Update: Thanks to Kris Altucher in comments, it's clear that "central Tompkins County" includes the Town of Dryden roughly south and west of the Ringwood Road intersection with Route 13. It looks like there's an extra January season "for taking...
A few month ago I overheard a conversation about how nothing much in Dryden was really natural area worth preserving because the forest that previously covered most of the town had been cut down, and what we had left was...
You can find the birds in Dryden's southern hills this Sunday... Join the Finger Lakes Land Trust on Sunday, May 6 at 8:00 AM for Birds Everywhere!, a bird walk especially for families and children. Join Mark Chao at the...
Well, tomorrow and May 5th. Town of Dryden Recreation DepartmentDryden Lake Nature Study Join Cornell naturalist, Charlie Smith, to see and study the birds, wildflowers, and other natural history subjects around Dryden Lake this Spring. Who: Ages 16 and over...
I dropped our car off at Varna Auto Service for inspection this morning, and set out on a walk home by a different route. I walked up Route 366 to the driveway across from 1176 Dryden Road, and then turned...
I'm glad someone's watching our creeks carefully. The watersheds for Fall Creek and Virgil Creek together probably include about two-thirds of the Town of Dryden. Fall and Virgil Creeks - What's in the Water? Volunteer stream monitors from the Fall...
12 acres with 2000 feet of frontage on Fall Creek just took a step toward remaining natural this week, as the Finger Lakes Land Trust reports: The Land Trust announced today that it has accepted the donation of a 12-acre...
Today's Ithaca Journal reports on Wednesday night's presentation of 1594 signatures on a petition to ban hydrofracking. There's also a piece on Dryden events discussing details of leasing and termination to be held April 28th and May 12th. Several of...
An 1890s water line runs from the Village of Dryden along North Road to the TC3 Head Start building, and its slow collapse is causing problems. Because it's outside of the village, the village can't repair it; because there's no...
Travel and work have put me behind, so here's a quick catching up with the last few days of the Ithaca Journal. Little of it is specific to Dryden, but it's all relevant. Dryden schools got dinged by the state,...
I'd heard about Campbell Meadow for a while, but didn't get to visit it until this morning, when it really sparkled. The Town acquired this property at the corner of Lower Creek and Pinckney roads years ago. There were some...
The Finger Lakes Land Trust is working on purchasing 170 acres off Irish Settlement Road that includes more than a mile of Six Mile Creek frontage. If all goes well, they plan to add a "parking area, signs, and footbridges"....
David Weinstein sent along the following announcement: Fall Creek Watershed Committee and Cayuga Lake Watershed Intermunicipal Organization will hold four public information meetings on the development of a Fall Creek Watershed Management Plan. At the meetings noted below, residents will...
David Weinstein writes to let folks know of a wonderful new spot he visited during the weekend creek clean-up: I had the good fortune to help pick up trash at the Campbell preserve on Lower Creek Road this past Saturday....
I'm delighted to see this happening, and hopefully some readers here will join the fun. Cleanup of three Fall Creek watershed preserves, 9 am - noon, sponsored by DRAC (Dryden Resource Awareness Coalition), with the cooperation of the Fall Creek...
This Thursday, February 11th, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation will be having a meeting on the futures of the Hammond Hill and Yellow Barn State Forests in the Forum room at Tompkins-Cortland Community College. The room will...
This morning's Ithaca Journal reports that the Finger Lakes Land Trust has added to its preserve in Ellis Hollow with a purchase of 39 more acres and a conservation easement: The Land Trust had made protecting the land a priority...
Code Enforcement Officer Henry Slater used to remind the Planning Board about another category of farmer: tree farmers. There are Christmas tree farms, but also a lot of logging operations. Some of the logging is for firewood, some for lumber,...
Cornell Cooperative Extension reports a number of events about Marcellus Shale gas drilling coming up, two of them next week: Introduction to Marcellus Shale Issues Tuesday, October 27, 7:00-9:00 p.m. Unitarian Church of Ithaca, 306 N. Aurora Street, Ithaca, NY...
Yesterday's Ithaca Journal had more of the kind of news I like to hear about Dryden. First, the Town is accepting a 12-acre land donation at the corner of Pinckney and Lower Creek Roads. It's not great land for building,...
Today's Ithaca Journal is fairly busy. As always, Cathy Wakeman has a lot on Dryden: The Freeville Harvest Festival will be this Saturday, September 13th, from 8:30am to 3:00pm. It's always a lot of fun, especially for food. The Dryden...
There's also a lot of news about current happenings in Dryden today in the Journal. Cathy Wakeman reports on three Dryden residents who bicycled from Dryden to San Diego this fall, leaving Dryden on September 18th and arriving in San...
This morning's Ithaca Journal highlighted the Yellow Barn State Forest and Hammond Hill State Forest in an article on conservation efforts along the Finger Lakes Trail, as the County Legislature brings in a planner to help protect public land from...
