There is a chunk of land smack dab in the middle of what we call the Triple Cities. It is like a Central Park in NYC, but, with hills and streams and virgin timber and is 200 acres. It is a part of the land that IBM had in conjunction with it’s country club it provided to employees. Beautiful paths and stone bridges and just rugged hiking.
Nine years ago they sold a contract to log the land and people flipped out. There instantly was a group formed called “Save the Glen”. I went to a rally and a meeting and these people were dead serious. IBM was going to feel their full wrath. I can’t blame them. This was on the tail end of IBM closing the country club and laying off and relocating over 5000 people. This town had been gut punched. Now IBM was going to log?
Long story short, lots of bad press and letters stopped the logging. It sat idle, but still in IBM hands up until about a year ago when IBM donated it to the Waterman Conservation Center. That permanently saved the area. Phew.
In the photos you will see a couple trees marked with blue paint, as in "cut this one." Not sure if that was deliberate to mark the trees with blue, seeing as IBM is called “Big Blue” or just a coincidence. There are tons of trees marked this way.
You will also see pipes coming out of the ground. Those are monitoring wells. They are scattered throughout the Glen as well as in downtown Endicott. Seems IBM used the land, as well as other large chunks of land they had, to dump, rather, pump industrial waste into the ground. There is a “Plume” working it’s way to the ground water that supplies water to the entire region. When that hits the fan, we will be another “Love Canal”.
At least the trees remain and it is still a nice area for a hike. Thought it would be a great opportunity to debut my one of a kind Becker 7 - 10. Enjoy
Even after all these years, the blue lines are still visible.
Things are thawing out.
There is a waterfall down there and an old stone arch. Tough to see.
BK 7-10's grow on trees out here.
Flashlight and sharpener I made out of an ESEE firerod and ESEE 5 sheath.
Only 38 days of sun a year, thought I'd take advantage.
Two of the monitoring wells.
Monitoring well up close.
Nine years ago they sold a contract to log the land and people flipped out. There instantly was a group formed called “Save the Glen”. I went to a rally and a meeting and these people were dead serious. IBM was going to feel their full wrath. I can’t blame them. This was on the tail end of IBM closing the country club and laying off and relocating over 5000 people. This town had been gut punched. Now IBM was going to log?
Long story short, lots of bad press and letters stopped the logging. It sat idle, but still in IBM hands up until about a year ago when IBM donated it to the Waterman Conservation Center. That permanently saved the area. Phew.
In the photos you will see a couple trees marked with blue paint, as in "cut this one." Not sure if that was deliberate to mark the trees with blue, seeing as IBM is called “Big Blue” or just a coincidence. There are tons of trees marked this way.
You will also see pipes coming out of the ground. Those are monitoring wells. They are scattered throughout the Glen as well as in downtown Endicott. Seems IBM used the land, as well as other large chunks of land they had, to dump, rather, pump industrial waste into the ground. There is a “Plume” working it’s way to the ground water that supplies water to the entire region. When that hits the fan, we will be another “Love Canal”.
At least the trees remain and it is still a nice area for a hike. Thought it would be a great opportunity to debut my one of a kind Becker 7 - 10. Enjoy
Even after all these years, the blue lines are still visible.
Things are thawing out.
There is a waterfall down there and an old stone arch. Tough to see.
BK 7-10's grow on trees out here.
Flashlight and sharpener I made out of an ESEE firerod and ESEE 5 sheath.
Only 38 days of sun a year, thought I'd take advantage.
Two of the monitoring wells.
Monitoring well up close.
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