Maple trees turn golden along the Hoosic River in Williamstown in November. Photo by Kate Abbott

Nature

Here are the Hill Country Observer’s articles about nature, listed from newest to oldest. In the country, the living world of our forests, mountains and lakes influence our communities and our daily lives. The Hull Country Observer explores stories of the environment and the landscape in a changing climate.

  • Issue:

    Spreading solar by the share

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    Community-sponsored energy project is first for Columbia County A new 214-kilowatt solar power installation in the town of Clermont, N.Y., was built using a “community solar” concept in which local people could buy a stake in the project in exchange for credits on their home utility bills. Courtesy photo   By JOHN TOWNESContributing writer CLERMONT, read more

    Spreading solar by the share
  • Issue:

    Connecting through the woods

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    Group works to improve, expand Bennington trail network A volunteer work crew tends to a new hiking and bicycling trail through the property of Southern Vermont College. The trail is part of a network being maintained and expanded by the 2-year-old nonprofit Bennington Area Trail System. Courtesy photo/Jared Newell   By TELLY HALKIASContributing writer BENNINGTON, read more

    Connecting through the woods
  • Issue:

    Fear of empowerment — In a Vermont town, goal of ‘climate economy’ draws support, resistance

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    In a Vermont town, goal of ‘climate economy’ draws support, resistance Michelle Pekrol and some other residents of Pownal, Vt., have organized under the name SOS Pownal to oppose a new planning initiative aimed at helping the town better prepare for climate change.  Joan K. Lentini photo   By EVAN LAWRENCEContributing writer POWNAL, Vt. This read more

    Fear of empowerment — In a Vermont town, goal of ‘climate economy’ draws support, resistance
  • Issue:

    Trading old hazards for new? — Mystery shrouds chemicals that replaced PFOA

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    The Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics plant on McCaffrey Street in Hoosick Falls is blamed for contaminating the village’s drinking water wells with perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA. The chemical has been phased out of production, raising questions about what industries like Saint-Gobain are using in its place. Joan K. Lentini photo   By TRACY FRISCHContributing writer HOOSICK FALLS, read more

    Trading old hazards for new? — Mystery shrouds chemicals that replaced PFOA
  • Issue:

    State line sets sharp contrasts in PFOA water crisis

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    Border makes for sharp contrasts in handling of tainted-water crisis By TRACY FRISCHContributing writer HOOSICK FALLS, N.Y.   Downtown Hoosick Falls is seen from across the Hoosic River. The groundwater that supplies the village water system remains heavily contaminated, and a local manufacturing plant near the water supply was designated as a federal Superfund site read more

    State line sets sharp contrasts in PFOA water crisis
  • Issue:

    Saving a strawberry farm

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    $1.5M campaign aims to preserve Columbia County destination By JOHN TOWNESContributing writer ANCRAM, N.Y.   Don and Marnie MacLean have been running Thompson-Finch Farm, best known for its pick-your-own organic strawberries, since 1982. But a generational change in the farm’s ownership has threatened to force the sale of the property. Local conservation groups have launched read more

    Saving a strawberry farm
  • Issue:

    Climate-saving efforts go local

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    States, cities and activists push to meet goals of Paris agreement By EVAN LAWRENCEContributing writer   With President Trump’s announcement June 1 that he would pull the United States out of the Paris climate accord, area states, cities and citizen groups are redoubling their efforts to curb carbon dioxide emissions and shift to renewable energy read more

    Climate-saving efforts go local
  • Issue:

    Pedal power for the masses

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    Bike-sharing program to start in July in Saratoga, Troy By EVAN LAWRENCEContributing writer SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.   The bicycle lane along Excelsior Avenue in Saratoga Springs might soon have more traffic as the Capital District Transportation Authority sets up a series of area bike-sharing stations. Joan K. Lentini photo Anyone who needs a bike to read more

    Pedal power for the masses
  • Issue:

    Phasing out the plastic shopping bag?

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    Pittsfield pursues ban, following lead of five Berkshires towns By JOHN TOWNESContributing writer PITTSFIELD, Mass.   Anna Masiero, left, and Micayla Levesque bag groceries at Guido’s Fresh Marketplace, whose Pittsfield store has already stopped offering single-use plastic shopping bags to customers.  Susan Sabino photo The days of supermarkets packing groceries into single-use plastic shopping bags read more

    Phasing out the plastic shopping bag?
  • Issue:

    The greening of November – Growing cover crops for climate

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    More farms grow cover crops for soil health — and to fight climate change By TRACY FRISCHContributing writer LIVINGSTON, N.Y.   David Goldstein, coordinator of the new research project Hudson Carbon, walks through a field with a blend of at least nine different cover crops at Stone House Farm in Livingston, N.Y. The research effort read more

    The greening of November – Growing cover crops for climate