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Dear Readers,
Editor John Gereau Contributing Writers Keith Lobdell John Gereau Shawn Ryan Thom Randall
Lou Varricchio Pete DeMola Elicia Mailhiot Mauranda Sorensen
Cover Design DJ Alexander Layout and design John Gereau, Leslie Brooks, DJ Alexander Published by New Market Press, Inc. 16 Creek Road, Suite 5, Middlebury, VT 05753 (802) 388-6397, Fax: (802) 388-6399 Denton Publications, Inc. 14 Hand Ave., Elizabethtown, NY 12932 (518) 873-6368, Fax: 873-6360
Ah, fall at last. Autumn is by far my favorite time of year in the North Country, when the backcountry ponds become speckled with brightly colored leaves and the familiar scent of wood smoke again wafts from stovepipes. For me autumn is about traditions. Gathering at our family hunting camp in Newcomb. Taking in one last brook trout fishing trip before the pond relents to its deep winter sleep. These are the fond memories I have of autumn in the North Country and I’m hoping you have the same. At the same time, why not augment those memories by taking advantage of the many events and attractions we’ve listed inside this edition of North Country Living Magazine? Inside this edition you will find an in depth look at the Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation; a tribute to the Adirondack Balloon Fest and local Oktoberfests; a look at Vermont’s covered bridges; a historical perspective of the Hotel Champlain; a feature on the proud tradition of soccer in Chazy; an expose on an area known as Scomotion; an awesome pictorial by Adirondack photographer Carl Heilman II and much, much more. Again, we thank you for reading this locally grown magazine and for your positive comments about the articles contained herein. Please remember to patronize the businesses inside whose advertisements make it possible to distribute this free publication throughout the North Country. Thank you, and see you again this winter. John Gereau, Managing Editor
Copyright 2014, New Market Press, Inc./Denton Publications, Inc.
PICTURED HERE: Interior view of the Pulp Mill Bridge in Middlebury. Turn to page 26 for an article on exploring Vermont’s covered bridges. Photo by Lou Varricchio
COVER: This is a fall photograph of Heart Lake from atop Mount Jo with views of Marcy, Colden and Algonquin. Photo by Carl Heilman II
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Loon
RESEARCH
Dark traces of the collar are often visible. In the winter, the bill is lighter and of a grayish hue. Juveniles are similar to adults in winter plumage, but have more prominent barring across the back. A distinctive feature of the loon is its eerie, yodel-like call that can be heard on northern lakes where nesting occurs and on wintering areas in late winter and early spring. 6 | North Country Living Magazine | Vol. 3 No. 3
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Referred to as the “spirit of northern waters,� the Common Loon is recognized as a symbol of unspoiled wilderness. In breeding plumage, this water bird is black-headed with a heavy, black, dagger-like bill, dark red eyes, a black collar, a white necklace, prominent white checks on the back, and white underparts. In non-breeding plumage, the body is essentially grayish above and whitish below with varying amounts of white showing on the side of the head.
Birds
is for the... 7 | North Country Living Magazine | Vol. 3 No. 3
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Loons lay one to two eggs in a nest at the water’s edge
Loon research is for the birds Story by Jon Hochschartner
Photographs by Nina Schoch
Nina Schoch, coordinator of Biodiversity Research Institute’s (BRI’s) Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation, thinks the reasons loons are viewed as a symbol of the Adirondacks are relatively simple. “They’re a really charismatic, compelling, appealing bird,” Schoch said. “They’re just a captivating animal. They’re really beautiful to look at. They’re not so common like robins are and they have these beautiful calls that people really like. They remind people of wild, remote places.” The animals have approximately a 20-30 year lifespan, according to Schoch, a wildlife veterinarian. “Some of these birds that we banded in 1998 [when research began] we’re still watching,” she said. “We get to know their personalities.” Schoch said adult loons return the North Country around the time of ice-out. “Sometimes we see them on the lake the day ice lets out,” she said, adding the males come back to the territory first. “The females come back a week or two later. Usually the males are on territory late by April, or the beginning of May. The
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females are back within the second or third week of May at the latest.” Loons begin nesting in May, and incubation can last from 26 to 30 days. “So we start seeing chicks anywhere from early-to-midto-late June,” Schoch said. “Sometimes the first nest fails or they may nest late. They may re-nest if the first nest fails. So sometimes we have chicks hatching all the way up until mid-August.” After they hatch, the chicks ride on the backs of their parents for a couple weeks, sometimes as long as a month. “They start off as a little black downy puffball,” Schoch said. “Then around two or three weeks of age they change to a brown downy puffball.” At approximately eight weeks old, the birds begin to get their scaly, grey feathers. “By nine weeks they have the full immature plumage,” she said. “They keep that plumage for two to three years. They don’t get the black and white plumage until they’re at least two years old and usually three.” Schoch said loons are unable to fly until the age of approximately three months. “Somewhere around eleven or twelve weeks of age their primary feathers are long enough that they can start running up and down and try to practice flying,” she said. “The parents still feed them at that point.” Around October or November, the parents begin migrating to the coast for the winter. “The chicks stay behind because they don’t know what’s going on,” Schoch said. “As the lakes ice-in they start migrating to the coast too. Our migration studies so far, between band returns and satellite transmitter work that we did, have shown that they utilize the Cape Cod area, New Jersey coast, and they have been seen as far south as North Carolina and also in Tampa Bay in Florida.”
