Posts Tagged ‘water line’

Sunday, November 20, 2022

The toxic side of HABs

HABs on mirror lake

The hazardous algal blooms (HABs) are back… and are they toxic.

State agencies (Environmental Conservation and Health) warn people to avoid all algae-like formations in lakes and ponds and caution that even cyanobacteria blooms without toxins can be harmful.

A handful of the dreaded HABs cropped up on lakes in late-October and early-November, a mark of warm, calm and sunny fall weather. Combined with a churn of nutrients within lakes, the sunny weather spurs rapid cyanobacteria growth, forming blooms on the water surface.

» Continue Reading.


Wednesday, November 9, 2022

Water infrastructure $$$

water infrastructure

During a flurry of pre-election announcements last week, I took special note of a pair on clean water infrastructure.

The announcements mark what is shaping up to be a generational investment in wastewater treatment plants, sewer collection systems and public water supplies. In a magazine piece earlier this year, I outlined over $500 million of water infrastructure needs across the Adirondack Park.

The federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, combined with pandemic response funds, promises over $400 million for New York in the first year and over a $1 billion total in the years to come. On Thursday, the governor’s office announced the first clean water grants supported by the federal money in Newburgh and Liberty. Federal officials recently released $207 million of the New York’s clean water funds.

» Continue Reading.


Tuesday, November 1, 2022

Will climate change threaten ‘forever wild’?

Lake George in winter. Explorer file photo by Mike Lynch

Covering the Adirondacks beat, you hear two words surface in a lot of conversations: climate refugees.

The idea is simple enough. As temperatures warm and the effects of climate change increase drought and water shortages, threaten deadly summer heat and render some parts of the country (let alone world) unlivable, many people may be looking at the Adirondack Park region with new interest.

Water is abundant. High temperatures will remain bearable for the foreseeable future and access to nature is plentiful. While the term typically applies to people around the world who will be forced to leave their homes, it may also apply to city-dwellers looking to escape the concrete jungle in the heat of summer.

» Continue Reading.


Monday, October 31, 2022

Keeping an eye on a new invasive plant

Close-up of Hydrilla. Photo: Chris Evans, River to River CWMA, Bugwood.org. Courtesy of the New York Invasive Species Information Clearinghouse

Hydrilla, an aquatic invasive plant linked to wildlife deaths in southern states, has been inching closer and closer to the Adirondack Park in recent years.

Boat stewards have intercepted hydrilla on boats traveling to the Adirondacks a handful of times in the past five years, including three separate instances in 2021, and the plant is present throughout parts of New York. But it has yet to establish a foothold in Adirondack lakes.

» Continue Reading.


Friday, October 21, 2022

Clean Water Act turns 50

Lake Champlain continues to be impacted by non-regulated runoff. Explorer file photo.

Fifty years ago this week, federal lawmakers overrode a presidential veto to enact the Clean Water Act, a landmark law for the nation’s water quality.

The iconic image of the Cuyahoga River on fire in Ohio spurred congressional action and ushered in a half century of major river restorations across the nation. The goals outlined in the act included restoring the country’s water to a “fishable and swimmable” state.

The law imposed new permitting requirements on polluting industries and sewage treatment plants, but it failed to address diffuse pollution from storm and agricultural runoff, the largest source of pollution in many parts of the country. The standards adopted under the law in many places are now decades old or unable to address emerging problems.

» Continue Reading.


Tuesday, October 18, 2022

Dam repairs

indian lake dam

This fall the Hudson River-Black River Regulating District commenced construction at the Hawkinsville Dam in Boonville a few miles outside the Blue Line. The project includes upgrades, totaling about $1.7 million, to improve the dam’s safety and stability.

I haven’t written about the project because it falls outside the Adirondack Park, but it marks the start of a series of long-needed upgrades to the regulating district’s portfolio of dams, including some of the most iconic in the Adirondacks.

Conklingville Dam, which created the Great Sacandaga impoundment in the 1930s, has received around $20 million in state funding in recent years for the largest upgrade in the dam’s history. I visited the dam at the end of September for a valve test, descending into the heart of the dam where original hand-crank valves open the gates that let water through.

» Continue Reading.


Sunday, October 9, 2022

Trout tails: In search of native strains

Trout Power anglers searching for brook trout DNA samples near Sagamore Lake this summer.

When the volunteers of Trout Power get together for a fishing weekend, they are more interested in a small clip of fish fin than a trophy specimen. They aren’t looking for the biggest or most beautiful trout.

