, was unprepared for melting snow that made a shortcut perilous and went up the mountain with an injured ankle, not down.

The bill included more than $24,000 for a helicopter and labor provided by state fish and game officers. Volunteers provided their time at no charge.

Three states besides New Hampshire -- Hawaii, Oregon and Maine -- have general laws allowing agencies to bill for rescues. Only Maine has attempted to recoup money a handful of times and the bills were never paid. California, Vermont, Colorado and Idaho have laws allowing state agencies to bill in limited circumstances, but the laws are rarely enforced -- and when they are, draw a firestorm of protest from search and rescue groups.

Two years ago, the fire department in Golden, Colo., rescued a hiker from Kansas who had sprained his ankle and later billed him for $5,135. The outcry from national search and rescue groups influenced the city to change its policy and settle with the hiker for 10 percent of the bill.

Only New Hampshire has consistently billed people. Last year, lawmakers increased the likelihood of being billed when they lowered the legal standard from reckless to negligent to make it easier to collect.

Records obtained by The Associated Press from a Freedom of Information Act request found that New Hampshire spent $413,543 on 275 rescue missions over the past two years. The state issued 16 bills for rescues totaling $41,435 -- with Mason's $25,000 bill the largest. The state spent far more, $59,426, on a December 2007 search that was not billed. In that case, the body of the 70-year-old hunter was found four months later. His family was not billed.

"We're not going out there with the intent to bill everyone," insists Fish and Game Maj. Timothy Acerno.

Policies vary across the country on penalizing people who ignore weather warnings, don't carry flashlights on long hikes, fail to leave itineraries, ski out of bounds or are otherwise unprepared or act irresponsibly.

If Mason had gotten lost in a National Park, his rescue would have been free, said David Barna, chief of public affairs for the National Park Service.

New Hampshire officials stress they only bill those who are negligent.

Acerno said that experienced search and rescue volunteers and fish and game staff consider what a reasonable person would have done and measure the person's actions against a hiker responsibility code that calls for knowing the terrain and conditions, taking proper gear, leaving an itinerary and turning back if conditions change. The attorney general's office makes the final determination.

Hannah Groom, a 21-year-old college student from Cumberland, Maine, learned the hard way.

While grateful for rescuers' help, Groom said the $3,360 bill sent to her and a friend was steep for one night on New Hampshire's Baldface Mountain in May. The two had planned a day hike, but took a wrong trail. She blames confusing trail markers.

"I do not believe that charging two young adults such a high fee for a mistake caused by poor trail markers is warranted," she wrote The AP in an e-mail.

Acerno said they were billed because they didn't tell anyone where they planned to hike and didn't have proper equipment, especially a flashlight.

Seasoned winter hiker John Winship, 46, of Boxford, Mass., paid the state $4,000 instead of his $1,479 bill after spending four days on Mount Washington last March when he missed his trail by 50 feet in a snowstorm. The third night out, he was getting frostbite.

"I was so grateful I got out of it. I have 10 fingers and 10 toes," he said of the experience.

Allen Clark, whose volunteer Pemigewasset Rescue Team participated in the Mason search, believes the punishment should be fixed dollar fines, not bills for state workers' time.

"This is an essential service the state should adequately fund," he said.

Woodward, of Colorado, said New Hampshire's image has been badly tarnished.

"If people are going to come to New Hampshire and go take hikes and make a mistake and get billed, they aren't going to come to New Hampshire," he said.

The White Mountains in 3.5

How long does it take to get to New Hampshire's White Mountains from the Capital Region (Albany, NY area)? 5 hours, 6 hours, 7 hours? Apparently, somewhere in that range for the uninformed and unimaginative.

Much to the chagrin of most, and after extensive route setting it is time for me to smugly gloat. I have it down to a very respectable sub 3:25 drive time to the Western Whites. Add in a gas stop and pee break and you are still at your destination in less than 4 hours.

I hear the bullshit calls, now go ahead and wipe the spit off your monitors because I have an independent witness, and my witness was also insistent it wasn't possible. As far as my speed, nothing crazy. I like having a drivers license, and some (however limited) money left in my checking account.

Why on earth would I blog about this? Simple, we met quite a few people on the trail this weekend, and each time where we were from came up, people said, “wow, Albany, that is a long drive to go hiking.” Well I agree (actually I don't but I hope others do and stay off my White Mountain trails, just like others hope I stay off their White Mountain trails), but 3:25 is very reasonable for a weekend of hiking. Bearing in mind that when I lived in the NY Metro area, at times I drove to NH and/or the Adirondacks 3-4 weekends a month, and those drives were in the 5 to 7 hour range, driving mostly on interstates at 65-75mph. We are talking 600-800 mile round trip weekends with 10-14 hours plus behind a wheel. It's been a long time since I had to do those, and I don't miss 'em.

As far as the route, well, it's too complicated to spell out. Honestly, there is no big secret except for my little shortcut at the end, which most people probably don't take because it's remote, extremely curvy, hilly and deep in moose territory. All I do is take the small curvy mountain roads that everyone else avoids like a case of herpes. Since I travel at the off hours (overnight and early morning) I am able to keep up my average speed on the back roads, and I shave many miles off the odometer. Moose and deer are my only significant impediments to arriving safely and quickly at the trail head.



Going via 90 and 91 like my kin from the NYC Metro, it would take me about 6 hours even though the average speed would be 20mph faster than the typical 45-55mph back roads. Cutting across VT 9 is faster and shorter but not nearly as good as going NE across VT. The total distance of my routes is less than 180 miles to Lincoln, so doing the math I'm averaging just over 52mph yet still getting there faster and using less gas.

Don't even get me started on my shortcuts through VT when I hike or ice climb in the Green Mountain state. Forget the pavement, go dirt and cut your mileage in half!

Bottom line, I've said it time and time again, if you live between Albany and Glens Falls, you like the outdoors and you like to travel, in my opinion you live in the best part of the Northeast. NYC, Boston and Montreal are all 3 hours from me. The Catskills and Gunks are just over 1 hour from me. Lake Placid is under 2 hours.Most places in Vermont's central or southern Green Mountains are within 2 hours, and of course, the White Mountains are between 3:30 and 4:15 depending on eastern or western end of the range. And no worries, I can ski, ice climb, hike, bike and paddle 5-30 minutes from my back door.

So break out a map, and enjoy the back roads of VT and NH as you head off on a drive to get to your favorite mountain destinations.