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In the winter, the adult birds’ plummage changes to a color that looks very similar to that of their chicks. “They do that in October, November, December,” Schoch said. “So over the winter they look a lot like an immature bird. Then in the spring, like March and April, they’re changing their plumage again.” At that point they lose all their flight feathers. “They’re flightless for about a month until they grow the new plumage back in,” she said. “That’s when they get the black and white plumage again.” In mid-to-late April the loons begin flying back to the Adirondacks to breed and begin the process again. “Migrations and being on the wintering areas are pretty stressful for them, compared to the relatively mild waters here in the Adirondacks,” Schoch said.
he Center for Loon Conservation
BRI’s Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation, according to Schoch, is essentially the New York field office for the Biodiversity Research Institute, a non-profit ecological research organization based in Gorham, Maine. “BRI has many research projects to learn more about how wildlife and ecosystems are impacted by humans, anything from energy production to recreation and so on,” Schoch said. “Our original purpose was to learn more about loons and see how mercury pollution impacted loons. Now we’re also expanding to work on many different species. We also recently started a nationwide loon conservation effort, trying to restore loon populations in areas where they dropped down in the past.” BRI’s Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation operates on a small budget, generally employing only one worker besides Schoch. “We have one part-time person year round,” she said. “And we have summer, seasonal field staff, who are funded through a grant from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.” Schoch added that she is hoping to raise enough funding this fall to hire another staff person this year, who would at least be part-time, though ideally full-time. The Center traces its origins to when BRI came to New York in 1998. The organization “started sampling loons to get mercury levels in the birds and compare that to their reproductive success as part of a nationwide study,” Schoch said. “That went on for three years. And over the course of that three year period, I became involved with it and I started coordinating field work.” Out of this work, the Adirondack Cooperative Loon Program was formed, which lasted for several years. “It was a collaboration between BRI, DEC [New York State Department of Environmental Conservation], the Wildlife Conservation Society, the Wild Center, and the Audobon Society,” Schoch said. “That evolved into BRI’s Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation. We still collaborate with New York State DEC and the Wildlife Conservation Society on many different projects.” Schoch said the long-term research of BRI’s Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation is dedicated to examining mercury pollution in loons. “We’re using loons as an indicator species for how mercury effects aquatic ecosystems,” she said. “Because loons are our top predator. They live 20-30 years and they’re very territorial. They’ll come back to the same spot on the same lake year after year.” As mentioned earlier, another study the Center is conducting is looking at the migration of the birds using geolocators. Schoch wants to learn about the threat the birds might be exposed to in their winter locales or migrating to and from them. One study, that the Center started last year as a pilot program and is being expanded this year, examines the factors that influence
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nesting success. “We’re doing that with trail cameras that we’re placing near loon nest sites,” Schoch said. “[We’re] studying the images from that to determine sites that have good nesting success versus ones that don’t and why they did or didn’t. You know, if it’s high predation or human disturbance.” The Center is also involved in various forms of outreach. “We do offer presentations for various groups,” Schoch said. “I put out a newsletter at least once a year. We have school curricula.” The Center installed a display on I-87 at the High Peaks Welcome Center which introduces visitors to their work. The Center has also launched a campaign encouraging fishermen to recycle their line. “We had such an increase in loons being tangled in fishing line we wanted to address that in some way and increase people’s awareness about it,” Schoch said. Finally, on Oct. 12, the Center will hold the PICTURED ON PAGE 9: workers with BRI’s Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation are weighing a chick Adirondack Loon Celebration, an event in its and banding an adult loon. All were released unharmed. second year, at the Saranac Lake town hall and nearby Riverside Park. “Right now we’re ABOVE: An adult loon stretches for the camera. seeking sponsors for it,” Schoch said. “We’ll have Photos by Nina Schoch concerts, kid’s activities, presentations, looncalling contests, a loon-quilt raffle, and a silent auction.” Schoch said about 350 people attended the event last year and she’s hoping to increase attendance significantly in 2014. To learn more about BRI’s Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation and to download loon quilt raffle tickets, visit www.briloon.org/adkloon.
