The project, known plainly as Adirondack Long Term Monitoring, collects important chemical data from 58 Adirondack water bodies, including many remote ones, and has helped document a gradual recovery from acidification across the region.
What started as a wholesome family tradition of cleaning up the area around their Fourth Lake camp has transpired into a widespread clean up event dubbed Maintain the Chain (MTC) that focuses efforts on the Fulton Chain of Lakes. In its inaugural year as a formal event in 2021, Maintain the Chain garnered support from the Fulton Chain of Lakes Association (FCLA), towns of Webb and Inlet, and the Sixth and Seventh Lakes Improvement Association, and partnered with the Adirondack Watershed Institute (AWI). The momentum continued for the 2022 event this past summer, Aug. 5-14, dates which coincided with Adirondack Water Week and the 50th anniversary of the Clean Water Act.
Paul Smiths, NY (October 11, 2022) – The Adirondack Watershed Institute at Paul Smith’s College and the Lake Champlain Sea Grant welcome Stephanie Tyski as the Watershed Science Communication Fellow. Earlier this year, Lake Champlain Sea Grant awarded the AWI a two-year, competitive fellowship that provides $25,000 a year toward the hire of an early career professional.
Tyski is contributing to AWI’s communication strategy for protecting clean water and healthy watersheds. AWI will support and mentor Tyski as she implements a communication project that engages the public and fosters stewardship. Lake Champlain Sea Grant will offer learning opportunities and additional training for Tyski to enhance her efforts in the Adirondack region.
Adirondack Watershed Institute boat stewards this summer continued their education-focused mission of protecting Adirondack lakes by preventing the spread of invasive plants.
As a new law requiring boaters certify they have cleaned their boat and that it does not contain any visible plant or animal material before launching in the park goes into effect, though, staffing remains a key challenge to both the stewards and the environmental conservation officers tasked with enforcing the new law.
PAUL SMITHS (July 21, 2022) –Officials at Paul Smith’s College Adirondack Watershed Institute (AWI) announced it was recently awarded two research grants from the Lake Champlain Basin Program (LCBP). The first grant will help scientists and policy makers understand the extent of road salt pollution in Lake Champlain. The second grant will support AWI scientists to assess the effectiveness of recent stormwater upgrades in Lake Placid to improve water quality in Mirror Lake.
Road salt is as a significant source of pollution in the Lake Champlain Basin, which includes 11 sub-basins drained from major tributaries in New York, Vermont, and Quebec including the Saranac, Ausable, Winooski, Missisquoi, and Lamoille Rivers. With the generous support of the LCBP, AWI scientists will compile existing data from all water bodies within the Lake Champlain Basin to determine what is driving sodium and chloride levels. As a result, scientists will have a better understanding of the extent and cause of road salt pollution in the basin, which will help inform long-term practices to reduce road salt and protect the environment.
“We look forward to working with LCBP to understand long-term changes, their causes, and the trajectory of sodium and chloride concentrations in the Lake Champlain Basin,” said Dr. Brendan Wiltse, senior research scientist for AWI and Principal Investigator for both grants. “As a result, New York and Vermont decision makers will be better informed to make management decisions that benefit the environment and the public.”
We will be working on an update in the coming weeks and want to hear from anyone who has seen the scene at boat launches this summer: Are people complying with rules or resisting the message of stewards working to limit the spread of invasive species?
The Paul Smith’s College Adirondack Watershed Institute (AWI) recently announced that the New York State Department of Health awarded it certification through the Environmental Laboratory Approval Program (ELAP).
The AWI Environmental Research Lab is a state-of-the-art laboratory specifically designed for the analysis of surface and ground water in the Adirondack region. The laboratory saw major upgrades in 2010 when Paul Smith’s College built the Countess Alicia Spaulding-Paolozzi Environmental Science and Education Center.
A group of scientists and representatives of government agencies met this summer in Saratoga Springs with an enormous mission: outline plans for a survey of hundreds of Adirondack Lakes.
