The Five Rivers Environmental Education Center, now home to DEC’s first-ever mini forest, also known as a pocket forest or Miyawaki forest. This hands-on, community-driven effort is part of Governor Kathy Hochul’s ambitious 25 Million Trees Initiative, a statewide campaign to enhance green spaces, improve public health, and address the climate crisis.

On April 5, ECOs Berketis, Dickson, and Ruffle assisted DEC Fisheries and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (State Parks) at the annual Spring Family Fishing Festival at Belmont Lake State Park. Prior to the festival, DEC stocked Belmont Lake with nearly 1,000 brown and rainbow trout, giving the hundreds of festival attendees great opportunities to catch fish despite the mostly rainy conditions that day. ECOs patrolled the lake, assisted