New York Almanack

Owen Young: WWI Statesman, GE Radio & TV Pioneer

Randall Whitestone — Tue, 19 May 2026 19:37:39 +0000

On a warm, sunny day amid the winding hills of Herkimer County, the world descended on Van Hornesville, a small Mohawk Valley community, without a train station but home to a global, widely respected statesman of commerce and international finance.

Ninety-five years ago this June, Owen D. Young (1874-1962), architect of the Young Plan on Germany’s fiscal rehabilitation after World War I, and longtime chairman of General Electric Company, presided over graduation ceremonies for the town’s newly built seven-room schoolhouse replete with a swimming pool, a playground, and an auditorium “wired for talkies.”

The lead story in The New York Times that day concerned distant matters in which Young had played a significant role: German President von Hindenburg’s telegram of appreciation to U.S.

A New Native Species Selection Tool

Editorial Staff — Tue, 19 May 2026 18:35:53 +0000

Are you looking for recommendations of native plants and trees to plant on your specific site? DEC and the New York Natural Heritage Program recently released a Species Selection Tool that provides a list of recommended native tree, shrub, and herbaceous plant species, including flowering species, ferns and herbs, to improve habitats, increase biodiversity, and benefit wildlife across New York State.

There are three steps to using this tool:

1 – Enter your planting site location: Enter the address or click on the map to automatically generate expected site conditions of the property including soil and geology.

2026 Spongy Moth Outbreak Outlook for New York State

Editorial Staff — Tue, 19 May 2026 17:00:46 +0000

The spongy moth (Lymantria dispar) is a non-native insect from Europe. In New York, spongy moth caterpillars feed on a variety of trees, with oak as their preferred species.

Spongy moths have naturalized in our forested communities, which means they are always present in New York in some capacity. In recent years, spongy moth populations have experienced a boom throughout the Northeastern U.S.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) first observed growing populations in New York State in 2020 when spongy moth caterpillars defoliated 27,157 acres in the Finger Lakes Region.

High Peaks, Kaaterskill Clove Public Comments Deadline June 1st

Editorial Staff — Tue, 19 May 2026 14:00:13 +0000

Public feedback on the two reports regarding Visitor Use Management (VUM) for the Adirondack High Peaks Wilderness and Kaaterskill Clove region of the Catskill Park is being accepted until June 1, 2026 by either email or mail.

Over the last decade, visitation to public lands across the country, including New York’s Forest Preserve, has been on an upward trend. The Adirondack High Peaks and the Catskill Park’s Kaaterskill Clove are among the most highly visited regions in the State.

The American Revolution in the Champlain Valley, from A to Z

Editorial Staff — Tue, 19 May 2026 12:30:08 +0000

The Clinton County Historical Association (CCHA) has published an educational book, The American Revolution in the Champlain Valley, from A to Z, to be distributed to all fourth and fifth graders in the Clinton, Essex, Franklin County area, free of charge.

“This special project represents hours of volunteer work,” says CCHA Director Helen Allen Nerska, a regular contributor to the New York Almanack.

Lake Champlain played a key role in the Revolutionary War as British and American troops and their allies encountered each other along the length of the 125-mile-long lake connecting the distant ports in Quebec and along the Hudson River.

Marlene Dietrich: Park Avenue’s Goddess of Smoke

Jaap Harskamp — Mon, 18 May 2026 19:22:12 +0000

Born in Berlin-Schöneberg in December 1901, Marie Magdalena (Marlene) Dietrich made an early career in her home city before achieving international stardom. Mentored by the legendary Max Reinhardt at his Deutsche Theaterschule (German drama school), she then joined his stage company.

Throughout the 1920s, she performed in Berlin and Vienna, including roles in Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew and Bernard Shaw’s Back to Methuselah.

She cultivated the persona of a “Berlin woman,” becoming a style icon whilst performing in musicals, revues, and silent films.

A Saratoga County Amusement Park History Tour

Editorial Staff — Mon, 18 May 2026 18:00:22 +0000

Forest Park began with when the owner of the trolleys running from Schenectady to Saratoga Springs, the Schenectady Railway Company, decided to create a place of amusement – a trolley park – to boost ridership, especially on weekends.

“A trolley ride from Schenectady to Ballston Lake cost about $1.40 or less in the early days of the twentieth century and only took about an hour. This was the fastest way for people to get to Ballston Lake and the people of Schenectady were anxious to get there,” says Ballston Town Historian Rick Reynolds.

Tussock Cottongrass: Champion of Bogs and Alpine Areas

Guest Contributor — Mon, 18 May 2026 15:00:16 +0000

A bog is a special natural community, characterized by deep, wet, and acidic soil below an open sky. Soft sphagnum mosses squish underfoot, dominating the surface of the bog and making up the mostly undecomposed organic soil below.

The ground springs up and down with each step – a sign that the entire surface of vegetation is saturated with water and even floating in some cases.

This enchanting little world selects an eclectic group of plants that, against all odds, can survive here in such wet, exposed, and nutrient-poor conditions – something not many species can tolerate.

Final Recreation Plans Announced for Hamilton County Easement Tracts

Editorial Staff — Mon, 18 May 2026 14:30:28 +0000

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has announced the final Recreation Management Plan (RMP) for the Speculator Tree Farm, Perkins Clearing and Burnham Mountain Conservation Easement Tracts in the Adirondack Park.

The RMP was developed in partnership with Lyme Adirondack Forest Company, the landowner.

The conservation easement properties include multiple tracts totaling 38,233 acres in the Hamilton County towns of Lake Pleasant, Wells, and Arietta and the Village of Speculator.

Hunting, Poaching & The American Revolution

Anthony F. Hall — Mon, 18 May 2026 13:15:16 +0000

John Bird Burnham (1869-1939), Chief Game Protector for the state of New York in the early 1900s, once made an observation worthy of Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America.

“The union of monarchial game laws with an anti-monarchial sentiment make for an impossible marriage, and in America, drastic prohibitions on hunting can never be as effective as they are in England,” he wrote.

Burnham traced New York’s game laws to the democratic spirit.