Native American Institute of
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What is NAIHRV
The Native American Institute of the Hudson River Valley is a voluntary organization associated with Native Americans, educators, students, and interested community groups. The purpose of the Institute is to promote awareness of the First Nations of America and particularly those Native Americans, who lived in what is now New York State and the surrounding areas, with emphasis on the Northeastern Algonquian peoples.

The Institute will support and carry out research and educational activities promoting awareness of Native American culture and experience. The intention of the Institute and its members is to research and disseminate accurate information and historical fact concerning the European encounter with the First Nations and the history of these nations before and after that encounter.

The Institute is not a political entity, and will not engage in public controversy, nor support or lend its name to any form of political activity or advocacy. Although it is possible that information or historical data developed by the Institute may be made available or be used by an advocacy or political organization, however, this in no way implies endorsement of a particular cause by the Native American Institute.

The Institute will remain true to its mission of doing research, providing education, increasing awareness, and discerning historical truth.


Calendar of Events

ANNUAL FILM & ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION

When Saturday, June 27, 10:30 to 1:00
Where NYS Museum Huxley Auditorium in Albany, NY
What NAIHRV will be hosting our annual film and Roundtable Talk event
Description Ted Timmrick will be screening his new film from the Hidden Landscapes series "Before the Lake was Champlain".

Suggested donation $5.00

This is an audience participation event!

Your insights and responses would be be most welcome!

Many thanks~
Mariann Mantzouris

Before the Lake was Champlain - www.hiddenlandscape.com



Stories about 'Lost Races' are usually labeled and then dismissed as "Fantastic Archeology" but a surprising new discovery along a high beach terrace of the ancient Champlain Sea has introduced an unknown chapter in the history of Ice Age America. It suggests that an early and sophisticated Native culture once existed in the Northeast that researchers are just beginning to recognize. The lives that these ancient peoples lived were far different from the anthropological models that scientists developed for the Paleo-Indian and the implications of the new discoveries reach through the entire history of Eastern Native civilization to our own time. This program chronicles the long and careful process that has unfolded one of the great archeological mysteries of North America. The Hidden Landscapes Project represents the joined efforts of hundreds of professional, Native and antiquarian researchers who have generously volunteered to combine their expertise into a chronicle of exploration - a series of video stories that investigate the archeological history and the modern legacy of Eastern Native civilization.

2009 Events

Come Join Us!

May 2
Ten Broeck Mansion, Albany, Saturday, 12 Noon to 4PM. Living History Day. Free family event. Featured are re-enactors, NAIHRV, musicians, vendors, demonstrations and exhibits. Mansion and garden tours, pony rides,& more.
E-mail: achadirector@onecommail.com

May 16
Shad Bake & Native American Technology Day, Various aspects of early skills, Native made crafts, arts & jewelry, along with Shad fish tasting!

June 27
Saturday, NAIHRV Movie and Panel talk at the NY State Museum.

July 3,4, 5
Calico Dancers Pow-Wow: 36th Annual “Good Time Pow-wow”, Harry J. Betar Memorial Park, Rte 32, Gansevoort Rd., So.Glens Falls, Town of Moreau, NY 518-793-1693
http://www.wanderingbull.com/powwowlist

August 1
Mabee Farm, Saturday, 10:00 – 4:00 Early Technologies Day. Learn about fire starting, cordage and deer sinew, brain tanned leather working, quill work, powder horn engraving, tinsmithing, blacksmithing, basket making, beadwork and more! Bring your Native artifacts for identification.
http://www.schist.org/mabee

August 2
Rogers Island. The Great Carrying Place “Coming Home” Pow Wow, 10am-10pm Saturday and 10am-4pm Sunday. Come and experience a Native American Pow Wow
http://www.rogersisland.org/

September 12
Fort Crailo Harvest Faire Saturday, 11am – 4pm
Crailo State Historic Site (Saratoga/Capital District Region)
A festive event inspired by 17th and 18th agricultural fairs held at Crailo.
http://nysparks.state.ny.us/sites/info

September 20
Mohican Indian Sites in Lansingburgh 1-4. 2 mi. Moderate hiking. Slide presentation on Native sites in and around Lansingburgh. A driving and hiking tour to 5 sites is included: There will be no more than 2 miles of hiking but some of it involves climbing over rough ground so appropriate footwear is recommended. Meet at the Melville House, 114th Street & First Avenue in Lansinburgh Limited to 40 persons.
Pre-register by 9/19: (518) 235-4041; wbroder2@nycap.rr.com.

Oct. 3 & 4
Saratoga Native American Festival at SPAC, by the Ndakinna Education Center
Link to the festival


Peebles Island State Park Summer Lecture Series


June 17
Native American Inhabitants of the Hudson-Mohawk River
David Cornelius, Native Educator and Genealogist

June 24
Warren Broderick: Native American Sites in Rensselaer County

July 8
Stuart Lehman, education coordinator at the NYS capitol - Light on the Past: The Great Hudson-Fulton Celebration of 1909 and its Legacy

July 15
Shirley Dunn, local author and historian - River Indians: Mohicans Making History

More dates to be announced. Go to http://nysparks.com and select "Peebles Island" for more information.

Peebles Island State Park is a 191 acre oasis located at the confluence of the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers. Park entrance is located at the end of 2nd St. off Broad St., in Waterford or at the end of Delaware Ave. off Ontario St. in Cohoes. For more information, please contact Jamie at (518)237-7000 x219.



Membership:

There are five categories of membership. Membership is from April 1 to March 31 of the following year.

The categories include:
1. Individual Active Membership – Any person interested in the purposes of the institute shall be eligible for membership.

2. Family Membership – Any family groups interested in the purposes of the institute shall be eligible for membership.

3. Institutional Membership – Any organization, board, school, library or business/firm interested in the objectives of the institute shall be eligible for membership.

