Join Us for Our 2022 Guided Watershed Tours!
For the fourth year in a row, we are happy to offer Guided Watershed Tours. Join our staff and expert guest naturalists for outdoor education programming featuring diverse ecological themes in the Ausable, Boquet, and Saranac River watersheds. Watershed tours are designed to engage local citizens of all ages in outdoor recreational activities, while also inspiring participants to be active stewards of their local environment. Celebrate or kindle your appreciation for the natural beauty of the northern Adirondacks and leave with a better understanding of what threatens our local environment - and what you can do to protect these biodiverse habitats.
What to Expect
All guided watershed tours are free and open to the public, though donations are accepted. Participants under the age of 18 must be accompanied by an adult. All participants must be vaccinated for COVID-19. Tours will last one to four hours and are subject to weather with rain dates in place. We will follow all CDC and NYSDOS COVID-19 safety guidelines. There is a maximum of 12 participants per tour, and registration in advance is required. For questions and to register, please email events@ ausableriver.org or call (518) 637-6859.
2022 Spring Programs
• Saturday, May 21: Birding Walk, 7:00am – 11:00am (This tour is currently full, but please email or call to be added to the waiting list as spaces sometimes open up)
Theme: Birds of the Northern Adirondacks
Dr. Larry Master, a conservation biologist/zoologist and past Ausable River Association board chair, will lead a birding walk at the picturesque Intervale Lowlands property outside of Lake Placid. Derek Rogers, extraordinary birder and Stewardship Director with the Adirondack Land Trust and previously Preserves Director for The Nature Conservancy on Long Island, will co-lead the walk. This walk will take place on easy terrain and entail approximately three miles of walking. We will see birds that have arrived from the Caribbean and Central and South America to nest along the Ausable River, including as many as 16 warbler and 6 woodpecker species as well as nesting raptors including an osprey pair. This is a unique opportunity to experience some of the best birding in the Adirondacks at a private preserve, and we appreciate the generosity of the landowner allowing us to access their property for this event.
• Sunday, May 22: Wildflower Walk & Drawing Workshop, 10:00am – 1:00pm
Theme: Wildflowers of the Northern Adirondacks through art
Learn about the botanical diversity of northern Adirondack wildflowers with artist and biologist Cris Winters while you draw the natural world with simple materials including pencil and pen. Participants will also identify the many spring wildflowers that are abundant in this season. This is a beginning drawing class, and no experience is required. Cris Winters is a full-time artist living and working in Saranac Lake. She has a scientific background in conservation biology with training and experience in botanical illustration. She has taught drawing in many settings and especially loves to teach outdoors. This walk and workshop will take place outdoors at the Paul Smith's College Visitor Interpretive Center (VIC). The Ausable River Association (AsRA) will provide some drawing materials and additional details are available upon request. We appreciate the VIC for generously allowing us to use their property for this event.
• Saturday, June 25: Moth and Bat Research Night, 9:00pm – 11:00pm
Theme: Bats and moths of the Northern Adirondacks
Dr. Larry Master, a conservation biologist/zoologist and past Ausable River Association board chair, will lead a program highlighting our local bat and moth fauna. He will use a bat detector hooked to a computer so that participants can listen to and view the bat echolocation calls and learn how to identify whatever bats might be passing nearby. As many as 9 species once occurred in the Ausable watershed, but only 4-5 species are now present and two of those have suffered more than a 90-95% decline. Larry will also set up a mercury vapor light to attract some of the many species of night flying moths and other insects in the area to a sheet for closer inspection. We're excited to partner with John Brown Farm State Historic Site for this event and appreciate their generosity letting us use this property.
For questions and to register for these spring programs, please email events@ ausableriver.org or call (518) 637-6859.
This project has been funded wholly or in part by the United States Environmental Protection Agency under assistance agreement (LC 00A00707-0) to NEIWPCC in partnership with the Lake Champlain Basin Program. Matching funds were provided by Cris Winter, Dr. Larry Master, Derek Rogers, and the Paul Smith's College Visitor Interpretive Center.