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EYE ON THE ARTS | Hub Consolidated
John Chiles: The art of glass Glassmaking requires a little science, a little engineering and a lot of artistry Story by Lou Varricchio
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lassmaking is both art and industry. In the case of Vermont artist and glassmaker John Chiles, getting involved in glassmaking requires a passion which includes a little science, a little engineering, and a lot of
artistry. Connecticut born Chiles owns Hub Consolidated, Inc., and John Chiles Class of Orwell, Vt. The Hub operation is a pure Vermont cottage industry; it occupies a 3,000 sq. ft. former dairy barn and addition to Chiles’ residence. Hub Consolidated is a leader in the design and manufacture of durable reliable and efficient glass heating and melting equipment. Hub furnaces are known for their design features; they are manufactured for maximum efficiency and minimum maintenance. Ask any successful glassmaker or glass artists—they probably have Hub hardware in their shop. Made-in-Vermont Hub products are recognized in glass shops and factories around the world. “All of the furnaces we have built are still in operation,” says Chiles. “Our oldest furnace has been in daily operation melting beautiful glass day in and day out for over 20 tears; it will continue to work just as hard and just as effectively for many years to come.” On the flip side of the manufacturing end of the business, there’s the art. John Chiles’ heart of glass isn’t the fragile kind you hear about in pop songs. But his heart is in all facets of glass from sand to furnace to art—he’s a Renaissance Man of glass. Chiles’ inspiring artwork is found in a wide range of retail shops and galleries. High-end customers may also commission Chiles to create special one of a kind works. According to artist Mary Martell, wife and manager of Hub, “John’s very creative with an intuitive understanding—he can make anything in glass.” On a visit to Hub’s plant, Hub employees were working on commemorative-U.S. Presidential plate stands for Steuban Glasswork. During that busy morning, Chiles was teaching a class of Middlebury College art students how to use a glass furnace while Martell was busy overseeing work on the Presidential plate stands. “Our equipment is the biggest facet of the business,” said Martell. “But john still finds time to create artwork that is sold through his website, www.Johnchilesart. com.” Chiles was too busy to chat much with this writer on the morning he was skillfully instructing students on how to move a crucible of molten glass from furnace to shop floor. Inside the crucible, the viscous material looked more like translucent lava than glass. In fact, the glass removed from the Hub furnace was slightly hotter than most molten lava; it was seething at a temperature of over 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. But is the weird translucent stuff a liquid or a solid when it cools? Well, there’s no clear answer according to ceramic scientists. Look at ancient glass windows in European churches and you’ll notice that the force of gravity has a way of pulling the stuff like it’s some kind of slow-motion flowing taffy. “In terms of molecular dynamics and thermodynamics,: writes physicist Philip
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Gibbs of the University of California, “it is possible to justify various different views that it is a highly viscous liquid, an amorphous solid, or simply that glass is another state of matter which is neither liquid nor solid.” But John Chiles doesn’t appear to be too concerned about the scientific debate over how to classify glass. For the artist, it’s a medium—and it is the artist’s message. “When I first started making the pieces that have evolved into my current work, I was preoccupied primarily with making simple and elegant classical forms,” he says. “Over time, I began to elaborate on those forms by adding colorful shapes to their exteriors. With the addition of external elements, the pieces began to take on more character like attributes. These expressions of character have become more emotional in nature as they have found their way to the insides of the vessels.” Chiles described the process of turning sand into glass into art. “Elements are made from molten glass gathered from the furnace and worked on he end of a solid metal rod. When each element is finished it is put in a gas-fired oven called a garage where it is kept hot until it is time to attach it to the finished vessel,” Chiles notes.
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“For the vessel, molten glass is again gathered from the furnace but this time on the end of a long, hollow metal tube called a blowpipe. The glass is blown and shaped at the glassblowing bench. A glory hole is used to periodically reheat the glass during the shaping process. Reheating keeps the glass soft and pliable enough for the glassblower to continue working the glass.” To learn about John Chiles’ art and Hub Consolidated products, visit the websites www.Johnchilesart.com and www.hubglass. com. Chiles work is available at a number of Vermont craft shops. The Orwell, Vt., gallery is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. For details and directions, call 802-948-2209.