4. Contributing and Sustaining Membership – A person, group or firm offering special support to the objectives of the institute shall be eligible for membership.

5. Honorary Membership – Honorary membership may be conferred upon any person whose activities have contributed to the objectives of the agency. Honorary members shall be elected by a three-fourths vote of the members present at the annual meeting.

Select Membership Option:
__ Individual active membership: $20.00
__ Family membership: $40.00
__ Institutional membership: $50.00
__ Contributing and Sustaining membership:
A one time 5 year minimum
commitment of $200.00 – renewable)

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Interest: (Check One)
__ Library committee
__ Publications Committee
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Hello Friends of NAIHRV

Welcome to our first online Newsletter. I wish to thank our editor Lion Miles for the superb job he has done. I think you will find the articles by Larry Thetford, Tom Lake and Lion Miles to be enlightening. Please send any questions or comments you may have about the articles. We welcome dialogue. Here at NAIHRV we are getting ready for the April 4 Seminar at the New York State Museum. Mark your calendars! We will be sending a notice with the Seminar registration form in two weeks. Can you believe it will be Seminar Number 8?

Be well and stay warm. Many thanks to all of you.

-Mariann Mantzouris


NEWSLETTER
OF THE
NATIVE AMERICAN INSTITUTE
OF THE HUDSON RIVER VALLEY


News Briefs


Lisa Little Wolf Lectures In Housatonic

On February 7th our board member, Lisa Little Wolf, Northern Cheyenne, read native stories and displayed artifacts and regalia to a receptive audience of children at the Ramsdell Public Library in Housatonic, Great Barrington, Mass.Scheduled for an hour, the program was so popular that it turned into a threehour question and answer period on Native ways.


Lisa Little Wolf


The Mohican Tribe Today

by Sherry White
Tribal Cultural Preservation Officer

This is the first Did You Know information on the Mohican Tribe. As I travel around the United States, I have learned that people think the Mohican Tribe is dead and gone. This theory seems to be based on the movie and book, "The Last of The Mohicans". To help dissolve this idea I plan to put facts about the Mohican Tribe in each newsletter.

The Mohican Tribe now lives in Bowler Wisconsin. We have been on this reservation since 1856. Our tribe has 1,579 people enrolled. This means that they must prove that they have at least ¼ Mohican blood to be considered a member of the tribe. Of the 1,579 people, 566 members live on the Mohican Reservation.

Our reservation sits on 23,026 acres, 16,863 trust and 6,163 fee land. These acres are located in the two townships of Bartelme and Red Springs. To see more about our reservation you may log on to our web site at Mohican.com.


The Stockbridge-Munsee Reservation in Wisconsin


The Mohican Tribe Today

by Larry Thetford

Corn

What do you think of when you hear the word corn? Corn flakes, corn soup, corn curls, corn fritters on the cob, cream corn, bourbon, corn syrup (oil), popcorn ???

Corn is one of the world's three leading food crops, along with rice and wheat, and a major crop on all the continents. The scientific name is Zea mays and it is known throughout the rest of the world as maize. Here in the Northeast it was generally called Indian corn or Turkish wheat.

The native people of Peru are credited with its domestication and development from wild grasses. The most accepted theory is that the ancestral plant was the wild grass teosinte, still called "Madre de maiz" (mother of maize).


Teosinte Grass

However, a converse theory exists that corn actually predates teosinte. The earliest dated maize plants in Peru are only about 2000 years old but samples from the Tehuacán caves in Mexico are radiocarbon dated at 7000 years. Native peoples developed many different types of corn, from short-season varieties for the north country to taller long-season plants up to 20 feet high in the south, and maize spread throughout North America.


Mohican Village, circa 1635

The importance of this crop to early native people was quite dramatic. It changed their lifestyle from that of nomadic hunters to large sedentary populations like the Anasazis of the Southwest, the Hopewell mound builders of the central river valleys, and the Northeast tribes in large stockaded villages. In Central America huge city centers grew up among the Toltecs, Zapotecs, Aztecs and Mayas. Centers like Cahokia near St. Louis developed sophisticated arts and sciences; the Mayan calendar was so accurate that it differed from our modern calendar only by minutes.


Cahokia Mounds, circa 1100 A.D.

The downside of such centralized populations was the dependency on crop production and storage. When production declined because of drought, plant diseases, war, insect pests, etc., it was disastrous for the people. Today it is still not known what caused the sudden disappearance of the Anasazis at Chaco Canyon in New Mexico, the mound builders of Ohio, and some of the earthlodge villages in the West.

It is widely suspected that a major, prolonged disruption of crop production was the chief cause of the decline of these cultures. During the American Revolution, General John Sullivan was ordered by George Washington to bring those Iroquois tribes sympathetic to the British cause to their knees by burning all their cornfields and storage supplies. The Iroquois name for Washington was Ha-no-da-ga'-ne-ars, meaning "Town Destroyer."

Corn provided much more than food. The Senecas used a solution from corn ashes to treat children for intestinal worms. Corncobs were useful as scrubbing tools. Corn silk became a diaper absorbent and dolls and ritual masks were made from cornhusks. So there you have a plant that the Native Americans domesticated and cultivated to become a major economic force throughout the world.


An Important New Study of Mohicans


By Lion Miles

To Live Upon Hope: Mohicans and Missionaries in the Eighteenth-Century Northeast. By Rachel Wheeler. (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2008. 315 pages. $45.00.)

Rachel Wheeler, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and longtime student of Mohican history, has written a major study of the Mohican religious experience in the eighteenth century. Using little known manuscripts in the Moravian Archives, the Jonathan Edwards Papers, and Massachusetts Archives, Professor Wheeler has produced a fascinating and unique examination of the mission stations in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and Shekomeko (Pine Plains), New York. She compares the different methods used by the Congregational ministers, John Sergeant and Jonathan Edwards, in Stockbridge, and the various Moravian missionaries in Shekomeko.

