Category Archives: Environmental Issues

Blue Ridge Parkway, Part 2

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See it on TV* or online here!

The Blue Ridge Parkway approaches Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina.

Grandfather Mountain looms above the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina.

Tony completes his journey on the Blue Ridge Parkway in this episode (#45) of Walk in the Park TV. We enter North Carolina, stopping at Cumberland Knob, Grandfather Mountain, Linville Falls, Mount Mitchell (the highest summit in the East!), Craggy Gardens, and many other sites along the way. Then we return to Virginia, visiting Mabry Mill and Rocky Knob before heading home. Hear the melodious song of the winter wren, see wild rhododendrons in bloom, and find out about the exotic insect pests attacking our eastern hemlocks and the fraser firs of the Black Mountains. Tony shares his observations about driving the Parkway and camping along the way in this national park that is nearly 500 miles long.

*  This is showing today (Saturday, April 5, 2013) and tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. on Ithaca, NY’s public access cable TV channel 13; also on Tuesday, April 9, at 8:00 p.m. The show will repeat on this schedule, beginning Thursday, April 18, at 9:00 p.m. Blue Ridge Parkway, Part 1  will show again on channel 13 beginning Thursday, April 11, at 9:00 p.m. and will continue through the following weekend until Tuesday, April 16. See the full schedule of Ithaca public access shows.

“Walk in the Park”
A richly illustrated look at things happening at parks within and beyond the Finger Lakes region. 30 minutes. Produced by Tony Ingraham of the Town of Ithaca.
Thursdays at 9pm, Saturdays and Sundays at 10:30am, Tuesdays at 8pm on channel 13.

Getting a Haendel on Cayuga Lake

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For ten years, the tour boat/floating classroom MV Haendel has chugged up and down Cayuga Lake revealing the lake’s stories, taking its vital signs, and expanding our awareness of this dominant, beautiful body of water in New York’s Finger Lakes region. I have worked on the Haendel since late in its first season in 2003, mostly as an interpreter of the natural and cultural history of the lake on the boat’s tours out of Cayuga Inlet in Ithaca. The company, Tiohero Tours, has changed its name now to Ithaca Boat Tours, and we look forward to the new season sharing Cayuga’s waters with thousands of visitors, residents, and students.

The tour boat MV Haendel in Cayuga Inlet, Ithaca, NY

The MV Haendel heads down Cayuga Inlet toward Cayuga Lake on another tour from the Ithaca Farmers Market.

The other part of the Haendel’s mission is the Cayuga Lake Floating Classroom, where the crew takes school groups, college classes, camp groups, public eco-tours, and scientific monitoring teams out on the water to probe and learn more about what is happening below the surface. Besides teaching thousands about lake science, the Floating Classroom has played a vital role in assessing the health of the lake; most notably in discovering the aggressive, and potentially disastrous, exotic, invasive, aquatic weed hydrilla in Cayuga Inlet, setting off a major institutional and governmental response to try to control and eradicate the infestation.

Cayuga Lake Floating Classroom public eco-tour

Cayuga Lake Floating Classroom director Bill Foster instructs a public eco-tour participant during a lake sampling outing.

In this week’s episode of Walk in the Park TV, we take a visual tour of Cayuga Lake on the Haendel, from the Ithaca Farmers Market to Wells College in Aurora, as if we were on the boat itself. There is a lot to see from the water (and from the air in this case as we integrate Bill Hecht’s amazing aerial photography.) You can watch the show on Ithaca’s public access cable TV channel 13 (next scheduled showings: Saturday and Sunday at 10:30 a.m., and Tuesday, March 5, at 8:00 p.m., and at other times the station may add).

Or you can watch it online right here!

Does Cayuga Lake Freeze Over?

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This week’s Walk in the Park TV episode answers the question, “Does Cayuga Lake ever freeze over?” Cayuga Lake is the longest of the eleven Finger Lakes and is the second deepest, with more than 2 1/2 trillion gallons of rolling water that takes ten years to cycle through the lake. Does this enormous volume ever freeze over in winter? Watch this show to find out. Much of this show is an excerpt from an earlier show I recorded two years ago in my series called Cayuga Lake Heritage, which is available online.

North end of Cayuga Lake, Cayuga County, Seneca County, winter, Finger Lakes

The shallow north end of Cayuga Lake usually freezes in winter. Photo by Bill Hecht

This week’s episode (#38) is showing on Ithaca, NY’s public access cable channel 13, continuing this Saturday and Sunday at 10:30 a.m. each day, and finally next Tuesday, February 19, at 8:00 p.m. It may be shown at other times as well. (Check the schedule which is often shown briefly just before the hour and half hour.) And you can also see it online right here!

