TUPPER LAKE — Hikers hoping to tackle one of the town’s most popular trails will have to wait. The reason? One entrenched moose.
Goodman Mountain’s hiking trail remains closed to the public as of press time Thursday evening. The state Department of Environmental Conservation made the decision to shut the trail down on Friday, June 6 and has maintained a Forest Ranger presence at the trailhead to prevent people from entering.
The decision to close came after several hiking groups reported encountering a bull moose at various points along the mountain’s trail, most recently near its summit. There were no reported injuries. While several videos posted to Facebook do not appear to show the moose displaying aggressive behavior, moose are unpredictable and can become aggressive if provoked.
The DEC said the closure was a “precautionary measure” to protect both people and the large animal. A spokesperson for the agency said trail cameras have been set up to monitor the moose, and it has been observed on a daily basis since the cameras were installed. DEC staff have been making periodic on-site field observations to assess the moose’s condition.
“DEC will re-open the trail as soon as it is safe to do so,” the spokesperson noted.
Goodman Mountain’s trail is a 3.2-mile out-and-back route that climbs 600 feet to a summit offering nearly 180-degree views to the west. The mountain is named in honor of Andrew Goodman, a civil rights activist who was murdered by white supremacists in Mississippi while he was participating in the Freedom Summer of 1964, along with James Chaney and Michael Schwerner. Goodman had ties to Tupper Lake. His family, who were from New York City, would come to the area each summer to vacation. The mountain was renamed in his honor in 2002.
It’s part of the “Tupper Lake Hiking Triad,” a challenge maintained by the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism. Hikers can document their climbs and receive a patch and sticker upon completion. The other two peaks — which are both around 2 miles round-trip — are Mount Arab, in the adjacent town of Piercefield, and Coney Mountain, located about one mile south of Goodman Mountain.
Despite its relative proximity, the DEC spokesperson noted that Coney Mountain remains in the clear.
“Coney Mountain is currently not impacted by the moose and DEC does not anticipate the moose moving to that location given observations over the previous month,” they said.
Moose metrics
At an Oct. 17, 2024 Adirondack Park Agency meeting, DEC big game biologist Jim Stickles and Cornell University biology doctoral candidate Jen Grauer presented the state’s moose population trends. They estimated then that there were 716 moose within the Adirondack Park, with a 95% confidence interval of between 566 and 716 moose — figures based on surveys taken by helicopter.
Moose are a protected animal in New York and are not allowed to be hunted. Stickles said their population was stable as compared to recent years, but fell short of population growth trends in neighboring states with similarly supportive ecological habitats and conservation protections.
“Our moose population seemed to be growing, but not growing at a rate that would be expected,” Stickles said at the meeting. “In other New England states … moose really began to take off.”
Vehicular collisions and parasitic infections — primarily caused by brainworm, liver fluke and winter tick — were cited by the two scientists as leading factors for inhibiting population growth. Grauer said the parasite’s effects on moose have been made worse by a growing deer population.
Deer are vectors for brainworm and liver fluke but have evolved to not be harmed by them — unlike moose. The parasites spread to from deer to moose when they are deposited in deer feces. Snails and slugs eat the feces and, in turn, shed the parasites on the plants that moose feed on, subsequently picking up them up.
While moose should not be approached, the DEC encourages the public to report any sightings. For more information, visit tinyurl.com/33s88en5.