Wheeler's history is a major work and should remain as the definitive study of the Mohican mission experience for many years to come. Demonstrating clearly and eloquently that the Mohicans did not rely on hope alone to survive in a changing world, she shows that they acted and adapted. When asked in 1834 what he thought had preserved the Stockbridge Indians from destruction, Chief John Metoxen in Wisconsin replied, "when I think about that I always think it must be God, and because he had some true Christians there."


Ebenezer Maunnauseet's Writing Practice forJonathan Edwards at Stockbridge, 1750s
"He who lives upon Hope may dy of Disappointment"


"The Indians at Stockbridge ... are of the Mohekon tribe ... formerly this tribe was numerous and powerful -- hath ever been held in great veneration by the Delawares and Shawanese, especially the latter, with whom it hath long had alliances ... This people have at all times been friendly to the Americans ... declared they would join with the United States, and assist them against Great Britain."
(Rev. John Sergeant to the Continental Congress, August 1776)


New Board Officers

Welcome to the new officers of our Board of Directors:

  • Mariann Mantzouris, Director
  • Kevin Fuerst, Vice-Director
  • Chris Layman, Secretary
  • Larry Thetford, Treasurer
  • Lisa Little Wolf
  • Terry D'Amour
  • Sherry White
  • Dave Cornelius
    Our thanks go to former Board members for their service: Emerson Martin, Judy Harris, Mary O'Brien, and Steve Comer.


    Lenox Pow Wow

    The NAIHRV manned a table at the 3rd Annual Rock, Rattle & Drum Pow Wow at the Eastover Resort in Lenox, Massachusetts, from August 30 to September 1. Entertainment was provided by Grammy winning performers, Bill Miller, Mohican, and Indigenous, Lakota.

    Mariann Mantzouris and Bill Miller at the Lenox Pow Wow


    Fort Crailo

    The NAIHRV table at Fort Crailo's Harvest Festival on September 13 was well received by the public. We sold T-shirts, books, hats, and native-made crafts and products. Fort Crailo is a 17th century Dutch house on the Hudson River in Rensselaer, N.Y.



    Lindenwald

    On September 20, a delegation of 14 representatives from the Mohican Reservation in Wisconsin participated in the annual Harvest Day at Lindenwald, former President Martin Van Buren's home in Kinderhook, N.Y. Tribal Vice President Greg Miller spoke the day before and Council Member Shannon Holsey spoke at the celebration itself. The Mohican members gave presentations at local schools, demonstrated native dancing and drumming, and spoke about Mohican harvesting methods. Several NAIHRV board members met with the tribal visitors to discuss our purpose and goals. A good working relationship was established and we look forward to supporting each other in future research and projects.

    Jessica Mohawk dancing at Lindenwald.


    Hudson 400

    Mariann Mantzouris, Tom Lake, and Lion Miles attended the first meeting of the Hudson 400 Committee in Albany on September 16, in preparation for the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's arrival in 1609 and the planned celebration of 2009.


    Research Meeting

    Larry Thetford hosted an NAIHRV research meeting at his home in Upper Red Hook, N.Y., on October 19 and took members through his extensive collection of native artifacts. There are very few collections of so many Indian projectile points and other objects in Mohican country as compiled and catalogued by Larry.

    Projectile Points in Larry Thetford's Collection.


    Shad Fest

    The Annual Shad Fest took place at the Corning Riverfront Preserve in Albany on May 19 and we had good attendance. Tom Lake prepared shad smoked, pickled, and plank-baked. Lisa Littlewolf demonstrated a traditional woman's buckskin dance.




    ANNOUNCING THE 8TH ANNUAL
    MOHICAN-ALGONQUIAN PEOPLE'S SEMINAR
    NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM IN ALBANY
    APRIL 4, 2009


    There will be a line-up of Mohican scholars as speakers, followed by a buffet dinner at the Museum. Stay tuned for more information coming soon.


    Membership Application

    Join the Native American Institute of the Hudson River Valley (NAIHRV) and enjoy the benefits of scholarly research on the history and culture of the first people of the Hudson Valley, discounts on their publications, regular newsletters, annual journals, and announcements of events.

    Individual Membership $20.00
    Family Membership $40.00
    Institutional Membership $50.00
    Lifetime Membership $200.00

    For further information, you may contact
    Mariann Mantzouris
    P.O. Box 327
    Sand Lake, NY 12153
    E-mail: marimantz at aol.com
    Phone: (518) 369-8116.




    The Craft Corner

    by Larry Thetford

    The Celt (Axe)

    I am sure that at some time or other, most of you have been to a museum and observed that prehistoric peoples made some fantastic stone ax heads. Some are so large that it looks as though it would take two men to lift them and some are quite tiny. Some have a full groove for hafting a handle and some have only a three-quarter groove. Most have a single sharpened bit and some have a double bit.
    Full Grooved 3/4 Grooved        Celts & Gouges

    Then there is the prehistoric stone tool with a bit, no groove and both sides having a decreasing angle from the bit. Most people think of these as hand scrapers, but in fact they are called celts. These were a primitive form of the ax and were hafted with a wood handle in a different manner than the grooved axes. The handle was a single piece of wood with an expanded end and an elongated hole. The narrow end of the celt was inserted into this hole so the more one pounded with it, the tighter the wedge in the hole became. This was simple, effective and very strong.


