New York State Conservationist Magazine

New York State Conservationist Magazine The NYS Conservationist - the official magazine of the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation Sign up today!

Conservationist magazine is a New York State-focused publication that will take your breath away. Each issue is packed with informative and entertaining articles, first-rate photography and stunning artwork. Articles cover a broad range of environmental and natural history related topics, including fishing, hiking, recreation, travel, hunting, nature studies, and tips for green living. Published s

ix times a year by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Conservationist is truly New York State's own. Conservationist is a favorite of grandparents, students, teachers, and anyone who takes an interest in New York's great outdoors. A full year's subscription (six big issues), plus a bonus issue is only $12. To subscribe, go to www.dec.ny.gov/pubs/24071.html

Visit our website at www.TheConservationist.org. Email your questions, letters and photos to [email protected].

08/24/2026

While the football season may be starting up soon, DEC is excited to talk about the other type of NY Giant—the sturgeons of New York. Throughout this whole week leading up to the Sturgeon Moon (Friday, August 28, full moon), we will be posting about some of our most charismatic fish; the Atlantic, Shortnose, and Lake sturgeon. These are living dinosaurs with armored plates, barbels, and a talent for acrobatics! Check into our Instagram daily to learn about these amazing fish!

08/24/2026

Tune in LIVE with Hudson River Estuary Educator, Chris Bowser, TOMORROW, Tuesday, August 25 at around 9:30 a.m., as he joins Hudson River fisherman, John Mylod, on the quest for crabs. John commercially fishes for blue claw crabs near Poughkeepsie, NY. With any luck, there will be crustaceans!

08/21/2026

✨ The 2026 Trail Supporter Patch Design is here! ✨

DEC lands and facilities offer many recreational opportunities for people of all ages and abilities. This year’s patch design features an accessible boardwalk trail through a marsh.

Each Patch costs $5 and all funds help to support the maintenance of more than 3,500 miles of non-motorized trials on State Forests, Wildlife Management Areas, Forest Preserve, and Multiple Use Areas.

Patches can be purchased:
💻 online through DEC’s hunting and fishing license portal
☎️ over the phone at (866) 933-2257
📍 at any location where sporting licenses are sold

08/19/2026

The The Great New York State Fair runs August 26 – September 7 and DEC's Conservationist magazine will be there!

Visit the Conservationist booth at the DEC Aquarium building to meet the people behind the magazine you love!
👍 Ask us your questions and share your stories
🎁 Subscribe and get free bonus gifts
🚣 Enter a drawing for a chance to win a kayak!

Hope to see you at the Fair!

08/19/2026

Each August we gather turkey sighting data from across New York State, and your observations help DEC biologists monitor wild turkey populations. Whether you see a flock along a back road, or a single turkey in your yard, your observation is valuable.

🔗 Record your sightings at the link in the comments.
📈 See how this data helps monitor annual wild turkey productivity by visiting the Fall Turkey Harvest and Productivity Dashboard.

💡Did you know? Turkeys don’t just gobble! They communicate with over 30 different vocalizations, including clucks and yelps.

📸: Joseph Valastro

08/14/2026

Calling all foragers! 📢

DEC’s Colonel William F. Fox Memorial Saratoga Tree Nursery needs your help collecting tree fruits and cones—and will pay you by the bushel to get out into the forest and harvest them!

Help contribute to the more than 1.2 million seedlings grown every year that are planted across New York State by participating in the Saratoga Tree Nursery’s fruit and cone collection program!

🌱 By collecting seeds from trees grown in New York State, the Tree Nursery can ensure that seedlings are well-suited to the growing conditions of New York’s ecoregions.
🌱 With the help of community members, we can increase the genetic variety within a species by sourcing seeds from different locations across the state.
🌱 This process can help to improve our forests’ resilience to climate change, pests and diseases, and environmental stressors.
👍 Before harvesting, always make sure that you have permission from the landowner to collect seeds!

The nursery is in need of a certain number of cones and fruits from specific tree species. Contact the Saratoga Tree Nursery to make sure the cone or fruit you are collecting is needed and comes from a suitable source:
☎️ 518-581-1439
📧 [email protected]

The monarch butterfly is perhaps the most familiar butterfly in North America. Their caterpillars feed exclusively on mi...
08/12/2026

The monarch butterfly is perhaps the most familiar butterfly in North America. Their caterpillars feed exclusively on milkweed plants. Monarch butterflies migrate south in the winter, gathering in huge flocks in Mexico. The monarchs that make this trip are the great- and great-great-grandchildren of those that leave Mexico in the spring to head north!

📷 Laura Ann

Green Herons fish at the edges of water bodies, often hidden in vegetation as they crouch and wait for fish. They someti...
08/05/2026

Green Herons fish at the edges of water bodies, often hidden in vegetation as they crouch and wait for fish. They sometimes use small twigs or insects as bait to lure fish before grabbing them in their sharp bills.

📷 Aaron Winters

The eastern tiger swallowtail is one of the most common and familiar of the eastern butterflies. These large, yellow and...
07/29/2026

The eastern tiger swallowtail is one of the most common and familiar of the eastern butterflies. These large, yellow and black butterflies can be found throughout the eastern United States and as far north as southern Ontario.

📷 Laura Ann

07/27/2026

Help DEC Track Walleye in the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario!

DEC Region 6 Fisheries, in partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), is conducting a walleye acoustic telemetry study to better understand walleye populations in the St. Lawrence River and the Eastern Basin of Lake Ontario. The study is designed to assess walleye movement, relative use of important spawning sites, and determine how different spawning populations mix within the system. This information is important for informed management and habitat restoration decisions needed to protect and enhance this critical fishery.

Beginning in 2022, spawning walleye were collected from select tributaries and surgically implanted with internal tags that are detected by acoustic receivers deployed throughout the river and lake bottom. Each walleye also has a visible Floy® tag identifying it as a study fish (pictured below). With help from volunteer anglers, DEC and USFWS recently began the second phase of the study to focus on tagged St. Lawrence River mainstem shoal-spawning walleye.

If you catch a tagged fish, you are not required to release it, but we strongly encourage it so we can continue to learn about that fish’s movement. Releasing it allows the fish to remain part of the ongoing research project as the tags have a ten-year battery life. If you catch and/or harvest a tagged walleye, please report the tag number and capture location to the USFWS at 607-753-9334.

Visit the link in comments to find further details on this project. We appreciate your assistance!

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