QUEENSBURY, N.Y. (NEWS10) – On Thursday morning, staff at Warren County Municipal Center got a surprise. Video posted to the county Facebook page showed an unexpected visitor making its way swiftly through the center’s parking lot, as a soft snow fell around it.
An employee of the county Buildings and Grounds department encountered a moose crossing the center lot on Thursday morning, shortly after 7 a.m. Captured in a video on the employee’s cell phone camera, the moose was seen heading east, in a direction that could have eventually taken it toward Glen Lake.
Moose have a solid population across the Adirondack Park. Warren County Communications Officer Don Lehman said that in the county, moose are known to live in significant numbers in parts of Lake Luzerne and Johnsburg. The latter is home to the Siamese Pond Wilderness, a 114K-acre wilderness that sees visitors for hiking, camping and boating. In addition to moose, black bears, beavers, coyotes, river otters and white-tailed deer can be found there.
The New York State DEC estimates that between 600 and 700 moose live in the Adirondacks, as of 2018. Moose began reappearing in the region in the 1980s, after having been absent since as far back as the 1860s. Ideal moose habitat consists of mixed forest, as well as open areas including those created by manmade burns and logging work.
The DEC is collecting information on moose sightings, in cooperation with the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Cornell University the Biodiversity Research Institute and the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Adirondack Program. If you see a moose making its way through your yard, along a road, or elsewhere, you can submit information to the DEC online in order to help conservation efforts continue to protect the Adirondack moose – so it can visit places like Warren County Municipal Center as often as it wants.