    Celt hafted with a wood handle

    Wood handle with a hole

    These celts were generally made from hardstone cobbles and only rarely from flint. They were rough shaped with the pecking method using a separate hammerstone, then highly polished with an abrading stone. If made with a longitudinal groove, they were called gouges, just like today's gouge chisel. If the bit had an expansion in the depth measurement, then it would serve as a wedge.
    These tools undoubtedly had multiple uses, including the shaping of dugout canoes, scraping charcoal away from tree felling, splitting wood for shafts and handles, hollowing out logs for food containers, and making wood splints for baskets. The next time you hear someone in a museum say, "oh, look at the stone scraper," you can correct them and impress them with your knowledge of the celt.


    The Language Corner

    by Lion Miles

    The Bible in the Mohican Language

    The Mohican phrase for the Christian Bible was WAUNEHK WSOHEKUN, usually translated as "the good book" or "the good writings." However, on analysis, the root of the word WSOHEKUN is the verb "to paint," since the tribe had no word for "letters" or "writing." In other words, they saw European writing as a painting of the letters. Thus, the Bible to them was really "the good painting."

    In addition, the word HKEETHWAUKUN was usually translated as "reading." But the root of this word is the verb "to count," since the Mohicans had nothing to "read" in the European sense. They counted the letters.

    In conclusion, the expression "to read the Bible" would actually translate as "to count the good painting."

    The "Hudson 400" Celebration

    by Tom Lake
    Hudson Valley archaeologists travel back in time as they learn about Native American cultures that have been here for millennia. Excavating sites allows them to stand on the living floors of ancient people. Holding a potsherd or a spear point that was sculpted by human hands long ago connects us to this legacy.

    The first Native People arrived in the Hudson Valley about 11,000 years ago. This is a tentative date because of the loss of many old sites along the coast and up the Hudson River due to modern development and sea level rise. Evidence of an earlier arrival may be lost.

    Replica of Henry Hudson's Half Moon


    When Henry Hudson entered the estuary in September 1609, the Native Americans he encountered were Algonquian speakers of several tribes, engaged in sophisticated societies within complex cultures. Using an oral tradition of stories and ceremonial rituals, they knew exactly who they were and from where they had come. Unlike the Europeans, they were far less concerned with the future, and more content with the present, the seasons of the year, and their relationship with the land. By the 17th century, the Native People of the Hudson Valley had a fully developed economy and a far-reaching trade network.

    In 2009 we will commemorate the 400th anniversary of Hudson's voyage. It would be fair to remember that his vessel, the Half Moon, sailed into the midst of a thriving, self-sustaining, healthy and vigorous Native population, people who truly were the founders of the land.

    The Story of the Naked Bear

    by Lion Miles
    Genuine prehistoric Mohican legends are hard to identify in the white man's literature but one is found in the papers of Rev. John Heckewelder, the Moravian missionary who labored among the tribes for forty years. We already know the details of the story of the Celestial Bear. The Mohican version of that tale recounts the pursuit of a bear by seven hunters who followed their prey into the heavens and were transformed into the seven stars of the Big Dipper (Ursa Major or Great Bear). They began the chase in the Spring, held it all Summer, wounded the bear in the Fall, and killed it in the Winter. The blood of the bear turned the leaves red in the Fall, its fat made the snow in the Winter, and then melted in the Summer to form the sap in the trees.

    Related to this legend is Heckewelder's story of the "Big Naked Bear," found in the missionary's papers at the New-York Historical Society and printed in the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. The Mohicans called this animal "Ahamagachktiât Mecehquá," meaning "great terrible naked bear." To the Unami it was "Yagesho" or "naked bear," and to the Seneca it was "Ganiagwaihegowa" or "The Great Mythic Bear Monster." This animal was probably not mythical at all and resembled the prehistoric creature known as the Short-Faced Bear (see Tom Lake's account below). It was very ferocious, larger than the largest bear, and had a huge head with a fearful look. Its toes had claws "near as long as an Indian's finger" and they "spread very wide." Its body was almost bare of hair except for the head, neck, and hind parts of its legs. (The Seneca version says it had no hair at all.)

    For years Yagesho had destroyed many Indians, particularly women and children out gathering nuts and roots or working in the fields. It would search for the tracks or scent of hunters and run them down, the only escape being to plunge into a river or lake and swim away. When the beast could not pursue, it would make such a roar that every Indian hearing it would tremble. Finally, the women became so afraid to go out to work that the men assembled to decide on a plan to kill the animal.

    Now it happened that Yagesho, the Naked Bear, lived on Lake Champlain in Mohican territory. A resolute party of hunters, well armed with bows, arrows, and spears, headed for the lake and stationed themselves on a high rock, flat on top with steep perpendicular sides. The hunters spent several days atop the rock, making various animal cries and imitating the voices of children in an attempt to lure the animal there. Failing to decoy the beast, a party lowered themselves down the side of the rock by means of Indian ladders and reconnoitered the ground. They found fresh tracks and hastily returned to the rock with the beast in full pursuit.

    The hunters cut off Yagesho's head and carried it in triumph to their village on the Hudson River, where they set it on a pole for public viewing. Word of this soon spread among the neighboring tribes and many Indians came to exalt the victors for their warlike deed. The Mohican Nation, famous for its hunting and warrior traditions, ever after claimed the honor of killing the last Naked Bear.

    Rev. Heckewelder reported in 1797 that the history of the Naked Bear was a common subject among the Indians when they were out hunting in the woods. He also heard them say to their children when they cried: "Hush! the naked bear will hear you, and devour you." Old Indians assured the minister that the story was true, according to the recollections of their forefathers.


    The Giant Short-Faced Bear

    by Tom Lake
    By all accounts, the giant short-faced bear (Arcotodus simus), described by Harvard paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope in 1879, is believed to have been the largest bear ever. They were an ancient species having been common in Pleistocene North America as long ago as 800,000 years. (The Pleistocene, a geologic epoch, began about two million years ago and ended ten thousand years ago).


