Category Archives: Partners

2018 Annual Report

29 Tuesday Jan 2019

Posted by in Byway Administration, Mohawk Towpath, Partners, stewardship, Telling the Byway Stories, Volunteering

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While wrapping up reports and other administrative requirements of the Byway and the two organizations that are the backbone of our community

  • The Friends of the Mohawk Towpath Scenic Byway, and
  • The Mohawk Towpath Scenic Byway Coalition

…we have developed a 2018 Annual Report that you can view here. It was prepared for municipal officials within the Byway corridor, as a thank you to our volunteers for a successful year, and as a tool to help tell the story of the Byway to the general public. If you do not receive your copy of the 2018 Annual Report by mid February send a request for a copy.

This is a collage of a number of successes we had on the Mohawk Towpath Byway this year.

Were you a part of it? If you were thank you for the help. If you were not please act now to make your place on the Mohawk Towpath Byway in 2019! Join the friends of the Byway while the year is young. Click here!

New Post

11 Thursday Oct 2018

Posted by in Birding, Nature along the Byway, Partners, Recreation

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Birding Trail

John Loz and Eric Hamilton install an IBA sign to the introductory stop on the Birding Trail in the Vischer Ferry Preserve. – photo by Maryanne Mackey.

Actually there are four new posts just off the Mohawk Towpath Byway within the Vischer Ferry Nature and Historic Preserve.  They mark spots on the new birding trail added to our self guided tour of features along the Byway.  This is a joint project, long in planning, between the Audubon Society of the Capital Region and the Friends of the Mohawk Towpath Byway.

The tour points out four different habitats within the preserve each different types of bird species.  These habitats are described as open water habitat (in the background of the accompanying photo); cattail marsh; river and river edge habitat; and forest and shrub habitat.

“The Vischer Ferry Preserve was named an Important Bird Area in 1997 by Audubon New York and Bird Life International,” explains John Loz.  “This partnership between the birding community and the Byway community is most significant.”

“It is partnerships like this that broaden the appeal of the Mohawk Towpath Byway to local, regional and international visitors.  It is yet another story to add to the overall Byway experience,” adds Eric Hamilton.

Try it!  Stop at the the main entrance to the Preserve located at the intersection of Riverview Road and Van Vranken Road.  Scan the QR code posted on the wooden kiosk with the area map or key in 518-649-9990 and listen to the narrative for stop 4.  Then walk over the historic Whipple truss that bridges the 1842 enlarged Erie Canal and look for stop 31 on the right (as pictured here).

It’s all right here in our backyard!  Get out and enjoy it as the fall colors reach their peak and the bird migration along the eastern flyway is in full swing.

…and the Weather

29 Sunday Oct 2017

Posted by in Partners

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NOAAOpenHouseAs the Byway’s self appointed Weather Ready Nation Ambassador, my wife, oldest grandson and I had the privilege of visiting the new NOAA weather center in Albany today.  Even though they were preoccupied with the approaching storm they did offer some insight on what they expect this winter.  Keep in mind that the National Weather Service’s definition of winter is for the calendar season, December 21 to March 20, while you and I know it can snow anytime between now and the end of April.  In fact, before we left they were  looking at the possibility of snow on the back end of the approaching storm as precipitation is ending in the Tug Hill and western Adirondacks.NOAA

…a ‘normal’ winter, ‘like last winter’

The team of meteorologists all seemed to agree that this will be a “normal” winter, “like last winter” at least here in the Albany area.  There will be “normal” amounts of precipitation  and “normal” temperatures.  Further they point out that Lake Ontario and Lake Erie are warmer than normal right now, meaning enhanced lake effect precipitation most noticeable in the Tug Hill, northern Adirondacks and St Lawrence Valley.  They would not make any prediction on the amount of snow other than to say that “normal” winter average temperature is about 27o.  You and I know that temperatures are consistently one or two degrees cooler north of the Mohawk than they are in Albany (specifically at SUNY-IT).  They added that “normally” we are more likely to have snow early in the season and late in the season.

Will this coming storm shepherd in colder weather?  No, it will probably not result in a dramatic drop in temperatures, but more “normal” temperatures will follow.  This is likely to go into the record books as the 5th warmest October on record.  Will we have a Family Moonlight Ski in the Vischer Ferry Preserve on December 28?  Ask me on Boxing Day.  In the meantime watch for flash flooding Sunday night into Monday in low lying areas and the likelihood of high winds as the storm moves out on Monday.

The National Weather Service team also promised an update on the winter outlook on November 16.  Another teaser:  two of the younger members of the team promised to publish a video of a weather balloon launch on Youtube.  They launch a weather balloon  from the roof of the building at SUNY-IT twice daily, more often if needed.

If you ever get an invitation to visit a National Weather Service office, take them up on it!  You don’t have to be a weather geek to really appreciate the opportunity.