Thanks to the Ithaca Community News, I just noticed a new group, Save Sapsucker Woods. It seems to have formed in opposition to Rocco Lucente's plans to build more houses near Sapsucker Woods Road, on the Town of Ithaca side...
This morning's Ithaca Journal reports that the alternative energy ordinance will be introduced at tomorrow's Town Board meeting, hopefully eventually freeing Dryden residents to take further steps to generate power for their own homes. I'm happy to see that the...
Last week, bears and the West Nile Virus held a joint press conference announcing their intentions to take Tompkins County for themselves. Hold it - it's a little less exciting, though still important. Saturday's Journal had an article on bears...
On Tuesday night, the Tompkins County Planning Department gave a presentation on their Natural Features Focus Areas project at the McLean Fire Hall. I'd guess thirty people were there. The session examined eight of the fifteen focus areas, mostly wetlands...
This morning's Ithaca Journal visits the Six Mile Creek Wildflower Appreciation Walk, which this year was mainly about problems with invasive species taking over large areas and blocking out other plants. There's also an announcement for tonight's presentation on the...
This morning's Ithaca Journal includes a look at summer road construction, and it looks like Dryden gets off fairly easily. The state will be resurfacing Route 34B from Caswell Road to Route 38, and for drivers headed to McLean or...
With all the gardening, I'm a little behind on posting here. Saturday's Journal had an article on forums to discuss the future of natural features focus areas in Tompkins County. The Town of Dryden includes pieces of 8 of the...
They're slimy, and crawling along the roads, moving at night. They're on the section of Thomas Road in Caroline, not the Dryden portion, but apparently they're also in Dryden along Ringwood Road. IC Professor John Confer is working to make...
The last time I posted photos of the O.D. von Engeln Nature Preserve, it was September. It looked rather different Saturday, under a few inches of snow. A spring-filled stream through the snow-covered swamp. Bog in winter. If you'd like...
Somehow I've fallen behind on covering the Dryden Courier again, and I'd like to at least cover last week's issue while it's still available on newsstands. The November 30th issue of the Courier visited the Freeville Thanksgiving Dinner held at...
This morning's Ithaca Journal reports that 52 acres of northwest Freeville will become a wildlife preserve, as Millie Sherwood donated it to the Finger Lakes Land Trust, which then donated it to the Village of Freeville with a conservation easement...
This morning's Ithaca Journal reports that complications involving wetlands at the proposed Town Hall site are likely to delay construction. The town has already worked around the largest wetland, but other patches in the property are causing problems. Environmental Planner...
The Town of Dryden has a small but beautiful nature preserve, one that so far as I can tell relatively few people have discovered. The O.D. von Engeln Nature Preserve, owned and operated by the Nature Conservancy, includes 1.75 miles...
Normally, even when there's lots of Dryden news, I can come up with a single clear headline. Today, there's just too much on too many different subjects. There's a profile of TC3 adjunct professor Paul McCabe, whose play "Get Off"...
Just on the western side of the Town of Dryden line, Cornell Plantations will be holding an Arbor Day event on April 30th: Tree lovers of all ages are invited to celebrate Arbor Day with Cornell Plantations. “Discovering Trees,” a...
While I don't love having Route 366 in front of my house, it's been nice to know that the forested property on the other side of 366 is Cornell Plantations nature preserve. Between that and the massive amounts of fill...
Minutes are available for both the March 2nd hearing on the possible annexation of the Dryden Mutual Property to the Village of Dryden and the Town Board's regular meeting on March 10th, which I missed. The March 2nd minutes are...
I went for a hike today with friends down the south side of the old Monkey Run Road (coming off Route 366 above Varna) and then west along a trail above Fall Creek that went through the nature preserve to...
Wow. Ann Leonard knows how to throw a great party. Start with a few hours of shoveling mud in the rain, then head back to a camp area where barbecued chicken is waiting, people are playing music (including bagpipes), orienteering...
There aren't any headlines that mention Dryden in today's Ithaca Journal, but there's lots of news relating to Dryden. There's an article on state aid to local schools that cites Dryden Central School Board President Rachel Dickinson: "Dryden's tax rate...
Yesterday morning I enjoyed a workshop for volunteers preparing to monitor Six Mile Creek. They've had several previous sessions and meetings. This one was about "Sample Collection, Chemical Analysis, and Flow." It started at the Bethel Grove Community Center (actually...
The Environmental Planner's report examined the need to revise the Town Hazard Mitigation Plan and a kiosk on the Jim Schug Trail. Debbie Gross reported in a letter (247KB PDF) that while "Dryden chose not to participate in [the county...
This week's Our Towns section in the Ithaca Journal takes a look at the creation of the O.D. von Engeln Preserve in Malloryville, which hosts pitcher plants, carnivorous sundews, and native orchids. Its two miles of trails are attracting a...