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August 26, 2010

Bring back the blueberries

Press-Republican

The "million-dollar dam'' created by North Country businessman/philanthropist William H. Miner isn't the only million-dollar feature in the geographic area known as the Altona Flat Rock.

For thousands of years, the shallow, acidic soil of the glacier-scoured landscape in northwestern Clinton County has nurtured countless acres of valuable blueberries.

The early settlers knew this. Beginning in the mid-1800s, a few individuals harvested and sold berries locally, to passengers along the railroad line and in Montreal. By the 1880s, distributors had moved in, employing hundreds of area pickers. They built sprawling blueberry camps where families could come and spend the summer supplementing their incomes.

By 1900, one supplier alone was shipping 13,000 quarts of berries daily from the Flat Rock at the height of the season, a benefit to the entire North Country economy. And all this just by allowing nature to take its course.

But nature didn't provide this service without a price. The regenerative ecology of the Flat Rock that perpetuates blueberry plants and provides bountiful harvests depends on fire. For millennia, lightning strikes fulfilled this need, and fires periodically charred the landscape bringing with them new life.

As the blueberry industry grew, man stepped in to help nature. Fires were set to spur even more growth and high-quality fruit for the following years. This lasted until 1957, when a blaze got out of control and nearly destroyed the Town of Altona.

After that, landowners' attitudes changed. Fires ceased to be set, and natural ones were extinguished. The blueberry industry, once such an important resource, waned and over the years has become largely forgotten.

A lot of time has passed since then, however, and a lot of knowledge has been gained. It's time to take another look and try to revive a resource that's been such a vital part of our history, culture and economy.

Much of the land is owned by the William H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute, which wants to be a good neighbor and is understandably very reluctant to do even the most modest controlled burns.

But wild-blueberry stewardship has been done very successfully in other states. In Maine, for example, the Nature Conservancy does controlled burns to regenerate wild berries, and it's a huge and profitable commercial enterprise. About 60,000 acres of wild blueberry plants are harvested with millions of dollars added to the economy.

Here, the Department of Environmental Conservation also has expertise in such matters. Miner Institute's experience as an innovative and resourceful agricultural research center is also well known.

Perhaps, in consultation with neighbors and each other, controlled burns or mowing operations — another way to regenerate blueberries if the rough terrain can be negotiated — could be undertaken to at least see what the potential might be.

Landowners, including Miner, could make money on a U-pick operation, or residents could be allowed to go and pick for recreational purposes as a public benefit.

However it can be worked out, such a vast North Country resource should no longer be ignored.

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