Public Lands Policy

Minor earthquake shakes southern Adirondacks early Saturday morning | NCPR News

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Minor earthquake shakes southern Adirondacks early Saturday morning | NCPR News

A minor earthquake shook the southern Adirondacks over the weekend. The 1.8 magnitude quake hit near North Creek in Warren County around 3 a.m. Saturday.

Residents in both North Creek and Johnsburg reported feeling the quake to the US Geological Survey.

While earthquakes are less frequent in the Eastern US compared to west of the Rocky Mountains, the Adirondack Park is one of the more seismically active regions in the Northeast.

All the Species Declared Extinct This Decade

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All the Species Declared Extinct This Decade

Lonesome George, the last of the Pinta Island tortoises, died in 2012. George’s story is the perfect extinction story. It features a charismatic character with a recognizable face, an obvious villain, and the tireless efforts of naturalists.

The population of the Pinta Island tortoise species was decimated by whalers hunting and eating them during the 19th century. Zoologist József Vágvölgyi discovered George in 1971 and brought him into captivity. No other Pinta Island Tortoises have since been found. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) declared the species extinct in the wild in 1996, while researchers attempted to breed George with other tortoises to at least preserve his genetic material. But George died—of natural causes—sparking news stories about his life and legacy, which media outlets continue to cover to this day.

But George’s story is not a typical story. Perhaps a better mascot of the extinction crisis is Plectostoma sciaphilum; a small snail, called a “microjewel” for its beautiful, intricate shell, that inhabited a single limestone hill in Malaysia. During the 2000s, a cement company wiped the hill off the map for its valuable resources, rendering the “microjewel” snail extinct.

‘That’s Vinegar:’ The Ohio River’s History of Contamination and Progress Made – The Allegheny Front

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‘That’s Vinegar:’ The Ohio River’s History of Contamination and Progress Made – The Allegheny Front

In 1958, researchers from the University of Louisville and the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission gathered at a lock on the Monongahela River for routine collecting, counting and comparing of fish species.

At the time, the best way to accomplish this was what’s called lock chamber sampling, or filling a 350-by-56-foot lock with river water, injecting it with cyanide and waiting for the dead fish to float to the top. Archaic, but effective.

On this particular day, researchers opened the chamber to find one fish inside.

One fish.

It shouldn’t have been surprising, said Jerry Schulte, a biologist who managed the source water protection and emergency response team for the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission [ORSANCO] for more than two decades. After all, the steel companies that dotted the region’s riverbanks were dumping their contaminated water right into the rivers. The waterways were so acidic that the steel-hulled boats meant to last 20 years rusted out in three and the pH routinely measured less than 4.

Edmund Fitzgerald sinks | Editor S Pick | wnem.com

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November 10th, 1975: Edmund Fitzgerald sinks | Editor S Pick | wnem.com

At the time of her launch in June of 1958, the Edmund Fitzgerald was the largest vessel of her kind. At a length of 729 feet long and 75 feet wide, and equipped with a 7,500 horsepower steam turbine engine, she had the ability to carry an incredible 27,500 tons of cargo.

She and her crew served the Great Lakes for 17 years, until November 10th, 1975. It was on that day, according to the famous tune by Gordon Lightfoot, that the “Witch of November came stealin’.”

That tragic November day marks the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Click here to see underwater video of the wreck.