Winter Arrives in the Finger Lakes

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Two snowstorms left more than a foot on the hills, fields, towns, and gorges around Ithaca, NY, as winter began at the end of 2012. Join host Tony Ingraham in this first episode of 2013 in his public access cable TV series, “Walk in the Park.” Go on a video visit to Taughannock Falls accompanied by Duke Koistra’s ethereal piece, “First Snow.” See photographer Deanna Stickler Laurentz’s pictures of a beaver feeding along the bank of Fall Creek on January 6. Travel into winter in Ingraham’s video, “Winter Water,” visiting Buttermilk Falls, Taughannock Falls, Ithaca Falls, Cayuga Lake, and Watkins Glen State Park. Hear about the award-winning documnentary, “Chasing Ice.” Learn about the extra deer hunting season that began today and will continue until the end of January in the state’s new Deer Management Focus Area in Tompkins County surrounding Ithaca. See more Walk in the Park episodes and short videos.

This is episode 33, recorded on January 9 at PEGASYS public access TV studios in Ithaca, NY. Walk in the Park appears on Ithaca’s cable access channel 13 on Thursdays at 9:00 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays at 10:30 a.m., and Tuesdays at 8:00 p.m., and at other times of the station manager’s choosing. As of this posting, the next showings of this episode will be tomorrow, Sunday, January 13 at 10:30 a.m., and Tuesday, January 15, at 8:00 p.m. Or, watch it right here!

 

Jobs in Parks

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For the second year, I was asked to come to DeWitt Middle School in Ithaca to be a speaker during their “Looking to the Future Day,” their annual career day for 8th grade students. So, on November 30, I used my Powerpoint to explain the broad range of parks, preserves, and similar sites and organizations where one might pursue a career in “Parks and Recreation.” After fumbling for several minutes with wires, I hooked up a lapel mike to myself and started my video camera and recorded my talk for Walk in the Park TV (episode 31). Later, I exported all the Powerpoint slides as jpegs and then imported them into my video editor to illustrate my talk. 95% of the show is the slides with my voice beneath, while I navigate across each image on the screen as I discuss the topic. This is essentially a version of a talk I gave at Wells College last winter. You may find it interesting. It also is being shown on Ithaca’s public access cable TV channel 13, with airings scheduled for this Saturday and Sunday, each day at 10:30 a.m., and finally on Tuesday at 8:00 p.m., though the station manager does show it at other times as well.

Below is my description of my talk for the students when they signed up for it:

Mary is a bookkeeper, Doug is a carpenter, Jane is a Jack-of-all-trades, Mike likes working with people, Brittany loves hiking, Sam loves landscaping, Jody loves kids, and Jorge is interested in law enforcement. Which among them could find a satisfying career in parks and recreation?

All of them.

It takes a broad team of professions to run a park, or a park system. Parks are natural places, but parks serve people. Every park has to strike a balance between preserving nature and making it accessible, safe, and enjoyable for the public. There is a career for you in parks and recreation, whether you are purchasing land, making a landscape plan, mowing lawns, or training staff; or constructing and maintaining park trails, roads, campgrounds, buildings, swimming areas, boat launches and marinas, golf courses, and playgrounds; or conducting nature education activities, running a concert series, staffing a recreation center, designing publications and exhibits; or managing a payroll, personnel records, grant writing, or secretarial and administrative work. If you want to be a biologist, geologist, historian, or biological technician, there are jobs in parks and recreation.

Sandy Slams Seashore Parks

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Hurricane Sandy, Jones Beach State Park boardwalk damage

Hurricane Sandy heavily damaged the boardwalk at Jones Beach State Park on Long Island. Photo by Joe Rao

This week, Walk in the Park TV goes to coastal New Jersey and Long Island to look at the damage from Hurricane Sandy to state and national parks and communities on the barrier islands. We also also look at Sandy’s snow in the mountains and national parks of Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina. And we finish with a walk along the surf of Fire Island listening to the poetry of Walt Whitman. Walk in the Park episode 27, recorded 11/7/12.

This episode begins showing this evening (Nov. 8, 2012) at 9:00 p.m. on Ithaca, NY’s public access cable TV channel 13 and will repeat at various times for the next week. You can watch the entire episode here online, as well:

The scheduled cablecasts on channel 13 in Ithaca are at:

Thursday,  9:00 p.m.

Saturday, 10:30 a.m.

Sunday,    10:30 a.m.

Tuesday,    8:00 p.m.

It also is shown at other times as the station manager chooses.

Fall Colors in the Finger Lakes

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Episode 25 of Walk in the Park TV, “Fall Colors in the Finger Lakes,” is now showing on television and online. It begins this evening at 9:00 p.m. on Ithaca’s public access cable TV channel 13 and continues for the next week according to the schedule below. Meanwhile, you can see “Fall Colors in the Finger Lakes” online.

Cornell University Fall Creek Gorge Cascadilla Ithaca NY Fall Colors aerial photograph

Most of the Cornell campus is bounded on the north and south by gorges: Fall Creek Gorge on the north (left) and Cascadilla Glen on the south (right). Photograph by Bill Hecht

Join me, Tony Ingraham, in this visual trip around the Finger Lakes region, from the ground and in the air, marveling at the fall foliage extravaganza nature has put on for us in October. Visit Taughannock Falls and Buttermilk Falls State Parks, Cascadilla Gorge, Ithaca Falls and Fall Creek Gorge, Cornell University campus, Cayuga Lake, Myers Park and Salmon Creek, Seneca County, Seneca Lake, Keuka Lake, Canandaigua Lake, Watkins Glen State Park, Sixmile Creek in Ithaca, and more. Photographer Bill Hecht’s views of Taughannock Gorge from the air are incomparable, as are his views of the Cornell campus situated between Fall Creek Gorge and Cascadilla Glen and other aerial vistas around the region. We also visit Cesar Chavez National Monument in California, Fishlake National Forest and Zion National Park in Utah, and Glacier National Park in Montana.