    The giant short-faced bear would have been easily distinguishable on the landscape by its short face, long legs, broad muzzle, and massive jaws. These bears were six feet high at the shoulder but reached ten feet when standing. Despite weighing as much as 1800 pounds, their physiology suggests that they were fast afoot, much faster than modern-day bears. They were consummate carnivores and may have been the largest land predator during the last Ice Age in North America.

    There is tantalizing evidence that the giant short-faced bear, like the mammoth and mastodont, crossed paths both temporally and spatially, if only for a brief time, with the first native people in the Northeast -- one heading to oblivion, the other to dominance.

    In Texas and Colorado, they have been found in association with Clovis culture artifacts, including fluted points dating 12,600-12,700 years B.P. (before present). In the Northeast, short-faced bear remains have been recovered in Pennsylvania, not far from the Meadowcroft Rockshelter, a major Clovis site. Archaeologists at Meadowcroft have recovered basketry and cordage which have been radiocarbon dated to 12,800 years ago, while the lowest levels of the site have been firmly dated to 14,500 years B.P.

    No giant short-faced bear remains have been found in New York State. However, sea level rise and modern development have destroyed many interior and upland late Pleistocene sites. In addition, the regional climate at the time would have encouraged their presence in New York, perhaps as late as the oldest known Paleoindian sites.

    While current radiocarbon dating of recovered remains suggests that extinction may have occurred about 12,000 years ago, given the time-depth and reach of Native American oral traditions, it would be of little surprise if such stories included legends of encounters with the incredible giant short-faced bear.

    Reference: Kurtén, Bjorn, and Elaine Anderson. Pleistocene Mammals of North America. New York: Columbia University Press, 1980.



  • Contact Information

    For comments, questions, article submissions and news/events please contact:

    Mariann Mantzourismarimantz@aol.com
    Sherry WhiteSherry.White@mohican-nsn.gov
    Lisa Little WolfLlittlewolf2@aol.com
    Kevin Fuerstkevomaryf@aol.com
    Larry Thetfordthetfordl@webjogger.net

    Wellbriety Journey for Forgiveness – Urgent Funding Appeal

    The Wellbriety Journey for Forgiveness, a 40-day, 6,800-mile cross-country journey to 23 present and former Indian school sites, is scheduled to begin very soon onMay 16, 2009. It will be led by the Sacred Hoop of 100 Eagle Feathers and it will carry the message that historical trauma can be healed - and prevented from being passed on to yet another generation - through a willingness to “forgive the unforgivable.” Daylong workshops are planned at the school sites to share educational information about the schools, encourage open discussion in a facilitated talking circle format and to conduct healing ceremonies involving local tribal elders and mental health professionals to release the unresolved grief that school survivors and/or their descendants may still be carrying from trauma experienced at one of the schools.

    An increasing body of evidence shows that intergenerational trauma is connected to suicides, substance abuse, domestic violence, child sexual abuse, family break-ups and diabetes which continue to plague Native American communities today. The Wellbriety Journey for Forgiveness will help begin the healing process in Native communities around the country. Despite vigorous fund raising efforts, we find ourselves well below the mark that we had hoped to achieve in terms of donations required to complete this journey. Many Native Americans have sent letters and comments sharing first-hand experience in terms of historical trauma and how critically important this journey is to them. Perhaps you have experienced the devastating effects of unresolved grief yourself, or have seen one of your loved ones affected by trauma.

    Please take a moment to imagine how your support of at least one mile will assist White Bison in promoting healing and forgiveness among Native Americans across the country. Will you please help by donating $18.79 for one mile? If funding a mile isn’t within your means, even a small donation of $5.00 will help tremendously.

    It is not too late to help, if only you act now

    Please make at least a small contribution and let the healing begin!! Your tax deductible donation can be easily made one of several ways:
    Check or money order payable to:
    White Bison, Inc.
    6145 Lehman Dr., Suite 200
    Colorado Springs, CO 80918

    Call our toll-free number (877-871-1495) and we will be happy to take your donation over the phone via Mastercard, Visa or American Express.
    Visit our secure website at http://www.whitebison.org for donation via PayPal.

    Thank you very much for your consideration of this request.
    In Wellbriety,
    Don Coyhis
    President – White Bison, Inc.


    HUDSON RIVER ALMANAC
    June 8 - 15, 2009

    Compiled by Tom Lake, Hudson River Estuary Program Naturalist
    New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

    <<<<< OVERVIEW >>>>>

    This was a week of interesting and odd occurrences. It rained all week, including a wide swath of intense hailstorms that swept across the watershed from the Mid-Hudson Valley to the High Peaks of the Adirondacks. On the same day, a yearling moose visited the thoroughbred racetrack at Saratoga. Native black bears continued to remind us that there still is an element of wildness in the Hudson Valley.

    <<<< HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK >>>>>

    6/15 - Newcomb, HRM 302: I was headed home from work in late afternoon and was stunned to see piles of "snow" along the roadside. I pulled over, got out, and investigated. It was piles of hail stones! They were about the size of peppercorns and deep enough to actually scoop a handful. Three hours earlier there had been a hailstorm. If they were still that big three hours later, it makes you wonder how big they were when they hit.
    -Ellen Rathbone

    6/15 - Albany County, HRM 145: A heavy hai lstorm took place this evening, hitting a wide area of the Albany Pine Bush barrens. We will need to check for damage to the lupines and the fragile population of the Karner blue butterfly. After the storm, the ground looked like it had a covering of snow.
    -Ward Stone

    6/15 - Town of Poughkeepsie, HRM 69: Looking out from the North Bowdoin Park rockshelter, several hundred feet above the river on a dolomite ridge, I could see the storm coming. A mile or more to the west, a line of dark gray clouds dropped a heavy curtain of rain as it crossed the river. I took shelter behind the "dripline," or overhang of a prehistoric Indian rockshelter where human occupation dates back at least 7,000 years. I wondered how often others had taken similar refuge here. The storm struck with intense thunder and lightning; hail the size of moth balls pelted the understory. As violent as hailstorms can be, I still believe that they are one of the more spectacular sights in nature. Then it ended and the sun came out. In a half-hour we had yet another inch of rain - six inches in six days.
    -Tom Lake