The emerging plan hopes to focus on the effects of climate change on Adirondack lakes and would build on the last major survey of Adirondack lakes in the 1980s, which focused on lake acidification and served as a scientific basis for the 1990 federal Clean Air Act amendments. » Continue Reading.
The Paul Smith’s College Adirondack Watershed Institute (AWI) recently announced that it has been awarded a grant from the Lake Champlain Basin Program to expand the Adirondack Lake Assessment Program (ALAP) and further safeguard waterbodies across the Adirondack region.
Last week, I visited the Adirondack Watershed Institute at Paul Smith’s College. After talking with the institute’s staff about a litany of water-related issues the organization works on, I walked around the lakefront campus with AWI’s leaders.
The college, which unsurprisingly is well-regarded for its environmental science, forestry and hotel management programs, has less than 1,000 students, what must be some of the best views of any campus in the country and 14,000 acres of Adirondack land.
The Paul Smith’s College Adirondack Watershed Institute (AWI) has launched a new interactive website to display near real-time data on water quality and weather conditions on Upper Saranac Lake.
Adirondack Water Week kicks off on Sunday, August 22 and runs through Saturday, August 28 this year. The annual event is a collaborative celebration of the region’s freshwater resources and precious watersheds. Co-hosted by the Paul Smith’s College Adirondack Watershed Institute, Northwood School, and the Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program, Water Week was created to raise awareness of value of our waterways.
“We rely on our Adirondack waterways for drinking, recreation, tourism, and basic ecosystem functions”, said Dan Kelting the executive director of the Adirondack Watershed Institute. “This annual celebration is a chance for the public to reflect on the importance of freshwater, get out and enjoy our waterways, and perhaps experience something new.”
This year’s Water Week includes a self-guided Watershed Walk around Mirror Lake in Lake Placid, a river clean-up and invasives pull in the Boquet River watershed, guided paddling tours, science talks, watershed educational programs, and much more.
“Wool and Water” is a unique project that kicks off during Water Week. It blends fiber arts with scientific data. Led by AWI’s director of science and fiber artist, Michale Glennon, the project visualizes changing water conditions through knitting and crocheting. Michale’s work will be displayed at the Paul Smith’s College Visitor’s Interpretive Center starting Monday, August 23.
In addition to scheduled programs, organizers encourage the public to simply get out and enjoy their waterways during Water Week and if so inclined to tag their social media posts with #adkwaterweek.
“Go for a paddle, sit by a lake, or take a walk in your watershed”, said Zoë Smith, AWI’s deputy director. “It’s a time to appreciate the value that water brings to our everyday lives.”
All events are open to the general public and more information can be found on the Water Week calendar at adkwatershed.org/community/events.
Mirror Lake research photo provided by Ausable River Association
Stewards are ready for another busy Adirondack boating season
Paul Smith’s College Adirondack Watershed Institute (AWI) is offering free boat inspections and decontaminations starting on Memorial Day weekend at more than 60 boat launches and road-side locations across the Adirondack region to help the public stop the spread of aquatic invasive species (AIS).
The second of three public meetings for the Upper Saranac watershed management planning effort is scheduled for Thursday, May 6 from 7pm-8:30pm.
The meeting is hosted by the Upper Saranac Foundation (USF) and the Paul Smith’s College Adirondack Watershed Institute (AWI). The groups will present preliminary goals for the watershed plan and will facilitate discussions about the recommendations and the future of the watershed. The groups administered a public survey in the summer of 2020 and held the first public meeting in February of 2021.
Photo: Boat stewards assist the public with checking their watercraft for aquatic invasive species. They also provide education and at some locations, free boat washes. (Photo by Adirondack Watershed Institute, Paul Smith’s College)
Stewards on duty
Adirondack Watershed Institute boat stewards this summer continued their education-focused mission of protecting Adirondack lakes by preventing the spread of invasive plants.
As a new law requiring boaters certify they have cleaned their boat and that it does not contain any visible plant or animal material before launching in the park goes into effect, though, staffing remains a key challenge to both the stewards and the environmental conservation officers tasked with enforcing the new law.
» Continue Reading.