See the show right here!

Or, you can catch the show on Time Warner Cable public access television channel 13 in the Ithaca area:

Thursday,  9:00 p.m.

Saturday, 10:30 a.m.

Sunday,    10:30 a.m.

Tuesday,    8:00 p.m.

It also is shown at other times as the station manager chooses.

Episode 21: Flying Over Cayuga Lake and Other Adventures

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This week’s new episode of Walk in the Park, the TV show, will first air this evening (Thursday, Sept. 20) at 9:00 p.m. on Ithaca’s public access cable channel 13. Or, you can see it here online!

Taughannock Falls State Park, Cayuga Lake, Finger Lakes, Tompkins County, Seneca County, Cayuga County, NY

Taughannock Gorge cuts toward Cayuga Lake, which winds to the north. Photo courtesy of Bill Hecht

Recorded on Sept. 19, 2012, “Talk Like a Pirate Day.” Host Tony Ingraham invites you to Heritage Day at Robert H. Treman State Park near Ithaca, then flies you over Cayuga Lake and Taughannock Falls with the East Hill Flying Club. Next over to Watkins Glen State Park to look at invasive species, to a waterfall and pool in Buttermilk Falls State Park, and  to look at white snakeroot up close!

Walk in the Park, the TV show, airs weekly on Ithaca, NY’s public access cable TV channel 13:

Thursday,  9:00 p.m.

Saturday, 10:30 a.m.

Sunday,    10:30 a.m.

Tuesday,    8:00 p.m.

It also is shown at other times as the station manager chooses.

Walk in the Park TV Show, episode 20

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Ithaca Falls, Fall Creek, Cornell, Finger Lakes, Cayuga

Ithaca Falls on Sept. 7, 2012

See it here or on TV! Recorded on September 12, 2012, and cablecast on Ithaca, NY’s cable public access TV channel 13. Host Tony Ingraham acknowledges the anniversary of the floods caused by Tropical Storm Lee a year ago by showing the popular short video he made at the time, called “Ithaca’s Gorges Flood.” We also look at the flood’s effects on Owego and Binghamton, NY. For levity, see Granny’s Pig Race at the Northampton, MA Tri-County Fair. And we visit Ithaca Falls, Buttermilk Glen, Enfield Glen in Robert H. Treman State Park, and take a close look at one of our native wildflowers.

There is one more scheduled showing on Ithaca’s channel 13 this week, on Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2012, at 8:00 p.m.

The next episode will be shown first this Thursday, Sept. 20, at 9:00 p.m.

Walk in the Park, the TV show, airs weekly on Ithaca, NY’s public access cable TV channel 13:

Thursday,  9:00 p.m.

Saturday, 10:30 a.m.

Sunday,    10:30 a.m.

Tuesday,    8:00 p.m.

It also is shown at other times as the station manager chooses.

Walk in the Park, TV Show, episode 19

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Ithaca, Cayuga Lake, aerial

Cayuga Lake winds north from Ithaca, NY in this photograph by Bill Hecht. The Cornell campus is in the lower right. See the photo essay in this week's episode of Walk in the Park!

My new episode of Walk in the Park on public access television in Ithaca is now showing  on Ithaca’s cable channel 13, and you can see it online here!

This week, we go to several places during the show: Flying over Ithaca and Cayuga Lake with Bill Hecht’s marvelous photos; sunset and blue moon on Cayuga Lake with Tiohero Tours last week; back to last week’s “Don’t Frack NY” rally at Corning Preserve Park along the Hudson River in Albany, where we will hear acclaimed writer, educator, and environmental activist Bill McKibben speak about fracking and global warming; to Taughannock Point and the Sim Redmond Band; to Ithaca’s Civil War encampment last month; and finally to the Ithaca Commons summer concert series.

If you didn’t see it Thursday evening at 9:00, you can catch it on Saturday or Sunday at 10:30 a.m., and finally next Tuesday, September 11 at 8:00 p.m. The 29-minute show is on Ithaca’s cable channel 13.

Or, watch it online right here!

Walk in the Park, the TV show, airs weekly on Ithaca, NY’s public access cable TV channel 13:

Thursday,  9:00 p.m.

Saturday, 10:30 a.m.

Sunday,    10:30 a.m.

Tuesday,    8:00 p.m.

It also is shown at other times as the station manager chooses.

You can see all Walk in the Park episodes online on this website by selecting the category “Walk in the Park TV show” in the category drop-down list in the upper right. Or you can go to Walk in the Park’s YouTube channel.