Wildlife of the Adirondack Park

Beaver Activity

D	Beavers and men share the unique ability to purposefully change the natural environment to suit their needs.

Beavers and men share the unique ability to purposefully change the natural environment to suit their needs. By damming forest streams with mud, sticks and small stones, beavers create a pond or "flow." Within this pond they build a lodge of similar materials, in which they live.

Like a castle within a moat, the lodge protects the beavers from their enemies and keeps them dry and warm in all seasons. An underwater passage leads to the domed interior where they sleep and in winter, eat the bark from a cache of sticks imbedded in the soft sediments on the bottom of the pond.

Through their activities, beavers bring a bounty of aquatic life to the interior of the forest. Nutrients from the bark of trees are recycled in their feces to nourish plankton, algae, wetland plants, and fish. Flood waters are held in check and rich sediments slowly fill the impoundment. Wood ducks nest in holes within the snags of trees drowned by the rising waters.

When food becomes scarce and the beavers finally move on, the unrepaired dam weakens and eventually washes out, draining the pond. A wet meadow of sedges, grasses, alders and willows reclaims the soggy ground and begins the process of drying the soil while harvesting its richness.

For a time, wildflowers and herbs flourish, then slowly give way to shrubs and trees once more. The cycle is complete when a new generation of beavers takes up residence on the woodland stream.

Moose and Deer

D	The demise of moose was a result of hunting and the changing nature of Adirondack forests.

The demise of moose was a result of hunting and the changing nature of Adirondack forests. Once the mountains were opened up by lumbering and agriculture, deer, preferring to browse on young trees and shrubs in areas recently cleared, invaded the region in much greater numbers, and the moose were in trouble.

Deer harbor a nematode parasite called brainworm, which is comparatively harmless to them. But moose pick up the parasite from snails and slugs (which act as its host during part of the worm's life cycle), with disastrous consequences. The nematode settles in their brains, inducing the "blind staggers" and eventually, death.

Deer followed the European settlers to find all the browse they needed in clearings made by the settlers. Game laws were few and seldom enforced.

"One mid-century hunter told of killing as many as 150 deer in certain years in upstate New York ... Market gunners were sent into the mountains to kill all the "mountain mutton" they could find, not only to feed the lumberjacks in the many woodland camps and the guests in the thriving hotels, but also for shipment to game dealers who sold them to hotels and restaurants in large cities." -- Frank Graham,The Adirondack Park, 1978

Restoration of Species Beaver, Fisher, Pine Marten

A few pairs of beaver, stocked in the backcountry in 1902, did so well that by 1940 an open season on beaver was permitted. Fishers recovered enough to permit an open season in 1949. Pine marten took longer to rebuild.

Confined to the higher mountain ranges, they finally began to increase; a season for their taking was allowed in 1978, ending a period of 42 years of closed seasons.

Peregrine Falcon

D	The recovery of the peregrine falcon from extinction is a remarkable success story. Like the osprey, peregrines were ravaged by pesticides; by the mid-20th century they were extirpated from the Adirondacks.

Then, in the 1970s, Dr. Tom Cade of Cornell University developed techniques to produce large numbers of young falcons by captive breeding and a process called "hacking," whereby young peregrines were reintroduced back into the wild.

In 1981 ten young captive-produced birds were hacked from two carefully selected eyries in the eastern Adirondacks; well-hidden attendants fed and monitored the growing birds.

Soon, the birds learned to hunt by themselves; all of the young peregrines survived. In subsequent years, more peregrines were released and in July 1988, four active Adirondack eyries were producing young peregrines.

Moose

The moose track is slightly larger and more pointed than that of the elk and similar in shape to a deer's but twice as large. The track may be blunted if the ground is rocky and hard, making it more difficult to distinguish from the elks. A typical print is of two pointed pear shapes with the tips closer than the wider bottom.

Beginning in 1981, several moose have wandered into the Adirondacks from Canada and Vermont. A few are still here; some even have produced young.

A number of the new arrivals are being collared with radio monitors, and studies are being made to determine whether a large, self-sustaining moose population can survive in the Adirondacks.

