Breaking News

Nature

‘Tis the Season for Salt — And Frozen Dog Poo

With the colder temperatures and snowfall arriving, it’s a good time to talk about salt deicers and frozen dog poo…two environmental issues that deserve some attention during wintertime here in western New York. Salt and bagged deicers do an amazing job of melting ice and preventing falling snow from accumulating on sidewalks and driveways. But did you realize that some deicers, such as rock salt, can pose a threat to children, pets and the environment? As salt dissolves, it washes away, down sewer drains and into lakes and streams – and can even seep into groundwater and ...

Follow The Mysterious Wood Turtle At Audubon’s First Friday

Where do wood turtles go when no one is watching? Biologist Sara Crayton started radio-tracking these elusive turtles to find out. At Audubon Community Nature Center’s First Friday on Dec. 3, area residents can join the West Virginia University PhD student in “Following Wood Turtles” to learn about their natural history, conservation efforts, and current research. Crayton’s doctoral work focuses on responses of Wood Turtle populations to landscape alteration for oil and gas development in Pennsylvania. She will share what she has learned about this incredible species, ...

Ginkgo Grew With Dinosaurs, And Is Still Worth Growing

There are some trees whose showiness does not end once they’ve lost their leaves in autumn. Some trees have an attractive bony framework that is then revealed. Ginkgo tree, for instance. Leafless, a ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) tree, soft and green in summer, appears as if each main limb knows ...

What Are You Thankful For?

As Thanksgiving approaches, we find ourselves paying a little more attention to the things we are thankful for. I’m thankful for a lot of things, one being all the people who appreciate the beauty of our county and who have dedicated their time to help keep it that way. CWC, CCS&W, CLA, CLP, CCC, CWA — there are a lot of acronyms and a lot of groups working in our county. An entire book could be written documenting all these organizations and explaining how they are all different and what each one focuses on. We have our differences, but I choose to believe that, at the end of ...

What Are You Feeding Your Lake?

At the Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy, we think about what we humans feed our lakes, streams and groundwaters. We all live in a watershed. What runs off our yards with and in precipitation, what we place on our yards, what drips out of our vehicles, what we put in our dishwashers, down our ...

At Home: Chickadees Nest In Large Maple Sugar Tree

I've found entertainment in my yard in the past few weeks. I've been watching Black-capped Chickadees nesting in a dead tree. The tree they chose is a large Sugar Maple, whose top fell over in a storm seven years ago. The top has been cut and burned in the campfire or decomposing in the ...