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Getting out(doors) while the getting is good
In September, those of us in academe often turn our focus to the pursuit of knowledge at the expense of getting outdoors to visit scenic areas where vivid landscapes, waterfalls, wooded trails and wildlife abound. With the spectacular autumnal display of the changing of seasons about to begin, a good list of things to do—fall foliage, wineries, camping, museums—in New York State is found at the "Round the Bend" Web site at www.roundthebend.com. Simply click on the region of the state you wish to visit or the activity you wish to pursue that you find "just around the bend."
Birding is the most popular non-consumptive outdoor activity in the United States. You can visit the "Western New York Birding Site" at www.home.eznet.net/~kfox/wny/sites/bycounty.htm for a list of the region's more popular spots for bird watching. One of the richest areas for observing bird migrations—ducks, geese and other waterfowl, hawks and a host of song birds—is at the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge, about 20 miles east of Buffalo. Go to http://iroquoisnwr.fws.gov for more details. Also, the Buffalo Audubon Society www.buffaloaudubon.com provides a host of educational programs, conservation projects and regularly scheduled field trips throughout Western New York.
Other local areas to explore the wonders of nature include the Beaver Meadow Nature Center http://www.westernny.com/beaver.html in Wyoming County and the Tifft Nature Preserve www.sciencebuff.org/tifft.html in the southwest corner of Buffalo. The latter is a beautiful 264-acre site with foot trails, a 75-acre freshwater cattail marsh and other areas where wild plants and animals can be observed in their natural surroundings in an unlikely spot near the Skyway and the inner-harbor grain elevators.
Outdoor enthusiasts in Western New York may well want to acquaint themselves with the Adirondack Mountain Club's (ADK) Niagara Frontier Chapter http://www.adk.org/html/adk_niagara_frontier_chapter.html. The ADK provides numerous opportunities for recreation including, overnight camping, hiking, backpacking, kayaking, canoeing, snow shoeing, cross-country skiing and bicycling not only in the Adirondacks, but other areas of New York, Ontario and Western Pennsylvania as well. Chapter meetings, which include an educational workshop, are held on the second Tuesday of each month from September to June at 6:30 p.m. in the Amherst Community Church, 77 Washington Highway off Main Street in Snyder.
UB has its own campus organization for faculty, students and staff to learn about, and participate in, a wide variety of outdoor recreational activities. Buffalo Outdoor Pursuits http://wings.buffalo.edu/org/outdoorpursuits/ offers numerous workshops, including a kayaking-skills class, a map and compass clinic, a wilderness first-aid session, and last but not least, a planning meeting for a May 2003 wilderness trip to Alaska.
More information on outdoor activities and other "fun sites" in the Buffalo-Niagara area can be found on BISON, the Libraries' Web site, at http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/units/sel/bio/Funstuff.html.
—Frederick Stoss, University Libraries