NEW YORK STATE JUNE/JULY 2021 Love OUR NEW YORK Lands Counting Fish A Public Trail across New York Managing 19 Million Acres of Forest Dear Reader, Over the challenging past year and a CONSERVATIONIST half, I’m proud that DEC’s expert sta˜ Volume 75, Number 6 | June/July 2021 sustained their focus on protecting Andrew M. Cuomo, Governor of New York State public health and environment and DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION conserving New York’s natural resources Basil Seggos, Commissioner for future generations. Conservation Erica Ringewald, Deputy Commissioner for Public Affairs is nothing new in New York State; it’s a Harold Evans, Director of Office of Communication Services longstanding tradition DEC is proud to THE CONSERVATIONIST STAFF build upon. ° Peter Constantakes, Managing Editor °In his seventh annual Message to Tony Colyer-Pendas, Assistant Editor Megan Ciotti, Business Manager Congress on December 17, 1907, Theodore°Roosevelt said, “But there Jeremy J. Taylor, Editor, Conservationist for Kids must be the look ahead, there must be a realization of the fact that Rick Georgeson, Contributing Editor to waste, to destroy, our natural resources, to skin and exhaust the DESIGN TEAM land instead of using it so as to increase its usefulness, will result in Andy Breedlove, Photographer/Designer Jim Clayton, Chief, Multimedia Services undermining in the days of our children the very prosperity which we Mark Kerwin, Art Director/Graphic Designer ought by right to hand down to them ampli˜ed and developed.” Robin-Lucie Kuiper, Photographer/Designer At DEC, we work to protect our environment from threats like Mary Elizabeth Maguire, Graphic Designer Jennifer Peyser, Graphic Designer invasive species, pollution, and climate change, while at the same Maria VanWie, Graphic Designer time ˛nding new opportunities for people to get out and enjoy EDITORIAL OFFICES nature. Being outdoors is not only bene˛cial to our physical health, The Conservationist (ISSN0010-650X), © 2021 by NYSDEC, it’s good for our mental health. Nature has the power to soothe our is an official publication of the New York State Department mind and strengthen our bodies. of Environmental Conservation published bimonthly at 625 Broadway, 4th Floor, Albany, NY 12233-4502. As the threat of the pandemic begins to wane, we should all take Telephone: (518) 402-8047 a moment to appreciate the strength and resiliency that helped us Manuscripts, photographs and artwork will be accepted if accom- during a very di˝cult time and to become reacquainted with the panied by SASE. Please write to the above address with an author’s people, places, and things we loved and missed, now back within query or to request a Contributor’s Guide. The˜publisher assumes our°reach. no responsibility for loss or damage of unsolicited˜materials. The Conservationist showcases various aspects of DEC’s ongoing TO SUBSCRIBE: e˜orts to connect people to our environment, o˜ering advice and $18 per year, $24 for two years, $30 for three years. Outside the U.S., add $27 per year with a check drawn on a U.S. bank. options on how to enjoy the outdoors, as well as how we can all strive All˜orders must be prepaid. to help preserve the resources that are critical to our health and Please allow 6 to 8 weeks for new subscriptions or changes of quality of life. Whether ˛shing, hiking, nature watching, or simply address. Periodical postage paid at Albany, NY, and additional spending time outdoors (even in your own backyard), I encourage mailing offices. you to take a moment to recognize the power of nature around us. Send check or money order payable to: While New York and our nation still face challenges, I encourage Conservationist NYSDEC you to maintain a spirit of optimism, and endeavor to enjoy and 625 Broadway appreciate what we have, while working to make the world a Albany, NY 12233-4502 little°better. or call: 1-800-678-6399 Visit the Department’s website at: www.dec.ny.gov Best wishes, The New York State Department of Environmental Basil Seggos, Commissioner Conservation does not discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, disability, age, or gender. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Conservationist NYSDEC 625 Broadway PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER. PLEASE RECYCLE THIS ISSUE. Albany, NY 12233-4502 Andy Beers See page 6 The Empire State Trail – a great way to enjoy the outdoors and amazing destinations CONTENTS JUNE/JULY 2021 | VOLUME 75, NUMBER 6 DEPARTMENTS 2 Looking Through 18 Love Our the Net New˜York Lands On Patrol BY TOM LAKE BY EILEEN MOWREY AND 13 ERIN˜HANCZYK 6 Empire State 28 Brief y Trail—Now Open 19 In Praise of BY TONY COLYER-PENDAS the˜Birdbath 30 Letters WITH˜ANDY BEERS BY TOM LINDSAY The Beaver: A Dam An Act of Survival 10 22 Back Trails and Empire Builder BY DAVE KINGSLAND 32 BY DONALD WHARTON 26 Ashland Flats Wildlife 14 Our Plan to Protect Management Area 26 22 6 and Manage BY IRENE MAZZOCCHI 13 New˜York’s Forests 6 6 13 30 for Lasting Success 30 30 30 BY SARA HART 13 30 13 18 6 FRONT COVER: Bald Mountain, Old Forge, 2 by Brady Hommel; BACK˜COVER:˜Students 13 Seining, by Tom Lake 13 A seine (\san\) is a tool that can be used to determine the number or types of fish in the˜river, while having fun. Looking through the BY TOM LAKE Net Standing on a Hudson River beach in there, but you will never know the The Mystery late spring, DEC's Hudson River Estuary true extent unless you go looking. Students frequently ask, "Why do sta˜ ask our students to look upriver Our most readily-available tool for we seine?" Seining is tool to help as far as they can see, and likewise searching for ˛sh is a seine, a net with solve a mystery. Because we cannot downriver. Then we suggest that across a ˙oat-line on top, a lead-line on the see the number or types of ˛sh in the that three-mile reach of the river live bottom, and tight meshes in between. river, we tend to underestimate their more than a million ˛sh. This usually The word seine means a ˛shing net presence. Then, like a magic spell, a earns snickers or, at the very least, eye designed to hang vertically in the seine brings them into being. Seining rolls, depending on the grade level. Then water, with the ends drawn together is a window into a river that we we haul a seine net across a hundred-foot to capture the ˛sh. Those most often cannot otherwise view. We seine for stretch of inshore shallows, beach the used in the Hudson, for education and knowledge, for the magic of discovery. net, and discover hundreds of ˛sh in the research, range in length from 15 to As the net comes in, the experience bag of the seine. We look at the students 500 feet in length, 4 to 8 feet in depth, can be akin to opening a birthday and playfully suggest, “Do the math.” with a mesh size from ¼ to 3 inches, present. Every time we haul a seine depending upon the targeted species. in tidewater, it is like shuˆing a deck What Is a Seine? They are an excellent tool used to of cards: we have a chance of ˛nding This is the mysterious nature sample an area and collect aquatic a new combination of ˛shes and of Hudson River ˛shes: they are animals without injuring the catch. surprises. Most of all, it’s just fun! 2 New York State Conservationist JUNE/JULY 2021 Chris Bowser Seining may reveal a new fish or some fish that are rarely seen. How Many Fishes˜Are˜There? Scientists have documented 234 species of ˛sh, representing 168 genera (plural of genus; a group of closely related species) and 81 families (closely related genera) in the Hudson River watershed. That is impressive diversity on both taxonomic levels. However, no one believes the list is complete. Besides being cryptic, rare ˛sh can be elusive, or occur in so few numbers that catching one is challenging. How do we accurately evaluate the total number of ˛sh species in the watershed? Is 234 an accurate number? Given our Northeast climate, where the average annual water temperature in the estuary is 50 degrees Fahrenheit, and our fresh water, while others live out their In the Beginning ... geographic position (where the river lives entirely within the con˛nes of Netting for ˛sh is a traditional meets the western Atlantic Ocean and the watershed. endeavor on the river and, in that the northward-˙owing Gulf Stream In the uplands, we ˛nd native regard, has been a cultural lifeway from the tropics), 234 di˜erent species such as northern pike, lake throughout millennia. There is species of ˛sh in the watershed is trout, and the New York State ˛sh, evidence that nets, including seines, appropriate. As we travel northward brook trout, that were here when the have been used on the estuary for up the coast into New England and ˛rst people arrived about 12,000 years thousands of years. The ˛rst Native beyond, with cooler average water ago. Seventy-seven percent of our Americans to arrive here likely temperatures, the number of species ˛shes are designated as “native.” Our carried with them ˛shing technology decreases. Conversely, if we travel measure of native species is based on they had used on their journey across south along the coast to Chesapeake a simple question: Was the ˛sh here North America. However, evidence Bay and beyond, where average water when the ˛rst Europeans arrived? of the very ˛rst use of these nets has temperatures are warmer, the number If°so, it’s considered a native species.