PICTURED: Vermont artist John Chiles at work at his shop in Orwell. Photos by J. Kirk Edwards
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The Adirondack Balloon Festival
Thursday Sept. 18 - Sunday Sept. 21
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N O O L L A B 4 1 0 2 t s e F
Photo by Carl Heilman II
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These aspects have also prompted a strong bond between the organizers, the pilots and spectators — prompting some of the top balloonists in the nation to participate in the event, year after year. The 2014 Adirondack Balloon Festival, with most events scheduled at the Floyd Bennett Memorial Airport in Queensbury, is set for Thursday Sept. 18 through Sunday Sept. 21. This year’s fest features not only the traditional Thursday kickoff launch of 20-plus balloons in the intimate setting of Crandall Park in Glens Falls, but also a concluding mass launch on Sunday in the same site. Highlights also include Saturday evening’s “Moonglow” mass balloon light-up event, as well as a balloon-themed block party Thursday night in historic downtown Glens Falls, featuring live entertainment, children’s activities and a classic car show.
Fancifully shaped craft featured The festival kicks off at about 4:30 p.m. Thursday in Crandall Park in Glens Falls with a performance by the beloved country-rock group Stony Creek Band, and the liftoff of about 20 balloons, weather permitting. The block party a half-mile away follows in Glens Falls. On Friday, the festival moves to the Floyd Bennett Memorial Airport in Queensbury, where gates open at 3 p.m. with aircraft displays, an extensive craft fair, vendors, and children’s activities including a rock climbing wall and bounce houses. At 5 p.m. and thereafter, a launch of 80+ balloons features speciallyshaped editions. On Saturday and Sunday at the airport, activities and breakfast begin at 5 a.m. Up to 100 balloons lift off at about 6:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. both days Vendors open up early and continue all day.
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ver four decades, the Adirondack Balloon Festival has earned an international reputation as the premier familyoriented event of its kind. At other balloon events, spectators are routinely roped off from the colorful hot-air balloons — but at the Adirondack festival, spectators can often participate, getting up close enough to help a pilot and their crew launch a craft. And for 41 years, there’s been no admission charge to attend the festival, which features the unparalleled scenic backdrop of the Adirondack foothills. It’s for these reasons that citizens of northern New York, as well as people from around the world, have embraced the Adirondack Balloon Festival with such enthusiasm. 18 | North Country Living Magazine | Vol. 3 No. 3
All flights are weather permitting. The airport liftoffs are so eagerly anticipated that they annually prompt people to get out of bed at 4 a.m. or earlier to get to the airport in time to beat the crowds. Sunday features a mass ascension of balloons at 6:30 a.m., and a tribute to Walter Grishkot, the festival’s founder. Church services are to be held at 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. The festival moves back to Crandall Park Sunday afternoon, with the Jonathan Newell Band performing from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., when about 20 balloonists will launch their crafts, concluding the festival. Spectators are urged to bring their cameras because there are plenty of dramatic photo opportunities — but dogs are barred. For the activities occurring at the airport, VIP parking is available, conveniently located in front of the airport terminal. For details, see: www.adirondackballoonfest.org. ncliving@denpubs.com
Major Music Festival nearby in Lake George.
While the balloon festival will undoubtedly be drawing a considerable crowd, thousands of additional people will be drawn to Warren County during the same weekend for the first-ever American Music Festival for the Lake, a two-day music fest — featuring nationallyrenowned bands — slated for Charles Wood Park in Lake George. The festival, the first of its kind for Lake George, headlines at least four rock bands of different genres on Saturday and four country-rock groups on Sunday. The festival also features an arts & crafts fair, fireworks, a Flashlight 5-kilometer footrace, children’s amusement rides, plus a Moonglow mass balloon illumination session on Saturday evening. Specialty foods will be available, plus themed boat cruises, hotair balloon rides and parasail excursions.
Proceeds of the weekend’s events are to go towards preserving and enhancing the ecological health of Lake George.
Scheduled to perform at this music festival Saturday
are: the renowned Robert Randolph & the Family Band whose leader has won acclaim for his Hendrix-like riffs on the pedal steel guitar; Paranoid Social Club, a punk-pop trio that’s achieved a cult status following two international hits; The famed NRBQ band that has riveted audiences with its repertoire of blues, rock and swing; and Wild Adriatic, the Capital Region rockers that have earned national fame.
Slated to perform at the fest Sunday are: the supergroup New Riders of the Purple Sage that once
included members of the Grateful Dead and have been called “the cosmic cowboys of country rock; the Claire Lynch Band whose namesake was awarded Female Vocalist of the Year three times and has been nominated for two Grammys; Rosco Bandana, a southern band that blends country blues and folk; plus area favorites The Stony Creek Band.
Admission to the music festival grounds is a modest $15 on Saturday and $10 on Sunday for adults, and free for children under 14. northcountrylivingmagazine.com
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