Growing up in Chautauqua County, I always believed that I would one day leave and relocate to a larger city with more to offer. My hometown of Fredonia, New York, while charming in a small-town way, was never a part of the future I imagined myself to have. However, once I left to pursue my ...

Baby birds on the ground, turtles in the road, and fawns seemingly abandoned by their mothers. It is that time of year when all sorts of wildlife seem in desperate need of our help. But do they really need us? Most of the time, the answer is easy: no. Seeing a helpless animal, especially a ...

The grasses, ferns, and flowers have really hit their stride and they are continuing to grow taller as we head into summer. As I was out with a group of sixth-graders on a field trip to Audubon, one of the students commented offhand that the plants around us were like a miniature forest under ...

There’s over 4 million miles of road in the United States. We are tied to our vehicles like they are a part of our family. We even name our vehicles. Roads and vehicles are logistically essential for our technologically advanced fast-paced lives. When I was growing up, getting your license ...

We all want to keep Chautauqua Lake a lake! No one wants the area by their dock to fill in and get shallower, whether from dead plant matter blown in by winds or mud carried in from a nearby road ditch. With so much discussion around New York State’s pending wetland regulations, seeing signs ...

In hindsight, I don’t actually remember the last time that jaw literally hung open in awe. I forgot what it feels like to be so incredulous that you start to almost hum with excitement. The eclipse recently came close to producing that feeling, but not quite. Standing under a dark sky in ...