OCTOBER 2018 Are New York’s fall colors at risk? Hunting | Artifi cial ReefS | Whales Humpback whale breaching Humpback whale breaching Volume 73, Number 2 | October 2018 Dear Reader, Andrew M. Cuomo, Governor of New York State Outdoor traditions like hunting, hiking and fi shing DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION have defi ned our state for many generations, yet, as Basil Seggos, Commissioner Sean Mahar, Asst. Commissioner for Public Affairs most of you are aware, our natural resources and Harold Evans, Director of Office of Communication Services way of life are being threatened by climate change. THE CONSERVATIONIST STAFF In this issue we take a look at the impacts on some of Eileen C. Stegemann, Editor Peter Constantakes, Assistant Editor New York’s key species and habitats from our forests Megan Ciotti, Business Manager Jeremy J. Taylor, Conservationist for Kids to our marine waters (see pg. 6). DEC is tackling Ellen Bidell, Contributing Editor this problem on many fronts, including responding DESIGN TEAM to destructive storms like Superstorm Sandy and Andy Breedlove, Photographer/Designer Jim Clayton, Chief, Multimedia Services damaging fl ooding like we recently saw in the Finger Lakes region (see Mark Kerwin, Graphic Designer pg. 19). Our goal is to preserve vital natural resources and wildlife habitats, Robin-Lucie Kuiper, Photographer/Designer Mary Elizabeth Maguire, Graphic Designer protect people from the impacts of a warming climate, and preserve the Jennifer Peyser, Graphic Designer quality of life we enjoy in New York. I encourage you be an active partner in Maria VanWie, Graphic Designer the crucial e ort. EDITORIAL OFFICES The Conservationist (ISSN0010-650X), © 2018 by NYSDEC, Fall heralds the exciting return of deer and bear hunting seasons, is an official publication of the New York State Department New York has a long and proud hunting tradition, which is captured in of Environmental Conservation published bimonthly at 625 Broadway, 4th Floor, Albany, NY 12233-4502. articles on the unique camaraderie of hunting camps and a father-son Telephone: (518) 402-8047 hunting experience (see pgs. 2 and 36). I wish the best of luck to the more Manuscripts, photographs and artwork will be accepted if accompanied by SASE. Please write to the above address with an than half a million hunters in the state. author’s query or to request a Contributor’s Guide. The publisher Autumn is also a great time to head outside for a hike with friends or assumes no responsibility for loss or damage of unsolicited materials. family, and there are many great options across the state. If you are visiting TO SUBSCRIBE: $18 per year, $24 for two years, $30 for three years. Outside the Adirondacks, you have a wide range of opportunities, including some the U.S., add $27 per year with a check drawn on a U.S. bank. All orders must be prepaid. less-traveled hiking trails (see pg. 20). Please allow 6 to 8 weeks for new subscriptions or changes of At DEC, we strive not only to protect our resources, but expand them address. Periodical postage paid at Albany, NY, and additional as well. For those of you who love fi shing, check out the article on how mailing offices. New York is creating artifi cial reefs o Long Island to enhance marine Send check or money order payable to: Conservationist habitats and provide new opportunities for anglers and divers. Also, learn NYSDEC about the whales in New York waters and e orts to protect these mighty sea 625 Broadway Albany, NY 12233-4502 mammals (see pgs. 12 and 16). or call: 1-800-678-6399 Conservationist readers have always been great environmental stewards Visit the Department’s website at: and valuable partners in preserving our magnifi cent outdoor resources. www.dec.ny.gov Let’s continue to work together to keep our environment healthy, accessible e New York State Department of Environmental and beautiful. Conservation does not discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, disability, age, or gender. All the best, POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Basil Seggos, Commissioner Conservationist NYSDEC 625 Broadway Albany, NY 12233-4502 Printed on recycled paper. Please recycle this issue. Front cover masthead font Big Noodle Titling is a trademark of James Arboghast/ Sentinel Type. Visit DEC's website Venison Donation Coalition Help End Hunger Hunters can donate venison to food pantries and soup kitchens throughout the state through the Venison Donation Coalition (VDC). One deer makes 160 servings! VDC is a nonpro t organization that coordinates the e orts of hunters, deer processors, food banks, individuals and organizations to provide high-protein, low-fat meat to the hungry. If hunters donated HUNTERS: one of every 100 deer taken, the program could easily reach 100,000 pounds of venison to feed the hungry. Want Older Bucks in New York? It’s easy to participate: simply bring your legally tagged and It’s Your Choice properly eld-dressed deer to a participating processor (see www.venisondonation.org). There is NO COST TO THE HUNTER! Many deer hunters dream of seeing and Hunters can also donate dollars to this program when they buy shooting a large buck. But there is great their license. temptation for a hunter to take the first buck And you needn’t be a hunter to contribute. Anyone can donate he sees, often a young buck, when the either online or by mailing a check to: The Venison Donation Coalition, opportunity presents itself. 