    <<<<< NATURAL HISTORY NOTES >>>>>

    6/8 - Hyde Park, HRM 82: As soon as I got out of my car this morning at the Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site, I heard a call that really caught my attention. It sounded like a periodical cicada, a whirring pulse, preceded by a series of cli cks. In a moment it came again, a solitary call from high in a sugar maple; it was definitely one of the three Magicicada species that emerge in huge swarms on a 17-year clock. While the next brood is still 4 years away, for some reason cicadas who miscount tend to miss by either one year either side of the 17-year target, or a confounding four years early. Other stragglers have already been reported this spring from Staten Island.
    -Karl Beard

    The last big cicada brood in our area occurred in 1996. They sounded like a flying saucer winding up to full power in your backyard. Before that it was 1979, and I remember them that way as a child in 1962. Karl Beard.]

    [For a flashback to the cicadas of 1996, see Hudson River Almanac (3):20,23-30,32. Here are two short 1996 entries: June 5 - Wappinger Creek, HRM 68: As I walked among the tidal Wappinger, I heard a sound that reminded me of H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds. It had that same unfamiliar "alien-like" ring to it. This sound, however, was being produced by native fauna, the seventeen-year cicada. From every quarter I could hear dogs barking and someone yelled from their window, "Shut up!" The appeal was to the cicadas, not the dogs. Tom Lake. June 12 - Roeliff Jansen Kill - Clermont, HRM 111-103.5: Along this reach of the river, tremendous numbers of cicadas were emerging. The sound was deafening. Robert Schmidt.]

    6/8 - Fishkill, HRM 61: We have had an orchard oriole in our neighborhood for over a week; the male has been checking out a few elm trees presumably for a nest site.
    -Stephen M. Seymour

    6/8 - Cornwall-on-Hudson, HRM 56: I tried out the new Esty and Hellie Stowell trailhead entrance onto the north face of Storm King Mountain from Route 218). This trailhead now provides some much needed additional parking spaces for accessing the eastern ends of the Stillman-Highland trails that ascend this flank. It makes for a longer, steeper and more challenging climb to the top of Storm King than is currently provided by using the old Mountain Road trailhead, but the latter trailhead only allows for the parking of a few cars and is therefore often fully occupied. The entrance to the new trailhead is well marked on Route 218 by a prominent sign with the benefactors’ names. The trailhead parking area is accessed by driving though a swing gate in a post-and-rail fence at the end of the driveway loop, a further 0.10 mile past a private residence. I didn't see the peregrines on my climb but I did see, at last, a native honeysuckle. There was a flowering northern bush-honeysuckle (Diervilla lonicera) on the cliff face which, for me, was the first time in the Hudson Valley that I've been able to identify any other than the several invasive and pervasive species of Asiatic honeysuckle.
    -Bruce Friedman

    6/9 - Town of Wappinger, HRM 67.5: As I approached the edge of a hay field, two small whitetail bucks in "velvet" froze in place. I did the same. We stood there, 60 feet apart, for what seemed like a while but only a few seconds. I could feel a cool southeast breeze on my back and immediately they knew who I was and dashed away. Rain came down in torrents as night fell eventually leaving an inch and a half.
    -Tom Lake

    [A male or buck whitetail deer's first set of antlers begins to grow when they are about ten months old. "Velvet" is a fuzzy covering on their antlers and is a natural protection for new growth. The velvet is shed or rubbed off as the deer scrape their antlers against saplings and small trees. "Rub marks" on hardwood trees are common in areas that have whitetail deer. Tom Lake.]

    6/9 - Beacon, HRM 61: I added another fish species to my catch list for the Fishkill Creek estuary at Madame Brett Park: a healthy-looking 13" rainbow trout. Since rainbow trout are not a native species in the watershed, it was no doubt a wash-over from an upstream stocking.
    -Stephen M. Seymour

    6/9 - Brooklyn, New York City: The thunderstorms and rain broke long enough for the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy and Coastal Marine Resource Center to kick off the public seining season at Brooklyn Bridge Park. We seined under the Manhattan Bridge with an audience of about a dozen students from Science Skills High School (Brooklyn) and about 15 children and adults from the20general public. We caught bay anchovy, a naked goby, winter flounder, a windowpane flounder, northern pipefish, sand shrimp (Crangon septemspinosa), and a hermit crab. Fragments of "dead man's fingers" [blue crab gills] and a sponge (probably red beard sponge) were also picked out of the net. Remnants of the invasive Asian shore crab (Hemigrapsus sanguineus and green crab (Carcinus maenas) were found on the beach.
    -Cynthia Fowx

    6/10 - Saugerties, HRM 102.5: In late afternoon, about a quarter mile north of Esopus Creek, I spotted three pairs of bluebirds on the lawn of Arrowfield. There were no bluebird nesting boxes on site.
    -Stefan Yarabek

    6/10 - Tivoli North Bay, HRM 101.5: As we were driving down to the canoe launch we spotted a snapping turtle laying eggs in the parking area. A second snapping turtle was looking for a spot on the road a little farther along, and a third was furiously digging in the unloading zone at the head of the path. They were all about 6-8 pounds.
    -Bob Schmidt, Nik Kotovich, Leah Pitman

    6/10 - Poughkeepsie, HRM 75: Going to Waryas Park this morning to kayak, I noticed a flock of geese occupying the boat ramp. I didn't think much about it and focused on getting my kayak ready for launch. As I shouldered the kayak and headed for the ramp I gave the birds a closer look and realized that it was a flock of about 20 brant geese. The birds took flight and settled about 100 feet out in the river allowing me to launch and enjoy a paddle.
    -Dave Webber

