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Wallkill Valley Land Trust
E-Newsletter
Esopus, Gardiner, Lloyd, Marlborough, New Paltz, Plattekill, Rosendale, and Shawangunk
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A New Era...
This week, the Wallkill Valley Land Trust is leaving its offices on Main Street in New Paltz and moving down the road to The Historic Huguenot Society's Family Associations Center (FAC) building. The FAC building is located at 64 Huguenot Street and the new spacious digs will provide us with a larger main work area, additional office and storage space, a respectable conference room, and a beautiful vista outside our window.
We are honored to become a part of the Huguenot Street neighborhood. Recognized as a National Historic Landmark District with stone houses from the early 1700s, the character of American history of this region has been preserved through restoration of the architecture and the landscape. The Family Associations Center was originally built in 1810, with additions made to the building in 1900. It was the Bruyn Store, and more recently has been used as a meeting location for some of the family.
This new location places us closer to the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail and the Huguenot Street farm, both shining examples of the recreational, scenic, agricultural, and historical benefits that conservation easements provide to the community.
Feel free to stop by and visit us sometime! The FAC building is the white house on the corner of Huguenot Street and North Front Street:
Wallkill Valley Land Trust
64 Huguenot Street
New Paltz, NY 12561
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 Open Skies
By David Rossetter
The Land Trust movement is all about wise uses of open spaces. But a wonderful consequence of those priorities is less light shining into the skies at night. Many of us love living away from cities so we can enjoy seeing what dark skies have to offer.
Still, poorly lit areas can affect us and our environment. By poorly lit, I mean lights that shine up (so we can see the sky better?) They shine out to trespass on neighbors and glare so bright that one loses one's night vision after driving by. Bright security lights create shadows and restrict vision (due to glare) so that they actually decrease security and shine all night wasting energy. Many areas are lit so brightly that they affect behavior of plants and animals. These problems are quickly becoming rampant even in the rural areas of our Wallkill Valley.
But, if you do get a chance to be under dark skies on a regular basis, I want to point out some sights to look for each month. You don't need to use a telescope. Small binoculars are nice but certainly not required. You will also want a sky map to help locate constellations. Knowing a few of the prominent "pictures in the sky" and brighter stars makes navigating the heavens much easier. There are lots of printable maps available on the web (check out http://skymaps.com). Your local book shop will have beginner books and maps on astronomy. For a better selection visit our local astronomy store: High Point Scientific in northwestern New Jersey (www.highpointscientific.com).
Winter can be a wonderful time to enjoy the night sky. Without summer's haze, the sky can be more transparent. You do not have to step out too far from the front door or warm car for too long. However, do dress warmly as sky-gazing is not a physically active pastime. Also, never lick the telescope!
The highlights this month are several planets and the winter Milky Way. Have you ever seen the Milky Way? It is a lighter band that crosses overhead during certain times of the year. We are looking at our galaxy (island of stars) edge on from our perspective. In the late summer, the center of our galaxy is overhead (the very center is in the constellation Sagittarius). In the winter, we are looking directly out from the center toward the outer arms. On a clear night away from lights, you will see the Milky Way running from the south just east of Orion the Hunter (everybody can find Orion!) north up through Cassiopeia the Queen (the W or M depending on her orientation in the northern sky). While not as bright as summer, the Milky Way often stands out in the crystal clear, transparent skies of winter. For a real treat, use a pair of binoculars to scan the length of the Milky Way. You will find lots of star clusters and nebulae (gas clouds) not visible with the naked eye.
February, this year, is a real planet-fest. Early in the month you can catch Jupiter in the southwest just after sunset. With binoculars, you might be able to catch Neptune right next to it - very dim and blue-ish. Venus is found low in the west at sunset around mid-month getting higher and bright as the month goes on as the "evening star". Jupiter and Venus pass right next to each other at sunset on the 16th. Mars is up all night (no, it is not as big as the moon in the sky). It rises in the east at sunset and will be almost straight up at mid-night. You will see it bright and orange-ish not far from the Gemini stars, Castor and Pollux. Saturn rises later in the evening east of Leo the Lion. If you have access to a telescope, the rings are visible again after being edge on last September. I call them Steve Martin rings as they look like the old arrow-through-the-head gag. For a real challenge, look for Mercury on the eastern horizon at sunrise.
