Cragsmoor Conservancy

07/16/2026

07/16/2026

THIS IS US!! Check out our lovely website.

Cragsmoor Conservancy is now DBA Cragsmoor Land Trust.

Conserving and protecting 55 acres of forests, wildlife habitat, and open space on the Shawangunk Ridge in Ulster County, New York. Join us.

07/16/2026

THIS IS US!!!! Our new website. Enjoy the beauty!

Cragsmoor Conservancy is now DBA Cragsmoor Land Trust.

Conserving and protecting 55 acres of forests, wildlife habitat, and open space on the Shawangunk Ridge in Ulster County, New York. Join us.

05/12/2026

From Guardians of Nature:

Those splotches that look like dried mud on your maple tree aren't mud. They're 30 to 50 spotted lanternfly eggs, laid last October, and they're set to hatch in next weeks.

Spotted lanternfly is one of the most aggressive invasive insects to spread across the eastern US in years. A single tree can host dozens of egg masses. One hatched mass becomes thirty nymphs by May. By August they're adults, swarming maples, walnuts, willows, and grape vines, and laying the next generation on anything that doesn't move — fence posts, picnic tables, the wheel wells of your car.

🌿 Where to look this weekend:
- Bottom 6 feet of any tree trunk, especially maple, walnut, willow, and tree of heaven
- Underside of deck railings, picnic tables, wood piles
- Behind house numbers, on fence posts, under outdoor furniture
- Vehicle wheel wells, undercarriages, trailer hitches — they lay on metal too
- Look for a 1 to 1.5 inch smear that looks like dried gray mud or putty

🌿 What to do if you find one:
- Hold a sealable bag underneath
- Scrape with a credit card, plastic putty knife, or stiff stick
- Drop the entire mass in — fill the bag with rubbing alcohol or hand sanitizer
- Seal the bag and discard in regular trash
- Report the find to your state agriculture department — many states track sightings
- One mass takes ten seconds. Most infested trees carry between five and twenty.

One credit card. One sealed bag. One weekend. Or thousands of nymphs hatching in May 🌿

04/20/2026

Don’t forget to feed your Peeps! This weekend is predicted to be the peak of the Peeps migration and then their numbers will drop off dramatically so make sure you have your feeders out and filled. These are the yellow phase Peeps but they are also seen in a variety of other colors. These photos are from Western New York but the outbreak is found throughout North America.