    6/10 - Kowawese, HRM 59:
    - River
    Prolonged water,
    Fresh, drinking water.
    River flows into ocean,
    Becomes salty water.
    Colossal, water,
    Ocean.
    -Da'mani Burns, 6th Grade, Vails Gate Tech Magnet School

    6/11 - Sandy Hook, NJ: This was a half-hour snapshot of nature in a typical morning on my way to Sandy Hook: Out at 7:30 to get the newspaper and coffee; on the way to the truck, I see the first male zucchini flower of the season in the backyard vegetable garden; flushed a nesting robin out of the sidewalk firethorn bush; the local black squirrel was foraging outside the convenience store; laughing gulls hovered over the Acme dumpster; nesting yellow warblers were in the woods; three great egrets fished in the shallows of the Hook; then two osprey nests with adults feeding the kids.
    -Dery Bennett

    6/12 - Newcomb, HRM 302: I helped an enormous snapper cross the road this morning. I could see her lumbering across the road from a few hundred feet away - she was that big. As soon as I stopped the car, however, she stopped moving - not a good sign. Grabbing a long-handled window ice scraper, I tried to coax her to the roadside. She was having no part of it. She turned to face me and continually struck out. The speed at which these animals can strike is stunning! She refused to budge. I put a20cardboard the box in front of her and tried to push her across the pavement. She opted to crawl into the box. With her head safely out of range, I grabbed the flap of the box and tugged her to the grassy verge. To get her out, I had to upend the box, and there she lay, the proverbial turtle on her back. I went back for the window scraper and flipped her back upright. Only two vehicles passed during this time. I was very lucky no log trucks came by considering I had several pass me earlier in the morning.
    -Ellen Rathbone

    6/12 - Town of Bethlehem, HRM 140: Torrential rain at Hendrick Hudson Park on the Hudson River brought thoughts that too much rain up river might make the dredging of PCB-laden sediments more difficult and environmentally dangerous. As premature darkness set in, I thought that if we are not careful with our monitoring and preventing dangerous chemicals from entering the river water, the PCBs could be replaced by a chemical "XYZ" that may even be worse.
    -Ward B. Stone

    6/12 - Hyde Park, HRM 82: In an update from five days ago, the poor lone cicada sang solo all week.
    -Karl Beard

    6/12 - Town of Crawford, Orange County, HRM 58: We explored two of the Dwaarkill's unnamed tributaries. The first, in Pine Bush, has a large weatherfish population in very anaerobic [lacking oxygen] mud. The second, off Route 52, has the mother lode of weatherfish - extremely dense - one of which was an albino. These fish ranged from 4-8 inches long, with females being the largest.
    -Bob Schmidt, Alec Schmidt, Leah Pitman, Nik Kotovich

    5/22 - Manhattan, HRM 2: This morning I spotted my first painted lady butterfly of the season resting in the grass in Hudson River Park at Greenwich Village. From there it went to feed on the salvia, now in full bloom, and basked in the sun on the wood-chip mulch. Later I saw my first eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly flying along the walkway beside the river, stopping at puddles for a drink. Eventually it flew over the edge of the river wall to perch on the damp algae growing there.
    -Walter Laufer

    6/12 - Brooklyn, New York City: I stared at the end of the Hudson River, the Battery, from the Brooklyn Promenade. The scene was nothing Henry Hudson could have comprehended: the Staten Island Ferry began its lumbering route across the Statue of Liberty's green silhouette, the glass of the city's skyline reflected both cars and boats. Then, up above the horizon was a scene that would have brought joy to both the explorer and his Half Moon crew: an apricot sunset streaming through the parted remnants of the afternoon's thundershowers. How could Henry have ever guessed at this 400 years ago?
    -Dave Taft

    6/13 - Milan, HRM 90: I spotted the bear this morning trying to open one of the two bird houses it pulled down. The bear finally gave up after it could not open the box and decided to see what was for breakfast at the house. I was able to discourage that plan and it moved off toward my neighbor's house. My neighbors are reporting a second, reportedly larger, black bear also in the area.
    -Frank Margiotta

    6/13 - Beacon, HRM 61: I caught four carp today off Long Dock, the biggest of which was 19 lb, 3 oz. The others were all in the 10 lb. range, one of which I weighed at 10 lb. 9 oz. A big fish hit on my second rod while I was still reeling in one of the ten pounders. I handed the rod to another fisherman and grabbed the second, a conventional [reel] and rod that requires some drag adjustment before reeling in the fish. This turned out to be the nineteen pounder. The carp spawning out in the water chestnut near shore was a sight to behold: constant geysers from the beginning of the walkway a mile south to Denning's Point. I also caught my first channel catfish of the year, each about a pound-and-half.
    -Bill Greene

    6/13 - West Point, HRM 52: Although the day was cloudy and gloomy, we ventured out on a U.S. Army boat cruise on the Hudson. For most of the day, the river matched the color of the sky: a passing shower, followed by patches of blue sky. The dark green foliage on the mountains was accentuated by the dullness of the sky behind them. We didn't see as many birds as we expected. Near Constitution Island, we spotted a double-crested cormorant perched on a channel marker and saw two gulls and two turkey vultures flying overhead. Thirteen cormorants were spread out across the rocks at the base of a channel marker near Bannerman's Island. Despite the very few birds, we agreed that observing the Hudson River from this different perspective was a most enjoyable experience.
    -Dorothy Ferguson, Bob Ferguson