For more information on light pollution and what we can do about it, please check out the International Dark-Sky Association: http://www.darksky.org/. For a more Northeastern perspective, take a look at the Dark Sky Society: http://www.darkskysociety.org/. Finally, if you want to get more involved in astronomy, we have a wonderful astronomy club that meets monthly in New Paltz (at SUNY) for indoor meetings with great speakers and outdoors up at Wilcox Park in northern Dutchess County: the Mid-Hudson Astronomical Association (www.midhudsonastro.org). Disclaimer: I am the Vice President of the MHAA.
David Rossetter is a local resident, a pilot, the Vice President of the Mid-Hudson Astronomical Association, and Board Vice President for the Wallkill Valley Land Trust.
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Monarch Butterfly: Vibrant Fliers at Risk
From the Environmental Defense Fund
With their tiger coloring and 4-inch wingspans, the monarch spends at least part of its life in every state of the lower 48. Seven states, from Texas to Idaho to Vermont, have designated the monarch the state insect.
Monarchs carry on one of the most spectacular seasonal migrations of any creature on earth. The population east of the Rockies overwinters in small isolated "islands" of oyamel fir trees in the mountains of central Mexico. In the spring, these individuals only get as far as the southern U.S. before they breed and die. Their descendants continue the migration cycle.
Global Warming Threats
Climate change poses a two-barreled threat to these beautiful travelers, affecting both their wintering grounds and summer breeding grounds.
In the high altitude conifer forests of central Mexico where they spend the winter, wetter, colder conditions are predicted over next 50 years. Rain followed by freezing temperatures can be lethal to overwintering monarchs.
The hotter, drier summer conditions predicted for eastern U.S. and Canada could shift suitable habitats northward, possibly extending migration distances. High temperatures or drought could affect food resources, reproductive success and adult survival. It's unclear whether the range of the larval monarch's host plant, milkweed, will shift with the butterfly's range.
Wider Implications
The monarch's awe-inspiring migration story is a wonder of nature. Monarchs may not be the proficient pollinators that bees are, but because they migrate over vast distance, they pollinate plants across the country.
Starting February 4th -- To track Monarch Butterflies migration LIVE, go to Journey North
(http://www.learner.org/jnorth/monarch/index.html)
Monarch Butterfly Facts - Scientific Name: Danaus plexippus
- Range: North America (including Central Mexico), South America, Caribbean, Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Mauritius, the Canary Islands, and western Europe.
- Status: IUCN has designated the monarch migration a "threatened phenomenon" Cool fact: Takes multiple generations to complete its round trip migration
- Global warming impacts: Eastern U.S. populations are vulnerable to wetter winters in central Mexico; hotter, drier climates to the north are driving the monarch's eastern breeding range northward.
- Implications: Monarchs are pollinators across a wide range; many plants are insect-pollinated and can't reproduce without their winged visitor.
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We invite readers to submit their favorite quote to Nature Quotes !
Now it is more convenient than ever to donate to Wallkill Valley Land Trust! Just go to www.wallkillvalleylt.org and use our 'Click and Pledge' program, or you can send contributions to: P.O. Box 208, New Paltz, NY 12561 Thank you for your support and interest. The preservation of our rural surroundings depend on it! |
Board of Directors
Robert E. Taylor, President,
New Paltz
David Rossetter,
Vice-President,
Gardiner
Allan G. Bowdery,
Secretary,
New Paltz James H. Ottaway Jr. Treasurer, New Paltz
Bradford Barclay, New Paltz
Rob Hare, Esopus
Seth Hollander, Gardiner
Carol B. LeFevre, Gardiner
Angela Sisson, Shawangunk
Raymond D. Smith, Jr., Gardiner
Johanna Sokolov, Gardiner
Advisory Board
Peter Ferrante, Jr.
Judy Gueron Cara Lee
Ray Rice
WVLT Staff
Christie Ferguson, Executive Director
Amy R. Poux, Development Associate Yinmei Lin, Office Manager & Development Coordinator
Consultants
Lynn Bowdery, Land Steward
Barry Tunkel, Bookkeeper
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