Lynx

D	Lynx, which vanished from the Adirondack scene in the mid-1800s, may well return again.

It is theorized that the lynx disappeared when the more aggressive bobcats expanded into the Adirondack lynx range as wholesale logging activities increased the population of deer, a primary food source for bobcats.

A declining bobcat population in recent decades, along with evidence that bobcats tend to live below elevations of 2,500 feet, make the Adirondack "high country" a zone potentially hospitable to a lynx population.

Two "plantings" are planned. Eight to twelve cats will be released initially; a second release will follow a year later. The goal is to build a population of approximately 70 lynxes.

Osprey

D	The ban on the pesticide DDT has helped the osprey, whose average production of young in the whole Adirondack region was eight birds per year for the years 1970 through 1976. In 1977, 13 of 25 active nests were successful, producing a total of 20 young.

An upward trend continues today. State Policy on Habitat State policy and regulatory programs aid in maintaining a diversity of fish and wildlife habitats. The state's Freshwater Wetlands Act, administered by the Adirondack Park Agency, strives to limit the draining and developing of bogs, swamps, and marshes, which are important feeding, nesting, rearing and cover areas for many species.

The APA's Private Land Use and Development Plan protects critical wildlife habitat such as deer wintering grounds and habitat of endangered species. The Department of Environmental Conservation also contributes to the protection of fish and wildlife habitat by its environmental review of development projects and by its air, land and water quality regulatory programs.

State acquisition of key wildlife habitat is a continuing program within the Department. Game Laws Realizing that wildlife was an important part of its colony's economy, the Crown adopted the first game law in 1705, establishing a season for deer hunting (August 1 to January 1). Laws restricting the use of nets in fishing were enacted in 1813, and in 1828 a fine of $5 was imposed for illegal fishing. In 1880, the state of New York appointed its first game protectors: a total of eight, statewide. They were to enforce laws for the preservation of moose, deer, birds, and fish. But they were ineffective, partly because they were too few and also because most people were reluctant to give information to game protectors.

Teddy's "Men of Courage"

D	Roosevelt was friends with men like Gifford Pinchot, John Muir, and many other important conservationists of the time. Roosevelt pushed through new ideas like National Parks and Wildlife Refuges. He more than tripled the size of National Forest acreage during his Presidency.

In 1899, Governor Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt became concerned about the laxity of the enforcement of game laws and "the inefficiency of the game wardens and game protectors."

He urged that the men who worked as protectors in the Adirondacks be appointed from the locality itself, and should in all cases be thorough woodsmen: "I want as game protectors men of courage, resolution and hardihood who can handle the rifle, axe and paddle; who can camp out in summer or winter; who can go on snowshoes, if necessary; who can go through the woods by day or by night without regard to trails."

New York Natural Heritage Program

The New York Natural Heritage Program is a joint endeavor of the state's Department of Environmental Conservancy. Since 1983, field searches have been conducted to locate plant and animal species considered to be rare globally or within New York State. The information collected forms an inventory of New York's most important planning and research.

With preservation of habitat the objective, priorities are set for the protection of these sites and various safeguards considered: preservation through gifts of land, bargain sales, outright acquisitions, or land management agreements.

Species that have been identified for special protection in the Adirondack Park include: peregrine falcon, bald eagle, spruce grouse, bog turtle, Indiana bat, and timber rattlesnake.

Gifts for Wildlife New Yorkers can assist in the protection and restoration of endangered species with voluntary contributions by checking the Gifts for Wildlife category on the New York State income tax form. These funds also support programs to improve fish and wildlife, including game species.

Easements

Large tracts of land, held by timber companies or preserved as wild, private parks, are being broken up for development. Habitat disruption can be anticipated. Thorough identification of critical wildlife habitats in the Park's private lands is essential. Methods of protection available are negotiating cooperative agreements with landowners and working to acquire land or development rights (easements).

New Yorkers approved an Environmental Quality Bond Act in 1986, establishing funds for such acquisitions, but pressures for development promise to intensify. Widespread and enduring public support will be essential to adequately protect wildlife habitats in the long term.

Original source: New York State Adirondack Park Agency

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