A debate has heated up in Lake George around the best ways to treat the invasive aquatic plant Eurasian watermilfoil.
Despite objections from several stakeholder groups, the Adirondack Park Agency on Thursday approved a controversial plan to apply an herbicide to two infestations of invasive milfoil in two bays on the east side of Lake George.
What are your thoughts about this plan? Are you for or against it?
Almanack file photo
The Lake George Land Conservancy (LGLC) invites the public to help celebrate the 10th year of their flagship event, the Lake George Hike-A-Thon, to be held Tuesday, July 5, 2022. Early-bird registration for the event opened 8 a.m. Monday, March 7th and will continue until March 31st, during which time free event t-shirts are offered with registration. Special edition anniversary tie-dye shirts are also available to purchase.
Eager to claim their spots in the event, 250 people registered just in the first hour after early-bird registration for the event opened; nearly 700 people are expected in total.
Save the Date: This summer, Georgia O’Keeffe will sing and dance in Lake George! Nearby Faraway, the brand-new Georgia O’Keeffe musical, will premiere July 22-24 and July 29-31, 2022, at the Carriage House Theater at Fort William Henry in Lake George, NY. The intimate musical will feature music by local composer Catherine Reid, and book and lyrics by Neal Herr. On the centennial anniversary of O’Keeffe’s breakthrough summers in Lake George, this dramatic tour-de-force is bound to be the centerpiece of what Mayor Robert Blais calls an “O’Keeffe-Fest,” with related activities by art and historical groups celebrating the life and art of “America’s Favorite Painter.” Adirondack Institute’s production of Nearby Faraway is made possible with generous grants from both the Touba Family Foundation and Warren County Tourism/VisitLakeGeorge.com. More details, including a full press release, to follow as we inch closer to the premiere date.
Photo at top: Courtesy of Kate Austin-Avon.
The results are in — and the Town of Bolton’s first-of-its-kind demonstration project using Adirondack woodchips to protect Lake George from algae-causing nitrate has proven successful.
A 27-month monitoring study conducted by the Lake George Association (LGA), Lake George Waterkeeper, and the Town of Bolton, with a grant from Lake Champlain Sea Grant, found that the town’s woodchip bioreactor removed 38% of nitrate from the wastewater that flowed through it during the project compared to zero removal of nitrate from the rest of the plant’s effluent stream. This is believed to be the world’s first use of a woodchip bioreactor at a municipal wastewater treatment plant. The bioreactor was funded in 2018 by a $50,000 grant from The FUND for Lake George (now the LGA).
“Over the past two years, our study demonstrated conclusively that the woodchip bioreactor is an effective, affordable and environmentally compatible nitrate-reduction tool for smaller municipal treatment plants like Bolton’s that were constructed decades ago, prior to the advent of denitrification technology,” said Lake George Waterkeeper Chris Navitsky, who conducted the study along with water quality scientist and LGA Science Advisor Dr. Jim Sutherland.
Read more about this world-leading project.
Read the full research report.
Photo from Cat Mountain/Almanack archive
The village of Lake George is days away from turning on its new wastewater treatment plant – a major overhaul years in the making.
I visited the new facility (located in the same place as the old plant) last week and got a tour from plant operator Tim Shudt, who is nearing 10 years in the position. Construction is basically complete, but they are still working out some final details before the new plant can be switched on.
The HABs keep on happening on Lake George. Shortly after we reported on an early-October harmful algal bloom on Lake George, the state Department of Environmental Conservation updated its useful map of HABs across the state. And state officials confirmed yet more HABs on Lake George on Nov. 8-11.
Harmful algal blooms – or HABs – are formations of cyanobacteria, which can rise to the water’s surface under the right conditions. While HABs have the potential to turn toxic, toxins have not been detected in the Lake George HABs. The HABs on Lake George continued in the Harris Bay area and in November the confirmed blooms included some around Cotton near Bolton Landing, according to the DEC map.
Municipalities, businesses and not-for-profit organizations interested in learning how to keep roads, driveways and parking areas safe this winter while reducing the cost and environmental consequences of road salt use are invited to attend the 2021 Adirondack Champlain Regional Salt Summit, Thursday, Oct. 14, from 8 a.m.-3 p.m. at the Fort William Henry Hotel and Conference Center in Lake George. Online attendance will also be available for those unable to travel to the Summit. Registration is free for all attendees.
