New York State hunters killed an estimated 203,427 deer during the 2017-18 hunting season, according to a release from the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation.

The parks office has used the remote, 30-acre site since 2008, several years after a juvenile detention center called Camp Cass closed down in 2004.

RENSSELAERVILLE — The Edmund Niles Huyck Preserve, founded in 1931, has now joined a national network of 398 accredited land trusts.

Linda VanAller Hernick, a former cytotechnician and paleobotanist, has written a book on exploring the world of freshwater microorganisms in ditches and ponds surrounding her Rensselaerville home. She hopes others will be encouraged to partake in this little-known study.

In Berne and Knox, two different incidents have raised questions about what to do when people like hikers and rural homeowners encounter hunters or gun clubs.

The Albany County Soil and Water Conservation District has begun a countywide erosion-control program using its new hydroseeder. In 2016, conservation district staff completed several successful projects in partnership with municipal highway departments.

State biologists are trying to better understand the wild turkey. The Department of Environmental Conservation is asking citizens to record their observations of turkeys this summer.

The annual Asian longhorned beetle Swimming Pool Survey is underway, marking the program’s sixth summer of research work.  

VOORHEESVILLE — An injury that occurred on the Indian Ladder Trail last Sunday at John Boyd Thacher State Park has left the trail closed over a week later.

Health officials in New York have detected the first of the season’s mosquitoes with West Nile virus.