What do water infrastructure, farm runoff, electric vehicle charging and diversity all have in common? The Explorer got people talking about them in 2025.
As the Explorer expanded its virtual and in-person event program, we convened people to discuss some of the most important issues facing the Adirondack Park.
This spring, reporter David Escobar, who works through a Report for America-backed partnership between Adirondack Explorer and North Country Public Radio, led a series of community listening sessions across the Adirondack Park. At each stop, locals gathered to talk about the region’s diversity, or lack thereof, and what it might take to create a more inclusive region.
The events were part of a multi-year reporting project focused on race, disability, indigenous history and culture and LGBTQ+ issues in the Adirondacks.
Locals lamented longstanding Adirondack struggles such as the lack of affordable housing, declining school enrollment and aging workforces. The Explorer also reported on small triumphs and the challenges that locals face in their hometowns.
We followed a lead in Saranac Lake, where local educators are working to tackle systemic issues of bullying in one of the Adirondacks’ largest school districts. We also reported on how seniors in Johnsburg are working to launch a town committee to better serve the town’s aging population. And after a rector from Lake Placid warned of increased ICE enforcement in his community, we covered how his congregation implemented a sanctuary church policy for immigrants fearing the growing presence of immigration enforcement.
2026 events
See a list of upcoming Explorer events taking place in early 2026
In June, water reporter Zachary Matson hosted local leaders and state officials to discuss how Adirondack communities can fund costly, but needed, water infrastructure upgrades.
“We’re definitely sensitive to the unique qualities of the Adirondack communities,” said Sean Mahar, who at the time was executive deputy commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation. The topic has been the focus of Adirondack leaders for years and is considered core to future development and affordability.
Matson also focused much of his reporting on Lake Champlain, examining the decades-long effort to control phosphorus runoff in the lake. Vermont and New York both fall short of targets set in a federal pollution control plan, but Vermont dairy operations are the largest contributor to the problem. A panel event in November brought together experts and advocates from both New York and Vermont to discuss the problem and the path forward.
Northern Lights put on a show over the Adirondacks the past few years due to a peak in the solar cycle, so Mike Lynch sat down for a January webinar with professional photographer Jeff Nadler to learn more about the phenomena and how to capture images of the light shows. Nadler captured 24 shows in 2024 alone.
In August, Lynch moderated a panel about managing for future wildfires in the Adirondacks at the Wild Center’s Fire in the Adirondacks conference. The panel included SUNY Plattsburgh forest ecologist Mark Lesser, Protect the Adirondacks Executive Director Claudia Braymer, and Rob Praczkajlo, director for the forest ranger union.
The panel discussed the possibility of large-scale fires occurring in the future due to the increase of forest pests and best practices for managing the blazes.
In November, Lynch moderated a panel about the electric vehicle charging network in the Adirondacks and way to improve it, along with a discussion about why the number of EV drivers continues to remain very low.
The talk included four panelists who regularly drive electric vehicles: Jim McKenna, retired CEO of Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism (ROOST); Christine Pouch, marketing director for Indian Lake; Nancy Bernstein, energy circuit rider for Adirondack North Country Association; and Pete Nelson, who has worked on various related initiatives at the town and state levels.
“There needs to be a better commitment and investment in the education portion but also in the actual logistics of how this gets done, so that communities and businesses that want to install charging infrastructure can do it in a more straightforward way,” Nelson said.
David Escobar and Mike Lynch contributed to this article.
Credit: Source link