This year’s Summit will be the 6th annual gathering focused on best practices for reducing road salt use, and will feature progress on road salt reduction in the Lake George region. It is presented by the Lake George Association, which spearheads the Lake George Road Salt Reduction Initiative, and Lake Champlain Sea Grant. The agenda will include:
Lake George, NY – Many thanks to all 40-50 participants, in our first Asian Clam Day July 15. In-the-water volunteers, 20-25 of us, were successful at collecting many thousands of Asian clams, 9.1% alive, while noting the changed distribution of clams from last year. Our scooping and sifting coincided with the arrival of the Lake George Association Floating Classroom filled with participants enjoying a morning of science and scenery on Lake George. The Floating Classroom was co-sponsored by The Sans Souci Restaurant, the Cleverdale Country Store, and Love Is On Lake George. The morning’s activities were intended to raise awareness about the increasing infestation of Asian clams in Sandy Bay and the concerns of residents. The morning was a success!
Our next Asian clam Day will be August 19, also 9:30-11:30. We ask volunteers to meet in the shallows of Sandy Bay. Please bring sifters, colanders, or spades and shovels, if you can. We will have equipment to lend, and we will have collection containers. For access to Sandy Bay shallows, please email lakestewardship@gmail.com.
Recently, the Explorer’s Gwendolyn Craig reported that the Lake George Park Commission had assembled a committee to consider the effects of septic systems on the lake’s water, and to discuss whether or how to regulate them. At its meeting today, the commission announced that Essex and Washington counties had joined Warren County on the committee, providing representation for all lands around the lake.
This question of septics and other possible sources of nutrient pollution in the “Queen of American Lakes” is a topic in which the Explorer has invested a considerable amount of reporting, as wastewater pollution is emerging as a top priority in the Adirondacks. We’ll continue following it and explaining how it may affect homeowners, vacationers and the environment. In the meantime, this new committee will meet today, Aug. 5, and you can find information for following that discussion online by clicking this link.
Lake George photo from the Almanack archive
This first appeared in the Explorer’s weekly “Water Line” newsletter. Click here to subscribe.
It’s harmful algal bloom season, and Lake George had its first reported one of the season last week.
Getting information about it was messy. The Lake George Association first reported the suspicious bloom, found during a routine Citizens Statewide Lake Assessment Program survey, to the state Department of Environmental Conservation. DEC staff confirmed it was a harmful algal bloom and posted that information on its notifications page. I saw that report and requested information from both LGA staff and the DEC. What then ensued was a back-and-forth between DEC and LGA, via email and phone. It was clear that though the bloom was documented a couple of days before, no one was on the same page about how to get information out about it. There was even discrepancy over whether to call it a harmful algal bloom.
The Lake George Association’s Floating Classroom will be in Sandy Bay to support the Lake Stewardship Group of Cleverdale Asian Clam Day on Thursday, July 15. Asian Clam Day is a hands-on educational and awareness event for residents and visitors.
Pilot Program to Run April 15 to Dec. 15
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) will begin closing the gates at the Mossy Point and Rogers Rock boat launches on Lake George on April 15, as part of an ongoing pilot program to increase protections from aquatic invasive species, DEC Regional Director Joseph Zalewski announced today. The overnight closure will continue through Dec. 15.
“Lake George is one of the most beautiful and heavily recreated lakes in the Northeast. We believe the Commission’s mandatory boat inspection program provides a great balance in protecting Lake George from invasive species without impacting boating activities on the lake,” said Dave Wick, Executive Director of the Lake George Park Commission. “The state and local partnership that created this invasive species prevention initiative has been tremendously successful over its seven years of existence, and it continues to have strong public support.”
By Walt Lender, Executive Director, Lake George Association and Eric Siy, Executive Director, The FUND for Lake George
The unprecedented threats imperiling the water quality of Lake George demanded a game-changing response. It came on March 9.
In a move that was both visionary in purpose and difference-making in action, the boards of the Lake George Association and The FUND for Lake George approved a merger that will create a single new preeminent and more powerful protector for the Queen of American Lakes.
The afternoon of Valentine’s Day, we received a report of 3 loons iced-in a small puddle near the west shore of Lake George, with an eagle sitting on the edge of the ice. Apparently a 4th loon had already met its demise, so it was important to rescue these trapped birds as soon as possible. Being late in the day, it was decided to attempt the rescue the following morning.
That area of the lake had just frozen in the previous week with a couple of days of below-zero temps, so the loons were trapped by quickly forming ice. We’ve had a relatively mild winter, thus some loons had wintered over on Lakes Champlain and George.
At this time of year, loons are molting out of their winter plumage and into their black and white breeding plumage. They also completely lose their flight feathers, so they are flightless for about a month until the new ones grow in. Thus, they can easily become trapped in a small pool of water if the ice forms quickly.
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Discussion time: Septic inspections
This week on Adirondack Explorer’s website, we published an article about Lake George’s plans to create a wide-reaching septic inspection program.
From the article, by Zachary Matson:
» Continue Reading.