Noted the recent passing of Adirondack protector, Clarence Petty: nytimes.com/2009/12/06/science/earth/06petty.html
---- [email protected] wrote: > Barry, > > > I enjoyed your account of your Adirondack Park days. The Park is such a huge > place that you can focus your attention in one area and be oblivious to the > rest. I've spent a lot of time in the central and southwestern parts. > > > Bob > > > > > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Barry Caselli" <[email protected]> > To: "ENTS" <[email protected]> > Sent: Saturday, December 5, 2009 10:35:29 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern > Subject: [ENTS] My Adirondack experiences > > > ENTS, > Today I'm finally caught up with my email. But that probably won't last. I've > been reading about the Elders Grove in some of the emails. This reminded me > of when I was up there myself. > To give you some background: At both ends of Schroon Lake there are camps, > owned by a group called Word of Life. The camp at the north end is a 90-acre > island, one mile from shore, east of the town called Schroon Lake. Word of > Life used to tout this island as virgin forest, and they were quite pround of > their giant white pine. I know that one of the ENTs went there to measure it > a couple years ago, only to find out that it was gone, a victim of a building > fire next to it. The island, called Word of Life Island, was purchased by > Word of Life in 1946, and it was the former estate of a "Miss Clark", heiress > of the Clark Thread fortune. > At the south end of the lake, Word of Life has a 340 acre property called the > Ranch/Ranger Camp, a camp for 6 to 12 year-olds. > I was a camper at the Island for two weeks during the summer of 1979 and > again during the summer of 1981, right after I got out of high school. During > any time I had to myself I would wander the island, taking pictures of the > trees and rocks, the scenery across the lake, etc. In addition to the great > White Pine, I also found a single-trunk Paper Birch, which I believe I > estimated to have a 2.5 foot DBH. I do have a low-quality picture of it > somewhere. I also remember seeing Common Juniper growing on the island, near > the shore, if I remember correctly. > From September 1981 to September 1982 I attended the Word of Life Bible > Institute, which uses the Ranch/Ranger Camp as its campus. While there I > would wander the trails and photograph the white pines. They were pretty and > majestic, but not very big. They might have been tall though. > When winter started, in 1981, I wrote home and asked my parents to include a > thermometer in their next care package, since it was getting really cold > there. When the thermometer arrived I hung it on a hook outside the window > nearest my bunk in the cabin I lived in. The coldest morning I recorded was > -22 F. That morning at breakfast the staff announced that the thermometer in > the parking area at the maintenance garage read -40 F. > Students had to work, and I was put to work with the maintenance guys. During > the winter we had to shovel the snow off every roof of every building on all > their properties, after every snowfall. Wow, what an experience! To get to > the island we rode on the back of a pickup truck, driving on the ice. > Also during the 12 months I as there, I used to ride my bicycle a lot, and > covered many miles with it. > So anyway, those are my experiences in the Adirondack Park. By the way, the > Adirondack Park is slightly larger than the State of New Jersey. > Barry > > -- > Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org > Send email to [email protected] > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en > To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] > > -- > Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org > Send email to [email protected] > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en > To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] -- Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org Send email to [email protected] Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en To unsubscribe send email to [email protected]
