WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE FOREST? Winter seems to have come early to the Catskills this year. Took a walk up to Balsam Lake Mountain fire tower a couple of weeks ago and winter has definitely set in there. The tops of mountains seem to have anywhere from 1 to 1.5Continue Reading

WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE FOREST? This season I got a chance to hunt the Shawangunk Ridge. I have never seen so much bear sign in my life. I must have crossed (no exaggeration) about a dozen bear tracks. Seemed like more bear than deer! Some were small, some medium,Continue Reading

WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE FOREST? This one apple tree in Arkville, Delaware County miraculously is holding onto its leaves & some are even still green as of Tuesday, November 20th. Despite summer’s abundant rainfall & fungi stampede, fall’s wet, windy weather, and winter’s early arrival of snow, this tree’sContinue Reading

WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE FOREST? Fall foliage was sort of “sub-par” this year. Can’t really complain. The last 2 years have been awesome. Normally, I don’t notice American beech for its fall foliage, but this year beech seemed better than normal. Instead of a brown-drab, beech was showing aContinue Reading

WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE FOREST? Some strong winds hit central Ulster County over the weekend and sought out those “weak unions” resulting in torn branches and stem-failures. One tree in particular seems to always have problems–‘Bradford’ pear. Bradford pear was planted abundantly as an ornamental street tree in urban/suburbanContinue Reading