[FREE] Serving Philipstown and Beacon Formerly known as The Paper FRIDAY, APRIL 8, 2016 161 MAIN ST., COLD SPRING, N.Y. | highlandscurrent.com Beacon Considers Rezoning Request Residents fear “Main Street- style” buildings By Jeff Simms ith round one in the books, the public hearing on whether to re- Wzone a handful of parcels within The Hudson Highlands and wetlands habitat Photo by Anita Peltonen Beacon’s Main Street-to-river linkage zone will continue next month. The process began on Monday (April 4) Pushing North for Survival when the City Council heard arguments from a number of residents who believe Loss of habitat foreboding wetland habitat shrinks and becomes in- their properties should not be part of a creasingly fragmented. The numbers of section of Beacon designated for dense sign of climate change rusty blackbirds, gray jays, yellow-bellied residential growth. flycatchers, olive-sided flycatchers and By Jeff Simms At issue are seven parcels — two on black-backed woodpeckers have all de- South Avenue and five on Wolcott Avenue udden, violent rainstorms and warm- creased by 15 percent or more since 2007. — that sit inside the city’s “linkage zone,” A wren at Constitution Marsh er winters. Hot summers parched by The brook trout — the state fish of New an area designated in 2013 for expanded Photo by Eric Lind Sextended stretches of drought. In York — thrives in clean, cool waters like growth to support nearby Main Street many ways, the effects of a changing cli- those historically found in the Catskills, rare species in the 10-county region. Suit- businesses. The seven properties are also mate are right outside our doors. but increased temperatures and pro- able habitat for animals ranging from tur- part of the Historic District and Landmark As the climate slowly changes, however, longed drought can lead to oxygen-poor tles and frogs to the New England cotton- Overlay, and some of the property owners other, more far-reaching impacts may slip conditions that suffocate trout embryos. tail is also expected to shrink as warming believe the linkage zoning is at odds with under the public’s radar. In New York, Case studies predict trout populations in trends push them further north. the intent of the historic district. wildlife species that people know and the Empire State will decrease by more For the organizations that create parks Several of the property owners filed a care about are being forced to change, than a third as fish move northward to and preserves to protect open space, cli- petition with the city in February asking and move, as well. cooler waters. mate change has added a significant new that the seven parcels be returned to their In the Adirondacks, the Wildlife Con- In the lower Hudson River Valley, The dimension to conservation. While the pre-linkage, medium-density zoning. servation Society has reported that iconic Nature Conservancy anticipates “strong groups cannot predict exactly how species The linkage zone was developed to in- songbird populations are declining as shifts” in habitat for more than two dozen and habitats (Continued on Page 11) crease the “vitality, attractiveness and marketability” of the section of Beacon that extends from the west end of Main 1.6 billion SHS units — and aims to soothe large dogs were helped by the procedure, to the Metro-North train station at the Fire and Ice intractable cancer pain. a landmark in silencing primary pain re- riverfront. PART 2 OF 2 Cryotherapy, meanwhile, uses localized ceptors. Anesthesiologist Andrew Mannes, Its boundaries encompass Beekman freezing to deaden irritated nerves. And lead MD on this NIH research, speaks qui- Street, West Main and a portion of Wolcott Alternatives to opioids in cool, dark rooms within a small num- etly, but telegraphs urgency when he de- Avenue as it runs in front of City Hall to By Anita Peltonen ber of rehab facilities, a virtual reality scribes the likely first human beneficiaries. just beyond the Reformed Church of Bea- platform called CAREN (computer-assist- “End-of-life patients. One of their greatest con on Wolcott/Route 9D. The intent of the f you have bad pain but want to know ed rehabilitation environment) helps re- fears about the end of life is: Will this be zoning change was to encourage residen- if you can avoid opioids, ask your doc- condition wounded soldiers or depleted painful? This is compassionate use.” tial development to support Main Street Itor. Each day, armies of researchers astronauts and is slowly becoming avail- Human trials began in 2015 and should businesses and create a “vibrant" connec- smash the borders of their own under- able to the general population. conclude in December. Meanwhile, pain tion between (Continued on Page 3) standing of pain and how our brains While such remedies hold great promise patches using capsaicin come in varied process it. Their discoveries seep down for severe pain patients, safety-testing often strengths for over-the-counter and doc- slowly to civilians, however. puts a long hold on innovative treatments. tor-supervised use. You won’t find many of the game-chang- ers in ‘Ask your Doctor’ TV ads, because Slow to come to market Combined mechanical and medical they involve highly specialized ingredi- A decade ago, a dog had a tumor in his approaches ents or techniques. forepaw so painful, he couldn’t walk. His The day doctors vanquish pain seems For example, if you have joint pain, ask owner took him to a National Institutes of tantalizingly near. what the doctor has to say about the chili- Health animal trial for cancer pain. Using a Until then, innovative chronic-pain man- pepper extract capsaicin, which in its “molecular scalpel” (a fluid injection), a med- agement may use established opiate and pure form rates 16 million Scoville Heat ical team permanently turned off the neu- nonopiate painkillers, but for shorter du- Scale units. Tabasco’s around 300. New rons flooding 90-lb. Scooter’s system with rations and in concert with bodywork like trials using a capsaicin-like compound pain signals. The team used the capsaicin- physical therapy (see sidebar, Page 7), shock- like compound to get the relief response. wave therapy, or the lesser-known Graston from a Moroccan desert plant clocks in at Beacon's "linkage" zone Photo provided Afterward, Scooter walked again. More technique. (Continued on Page 7) 2 April 8, 2016 The Highlands Current highlandscurrent.com Roots and Shoots like blue bells or wood celandine or blood- root. The foamflower makes a nice carpet; when other plants die down, it’s still there Shady Spot? covering the ground, looking good. Wild bleeding heart There’s a native plant Dicentra eximia for that Our native bleeding heart will bloom twice. It doesn’t go completely dormant in By Pamela Doan summer. This is an attractive plant that needs to be used more. n the April 1 issue, I featured 10 plants that thrive in the sun, as recommend- Pennsylvania sedge Ied by Michael Hagen, the curator of Carex pensylvanica the rock garden and the native plant gar- Plantainleaf sedge den at the New York Botanical Garden Carex plantaginea and former director of Stonecrop Garden Sedges are related to grasses and can be in Philipstown. This is the follow-up inter- used as a lawn cover. There’s a sedge for view about strong performers for shady whatever conditions you have. These two spots. Hagen says all of these are resistant are some of the most attractive and adapt- to deer and will be strong performers in able. Pennsylvania sedge makes a nice any garden. carpet under deciduous trees and can be a White wood asters in the native plant garden at the New York Botanical Garden Allegheny spurge grass substitute. Plaintainleaf has broad- Photo by P. Doan Pachysandra procumbens er leaves. Both are good in dry shade. surprisingly tough for how it looks. It has son, which makes it an important plant to It’s flowering now; its spiky blooms are Christmas fern thin, black wiry stems with a distinctive have in your woodland. There are other up before the foliage comes out. It has lime Polystichum acrostichoides green foliage that gets speckled with age. five-fingered frond shape. asters but they tend not to bloom reliably. Maidenhair fern It’s not as aggressive as Japanese pach- Wild geranium It has nice, dark stems, too. Adiantum pedatum ysandra and the foliage dies back in the Geranium maculatum When I noted that I’d found native Eastern North America is blessed with winter but it performs much better and This is certainly a good plant. It’s a little plants hard to come by at local nurser- an abundance of great ferns and these are it’s a much nicer plant. There’s no reason ephemeral. In a hot summer it can tend ies, Hagen said they are becoming more two favorites. Christmas fern is the hard- to grow Japanese pachysandra. This is a to disappear but it’s reliably perennial. It’s widely available, but “it’s a little bit of a est working fern out there. Right now it’s great groundcover. not as spectacular as some of the Europe- problem. You’re probably not going to finished looking good all winter and get- an geraniums, but with the pink color, it’s find a lot of this stuff at big box stores, ting ready to produce fronds. You can tidy Foamflower certainly a cheery plant and worth having. but it is available. Talk to your local nurs- Tiarella cordifolia it up but don’t have to. It will stay dark ery owner and let them know you want it.