Lynda Rummel
Wild turkey in a Fargo backyard.
haired couple” who walked the whole thing. It was a grand celebration, both then and later that evening, when Ruth and Dan narrated their story, showing a tiny fraction of Dan’s pictures. Most people left Sunday morning, but three of us continued to fool around the neighborhood for one more day, since Lois of Arizona was stuck waiting until Monday for the once-weekly flight from Fargo back home. We took a walk along the parklands adjacent to the Red River in Fargo, sometimes in seemingly normal residential neighborhoods. Imagine our surprise when we saw a flock of wild turkey in one house’s back yard. From Wisconsin westward we had become aware of the huge flocks everywhere. For perspective on this bird’s rebound, know that I got into the Rochester, N.Y.’s. newspaper nature page one year in the early 80s because I saw a flock in a nearby big state park, something so rare back then. We drove around southeast North Dakota, soaking up the sights, touching on a few railroad spots to appease me, and took one last walk on the NCT. We stopped north of where the previous day’s hike along the Red River Valley and Western had ended, and took a quick short walk at Walcott, some of it on heavy, well-made puncheon over wet spots, built by the Dakota Prairie Chapter. We stopped to take pictures of typical iconic trackside grain elevators, which was nearly fatal. The wet area around us was humming with mosquitoes, so after taking pictures, we looked down at our legs between shorts and socks and saw literally dozens of mosquitoes starting to bite. A fast walk back ensued. Who has bad mosquitoes in September? On the way back north toward Enderlin then Fargo, with sun low in the west, there was a moment when we looked over endless fields of golden crops, lavender distant shaded trees and slight hills, and a clearing light blue sky. And we knew why North Dakota’s license plates look that way.
24
The North Star
What is Next for the Adirondack NCNST? By Mary Coffin
A
fter nine years of scouting, ground truthing, evaluating and GPSing the Adirondack route jointly proposed by NCTA and New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) in 2007, all the various levels of bureaucracy within the Adirondack Park right up to the Governor finally approved the route in October 2015. Various routes had been discussed since the 1980’s and now the approved route crosses the central Adirondacks to Crown Point and the Lake Champlain Bridge to Vermont. So where do we go from here and what is next to get this 158 mile section on the ground? Most of the route is on highly regulated N.Y. State lands, the Forest Preserve, and protected by the State Constitution. These Forest Preserve lands are classified as Wilderness or Wild Forest and 81 miles is on existing trails on State lands. But these trails are not yet connected. We need to fill these gaps, located mostly deep in the forest, with 38 miles of new trail. Most of the new trail is on State land or timber company easements. The balance of 39 miles is for now temporarily on roads to avoid private lands. See the full 2015 Final Plan at http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/lands_forests_pdf/ncnst001. pdf. Only 38 miles of trail sounds easy to build right? Well, each of the eight units (Wild Forests and Wilderness Areas) must have a Unit Management Plan (UMP) and General Environmental Impact Study (GEIS) or amendment to the UMP that includes the North Country National Scenic Trail. Only a couple have been completed and that is where we start. For the others we work with the DEC Supervising Foresters/Planners to complete the UMPs and amendments and where necessary DEC Trail Easements. We have been permitted to flag only a small 1.7 mile section of the new route. Since the gaps between existing trails are located deep in the forests it requires a bit of hiking just to start flagging. For example to flag this 1.7 mile piece we needed to hike 10 miles round trip. This is typical. Since the trail in this 6 million acre Adirondack Park is a highly regulated area, we need to work directly under the supervision of the forester in each unit and their time available in the field is very limited. Another immediate step we have taken is working with the Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK) and the DEC to establish a trail adoption and steward program. Volunteers can adopt an existing trail on the NCNST route and in the future new trail as it is completed. If you or your group is interested in becoming a steward and maintaining a section of Adirondack NCNST and can check it out annually, contact maryccoffin@gmail.com.