3 Pulteney Square, Bath, NY 14810 For more information, call New York hunters can increase the 1-866-862-3337 likelihood they will harvest an older, larger or visit the website at buck simply by choosing to pass up shots www.venisondonation.org at young, small-antlered bucks. Older bucks create more rubs and scrapes. They are Donate Dollars-Donate Venison more challenging to hunt, and they yield more meat—all things that may enhance the REPORT YOUR HARVEST deer hunting experience. Many New York hunters are already voluntarily choosing to pass on young bucks. As a result, the availability and harvest of older, larger-antlered bucks has been increasing. To see and take more older bucks, DEC encourages hunters to work with neighbors and hunting partners to cooperatively reduce harvest of young bucks, improve habitat conditions, and ensure adequate TAKE IT. TAG IT. REPORT IT. harvest of antlerless deer. It's the LAW, and important for wildlife management. For more information, see • Online: www.dec.ny.gov www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/27663.html • By phone: 866-426-3778 • Mobile App: NY Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife App can be downloaded from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store Nora L. Wilson-Wheeler See page 2 CONTENTS October 2018 Volume 73, Number 2 2 The Joy of Deer Camp departments By Dan Ladd 19 On Patrol 32 Briefly 6 How Climate Change Affects New York’s Species 34 Letters 36 Back Trails By Renee Cho 10 New York’s Autumn Display 30 Reader photos celebrating the colors of Fall 20 12 Battle for Survival The plight of North Atlantic right whales 6 By Meghan Rickard 32 2 16 Whales and the City How citizen science is helping save whales 19 By Paul L. Sieswerda 28 20 Instant Adirondacks 6 Flume Trail Network offers excellent hiking By Michael Zeugin 24 Artificial Reefs When you build them, marine life comes 24 By Jesse Hornstein and Christopher LaPorta 12 28 Hanging Bog Wildlife Management Area 16 24 By Emilio Rende 30 Chateaugay Fish Hatchery Nicole E. Cain Conservationist FRONT COVER: Sugar maple BACK COVER: Fall hiking by Jim Clayton THE OF DEER CAMP BY DAN LADD | PHOTOS BY AUTHOR UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED Deer hunting has always been a staple in my family. When The best times at the camp were when we stayed there I was growing up in the southeastern Adirondacks, it seemed ourselves. Even though it was close to home, a night at like all the men in my family, and a few of the women, were deer camp was an adventure all its own. From staring deer hunters. It felt like an eternity back then as I waited to at the autumn night sky to visiting that privy on a frosty go afi eld, but when the time fi nally came for me to join the November morning, those experiences defi ned deer camp ranks of the family hunting party and experience that rite for me then, and they still do. of passage, I was more than willing to do so. It just came The key attribute about being at a hunting camp hasn’t naturally. But something happened early on in my hunting changed since those days—the fact that the deer woods are career that changed my life, not to mention my approach to (usually) right at your back door. They’re waiting for you hunting: I was introduced to Adirondack whitetails. at sunrise, just as the camp awaits you at sunset. The deer When I was 14, my father began taking care of a friend’s camp experience is hard to beat. small hunting camp not far from our home. It sat on a small pond, and other than a neighboring vacation home, there Tradition Hunting camps have been around pretty much as long were no other buildings around except, of course, the camp as hunting has. The Adirondack region is a prime example woodshed and privy. of what transpired across many northern states during That camp came alive each autumn, and the memories the latter part of the nineteenth century. “Sports,” as they I have of my teenage years there are priceless. On either were called, from big cities visited the mountains and Thursday or Friday night, my dad and I would head to often stayed at back-country cabins with their guides as the camp to open it up for the weekend.