Now that we own 30 acres in a somewhat remote location in the Adirondack Park we started to think about the "what if's." What if someone is on it and gets hurt. What if a snowmobiler goes off the trail. What if someone hunts on it. What if someone goes on it without us knowing.....ugh. There were just too many things to think about so I started to do some research about the laws regarding vacant land, ownership, and trespassing in New York. Of course we wanted to be friendly with our future neighbors, and we certainly wanted the snowmobile club to continue using the trail running through our land but we just didn't know where to start or how to go about posting signs on our land properly. What I found in my research was quite interesting and not what I expected at all.

Here in New York the trespassing laws are controlled by the DEC (Department of Environmental Conservation) and this is what I discovered:

• Posting is not required to protect landowners against liability.
• Posting is not required to make trespassing illegal.
• Should someone trespass on the land they can be prosecuted under the law and if you see them and ask them to leave, they must leave immediately. You are responsible for reporting them to the local environmental conservation officer (click the link to find your region in New York State).
• Should a person known to you continue to trespass you are responsible for sending a certified letter with respect to the boundaries and warning against tresspass.
• Land owners are also responsible to report poachers and polluters. Remember there are seasons for hunting and, well, dumping any type of garbage is just wrong! Land owners should call the DEC to report this at 1-844-DEC-ECOS (1-844-332-3267).
• Should you choose to post your land it will generally only work if you use signage that is conspicuous every 100 feet or so along all boundaries, however you are not required to do this.
• But, If you do choose to post your land you need to know that there are regulations and requirements with respect to sign size, what is prohibited, and it must contain your name and address (contact information). Do your research for your area so you know exactly what you need to do.
• You also have the right to give people permission to use your land.  You can choose to add a sticker to your posted signs that say "Ask Permission." The NYSDEC provides these stickers for FREE. They come with cards to fill out for each person that is granted permission. You keep a portion, and the permitted party keeps a portion. This is a way to share your land with others in a controlled fashion. Download a printable version of the cards here. Check out this pdf brochure about the DEC's Ask Permission program and how to call to get FREE stickers.  If you don't want to download the pdf's you can go directly to the DEC's website here: http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/8371.html​​

We Chose To Post...
In New York State, if you choose to post your land, the signs must meet the following requirements:

• Signs must be a minimum of 11" x 11"
• They must have the name and address of the owner.
• They must state the word "POSTED" or warn against entry for specific purposes
• All wordage on the sign must cover a minimum space of 80 square inches or 9" x 9" of the sign
• One sign must be set on each side of the protected area and on each side of all corners.
• Signs shall be a maximum of 660' feet apart and along the boundaries of the protected area
• Signs should be conspicuous and high enough and spaced closely enough to be seen without turning the land into an 'eyesore.'
• Illegible or missing signs should be replaced once a  year

Since the land was already posted with appropriate signs along the road, we just left them as is and added our name, address, and phone number to the ones we could reach without a ladder. 

We also purchased enough signs to post a minimum of every 100' all the way around the entire property. With a border measurement (including both sides the back and the front) of approximately 4,780 feet we purchased 48 signs (they come in 12 packs). We glued the signs to a thick plastic backing as support. It was scrap that we had laying around so that didn't cost us anything.

Since there is a snowmobile trail on our land and we have an agreement with the local club, we also purchased three special signs you see to add to the locations where there are entrances onto our land and at the junction where the trail splits in three directions. We did however add that this was for the 'snowmobile trail' to the signs. Hopefully this works and people respect our property when we are not there.

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How We Posted...
We hiked the entire border of the land and posted it! The first half we did with the company of family and then Rich and I finished the rest on our own.  This was a great way to get to know and become familiar with the border of our land. We chose rather large trees that looked like they would be around for a while and galvanized nails to post the signs. The signs were posted facing out, away from our property, to prevent trespassers. 

Check out our update on our posted signs in the YouTube video below! Please subscribe to our channel too :-)

Products purchased through Amazon (affiliate links):

• Thin Plastic Posted Signs
• ​Heavy Duty Posted Signs
• Respect Property Owner Signs

Check out our other posts about our future homestead!
​Thanks for visiting and have a great day :-)
Sincerely,

Link to the DEC in New York for more information:
​ https://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/8371.html

We have bats. I know for a fact because they have literally flown past my head. This mostly happens ad dusk when we are swimming in the pool. The bugs just love to hover right above the surface of the pool so the bats just love to swoop in and "chomp" on them!  I don’t mind though.  In fact, I am actually thrilled because with all the mosquito born illnesses being discussed on a daily basis in the news we certainly want to get rid of them. So we welcome the bats because, well, they eat this nasty mosquitoes right up!!! 