    6/13 - Sleepy Hollow, HRM 28: While I was crossing the dam bridge over the Pocantico River Mill Pond at Philipsburg Manor today, a beaver suddenly come up from under the water and climbed up to embankment on the Visitors Center side. It started to eat a few small branches, then gathered a few more in its mouth and made a quick descent back into the water. The beaver came up again in the middle of the pond and swam towards the "Headless Horseman" bridge on Route 9. In my nearly 30 years of spending much time in the woods and along rivers, this was my first sighting of a beaver in the wild. I have always seen their dams and habitats, but have never seen one until now. It was a truly memorable day for me.
    -Wade Schultz

    6/14 - Saugerties, HRM 102.5: In mid-afternoon, about a quarter mile north of Esopus Creek, four red fox kits romped with their mother at edge of meadow just above shoreline at Arrowfield.
    -Stefan Yarabek

    6/14 - Town of Poughkeepsie, HRM 68.5: An overnight downpour made it four inches of rain in four days. I have seen and heard common crows harassing red-tailed hawks; it is a common occurrence throughout the year. Today, however, I heard a strange medley of bird noise and across an opening in the forest canopy came three fish crows hot on the tail of a red-tail. I have always thought that fish crows were far too dignified to stoop to such antics.
    -Tom Lake

    6/14 - Brooklyn, New York City: I don't exactly know what I saw while negotiating the exit ramp from the Verrazano-Narrow s Bridge to the Belt Parkway at Bay Ridge, but there was a pair of peregrine falcons flying about. One seemed to be chasing the other, but without the aggression of a territorial dispute. Perhaps one was a parent, the other a young hawk on an early flight from the nest. One way or the other it was surely more amusing, and far faster moving, than anything on the exit ramp.
    -Dave Taft

    6/15 - Town of Wappinger, HRM 67.5: A long and continuous line of severe thunder and lightning storms swept across the river overnight, leaving another inch of rain - five inches in five days. For a change, the amorous barred owls were quiet; the two of them were probably looking for an ark.
    -Tom Lake

    6/15 - Saratoga Springs, HRM 177: A yearling cow moose was spotted wandering Broadway, a main thoroughfare in Saratoga Springs, in the early-morning hours. By 6:00 AM, she had wandered onto the grounds of Saratoga Race Course. Track security opened an entrance to the grounds in order to keep the moose out of harm's way. Staff from the NYSDEC arrived and tranquilized the moose, estimated to be a little more than a year old and weighing 500-600 pounds. The moose was removed, taken 20 miles north of Saratoga, and released into an area where there is a known moose population.
    -Tom Lake

    <<<<< SPRING 2009 NATURAL HISTORY PROGRAMS >>>>>

    Saturday, June 27, 2009, 8:00-10:00 PM
    Songs for the River: Betty and the Baby Boomers in Concert. Free.
    Norrie Point Environmental Center, Staatsburg [Dutchess County].
    Information: 845-889-4745 x105.

    Thursday July 2, 2009, 7:30 - 8:30 PM
    Tivoli Bays Talks: The Hudson Before Hudson, Dave Conover. Free.
    Tivoli Bays Visitor Center, Tivoli [Dutchess County].
    Information: 845-889-4745 x105.

    Saturday July 11, 2009
    Archaeology Days - New York State Department of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site, Yonkers.
    Information: 914-965-4027
    1:30 PM - Hudson River Prehistory lecture by Tom Lake, Hudson River Estuary Program Naturalist and Almanac compiler.

    Saturday July 18, 2009, 2:00 - 4:00 PM
    Fishing the River at Norrie: Public seining and angling, equipment provided. Free.
    Norrie Point Environmental Center, Staatsburg [Dutchess County].
    Information: 845-889-4745 x108.

    <<<<< HUDSON RIVER MILES >>>>>

    The Hudson is measured north from Hudson River Mile 0 at the Battery at the southern tip of Manhattan. The George Washington Bridge is at HRM 12, the Tappan Zee 28, Bear Mountain 47, Beacon-Newburgh 62, Mid-Hudson 75, Kingston-Rhinecliff 95, Rip Van Winkle 114, and the Federal Dam at Troy, the head of tidewater, at 153. Entries from points east and west in the watershed reference the corresponding river mile on the mainstem.

    <<<<< TO CONTRIBUTE YOUR OBSERVATIONS OR TO SUBSCRIBE >>>>>

    Share your observations by e-mailing them to trlake7@aol.com by 9:00 pm on the Monday previous to publication. See something really special? Give us a call at (845)297-8935.

    The Hudson River E-Almanac is compiled and edited by Tom Lake and emailed weekly by DEC's Hudson River Estuary Program. To sign up to receive the E-Almanac (or to unsubscribe), send an email message to hrep@gw.dec.state.ny.us and write E-Almanac in the subject line.

    Weekly issues are archived at http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/25611.html . The DEC website's search engine can find species, locations, and other data in the archives.

    Conservationist magazine brings nature to your door. Discover New York State Conservationist - the award-winning, advertisement-free magazine focusing on New York State's great outdoors and natural resources. Conservationist features stunning photography, informative articles and around-the-state coverage. For a free, no-obligation issue go to http://www.dec.ny.gov/pubs/conservationist.html

    <<<<< USEFUL LINKS >>>>>

    National Ocean Service 2009 tide predictions are online at http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/tides09/ . Tidal current predictions for 2009 are at http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/currents09/

    Information on the movements of the salt front in the Hudson estuary is presented by the U.S. Geological Survey: http://ny.water.usgs.gov/projects/dialer_plots/saltfront.html .

    Information about the Hudson River Estuary Program is available on DEC's website at http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/4920.html

    For real-time information on Hudson River weather and water conditions from six monitoring stations, visit the Hudson River Environmental Conditions Observing System website at http://hudson.dl.stevens-tech.edu/hrecos/ .

    Copies of past issues of the Hudson River Almanac, Volumes II-VIII, are available for purchase from the publisher, Purple Mountain Press, (800) 325-2665, or email purple@catskill.net