Think about it.  Have you ever heard anything good about mosquitos?  I certainly haven't. I just 'googled' the question and the only good thing that came up is that they are part of the food web.  Yup, they are good food for birds, fish,frogs and, of course, bats!  Their purposes on Earth is to be food for other animals.  Sort of the bottom of the food web.  

So I guess it makes sense that we (humans I mean) do everything we can to either get rid of or to minimize their presence. On a community level they spray neighborhoods regularly where we live.  I don't really like this, but even with the spray the mosquitoes are horrible. On a personal level people use all kinds of sprays and lotions, burn citronella candles, buy mosquito zappers, and more. In our yard we make sure there is no standing water, we make natural DIY mosquito repellant (essential oil recipe here), and of course use citronella in lots of places.

And now, we finally have a bat house that holds up to 100 bats!  But we are not hanging it at our current house, we are hanging it on our future homestead! Yes, that's right, we have decided to hang the bat house on our land in the Adirondacks. We chose to do this because the summer is when the mosquitoes are the worst and last summer when we were working on the land we were literally eaten alive. So this summer we are hoping to decrease the mosquito population by luring bats in the area where we plan to build our house.

Check out our video on You Tube of How NOT to Hang a Bat House:

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What are the benefits of a bat house?

1. One single bat can eat up to 600 to 800 mosquitoes an hour.  Thats an average of 6,000 - 8,000 mosquitoes per night! 
2. They also eat moths, gnats, and other annoying little buggies that bother us at night.
3. Their poop, called guano, is nitrogen rich and that makes it perfect for the compost pile or to be used as fertilizer in the garden! The guano will be easily found at the base of the house.
4. The bats will live in the bat house rather than in your house which could lead to destruction and other problems like bats getting loose inside.

What are the negatives?

1. Like raccoons and many other animals, they can get rabies.  For this reason bats should never be handled in any way, especially if the bat appears sick or can't fly.  If a person or pet is ever bitten, or just comes in contact with a sick bat in any way it is very more important to safely save the bat somehow in a container (so it can't bite anyone)  and bring the person and the bat in for rabies testing immediately.  The most common method for people getting rabies from bats was when he bats were sick inside the home. This fact makes a good argument for having a bat house in the yard away from the house!
2. Bat guano can grow a fungus and cause histoplasmosis.  Note that bird droppings can also grow this fungus and cause this as well! The fungus grows on the feces and if the spores become airborne and are breathed in they can be dangerous to anyone with a compromised immune system.  The Mayo Clinic stated not their site that most people feel no ill effects.  If this is a concern, just wear a mask when cleaning up the guano. We already wear a mask when we clean out the chicken coop so this is no big deal for us!​

Check out our YouTube video about why you NEED a bat house! Please be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for future videos!

What next?
Buy or build a bat house – some links for plans and some links to buy it
   1.   Build a Bat house with one of these plans:     
     - Single Chambered Bat House by Bat Conservation International
            - Plans, Tips and More from from the Organization for Bat Conservation   ​
   2.  Buy a Bat house at this link (same one I have):
      - Single Chamber Bat House by Organization for Bat Conservation $49.99
​
Paint the Bat House:
Depending upon where you live and the average temperatures, the color you paint it will vary. We painted ours black because of our location.

Hanging the Bat House

• Install facing South or Southeast
• Must get at least 7 hours of full sun a day
• Should be high up on a pole or on the side of a building (preferably not your house) – minimum is 10 feet, but up to 20 is better

If You Build it They Will Come....Maybe
"What?" After all that work there is a chance that no bats will move in?
​This is true, thats a possibility.  So here's how to increase your chances of having bats move in:

• There should already be bats in the area. If you have NEVER seen a bat at dusk then your chances are slimmer.
• Make sure that there are trees around and available fresh water within .25 of a mile (a pool, river, stream, pond, etc.).
• The best time to put up a bat house is during the winter since bats will move in during the spring.  It gives the house a chance to acclimate to the weather and for any odor from painting to wear away.  
• Note that it can take up to a year for bats to move in depending upon when you put it up, so be patient!

Update! We have purchased a new ladder (Gorilla Ladder 22') and relocated the bat house! Check out our new video of us using the ladder to relocate the bat house :-)

Thanks for visiting!
I would love to hear if you have a bat house and how it has worked out for you :-)
Check out our Bats and Bat Houses Pinterest page for more information and tons of other plans and ideas.
​Sincerely,

Sources:
http://www.cdc.gov/rabies/bats/education/
www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/histoplasmosis/basics/definition/con-20026585​