They are looking for genetic information, and they have found it. The nonprofit organization is working with genetics researchers to expand our understanding of native trout strains scattered throughout the park. The strains show minimal mixing with stocked trout and have survived centuries of threats like acid rain and game fishing. The genetic diversity the anglers and researchers are finding, more robust than previously understood, may be a key weapon against the growing threat of climate change, which could warm water temperatures to level uninhabitable for cold-water fish like brook trout.

» Continue Reading.


Monday, October 3, 2022

The end of winter?

The view from the roof of the "silo" science station on the summit of Whiteface on Sept. 21. Photo by Zachary Matson

In a new paper on how climate change is impacting the Adirondacks, Paul Smith’s College researchers waited until their last paragraph to raise a term that has stayed with me: the demise of winter.

It’s practically an aside in the paper’s concluding discussion.

“Today’s annual crossing and re-crossing of the thermal threshold between solid and liquid water has profound effects on cultures and ecosystems alike, and the eventual loss of that transition – i.e. the demise of winter – could produce the greatest climate-driven changes in the region,” they wrote.

» Continue Reading.


Thursday, September 29, 2022

HABs plans

DEC scientist and section chief Lauren Townley presents an update on the state's HABs action plan at a Lake George Park Commission meeting in Bolton on Tuesday. Photo by Zachary Matson

Harmful algal blooms were first confirmed on Lake George in October 2020, suspected to have been spurred on by a warm, dry fall.

With Lake George residents and advocates keeping a careful eye on the lake, DEC scientist Lauren Townley (pictured here) updated the Lake George Park Commission on the state’s latest HABs action plan for Lake George, which was updated in August. She shared the update in Bolton at the Lake George Park Commission’s first in-person meeting since prior to the pandemic.

» Continue Reading.


Thursday, September 22, 2022

Turning water into snow

Skiiers at the Mount Van Hoevenberg complex. Explorer file photo by Mike Lynch

The state Olympic Regional Development Authority seeks a permit to withdraw up to 235,000 gallons of water per day from wells and a brook at Mount Van Hoevenberg to primarily bolster snowmaking at the bobsled and cross country skiing venue.

The permit application comes after the state funded a series of major upgrades at the site, including a new visitors lodge, improved trails and modernized snowmaking equipment. A new 3.5 million gallon reservoir can hold the water needed to make snow at the site. The upgrades also aim to attract international competitions to the venue like the World University Games slated for this winter.

» Continue Reading.


Monday, September 12, 2022

Bond acts and water projects

The 1996 environmental bond act funded the purchase of Whitney Park and Little Tupper Lake. Explorer file photo by Jonathan Esper.

In my almost 11 months at the Explorer, I have done a lot of reporting on the Adirondack Park’s critical water infrastructure. Infrastructure that cleans water for drinking, protects lakes and streams from pollution, mitigates flooding and literally holds up much of the region’s watery landscapes.

A lot of that infrastructure is in dire need of repair or replacement and plays a part in water quality issues like salt pollution, harmful algal blooms and stream connectivity crucial to hedging against the threat of climate change. In March, I found around $500 million of clean water infrastructure needs listed for projects throughout the Adirondacks.

» Continue Reading.


Thursday, September 8, 2022

Report: No spring turnover on Mirror Lake

mirror lake

Chloride concentrations in Mirror Lake – one of the region’s most developed lakes – declined slightly last year, but the lake again failed to complete a turnover in spring 2021, according to an annual report from the Ausable River Association.

The report, released earlier this month, attributed the chloride decline to a mild winter season, improvements to the Village of Lake Placid’s stormwater runoff system and a new program to reduce private and public road salt use around the lake.

Mirror Lake is one of the lakes most impacted by salt pollution in the Adirondack Park and has been the focus of the Ausable River Association and local officials seeking to limit salt contamination. Still, researchers measured chloride concentration of 52 mg/L, much higher than chloride levels found in lakes unimpacted by salt runoff.

» Continue Reading.


Monday, August 29, 2022

Stewards on duty

Boat steward Kelly Bonnville prepares the machine used to clean boats with hot water. Photo by Zachary Matson

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.


Thursday, August 11, 2022

Preview of Salt Panel Recommendations

lower st. regis lake

The Adirondack Road Salt Reduction Task Force is nearing completion of its first round of work and a report on its findings and recommendations could be available in the coming month.

During the first Adirondack Lakes Alliance symposium in recent years, Adirondack Watershed Institute Executive Director Dan Kelting previewed the panel’s recommendations. Here’s a look at some of what he said was included in recent drafts:

» Continue Reading.


Sunday, August 7, 2022

Always-changing nature

duck hole

I just got back from an overnight trip to Duck Hole in the Western High Peaks so will keep this brief. Photographer Mike Lynch and I joined guide Matt Burnett and a group of local teenagers on a trip back to the former dammed pond that drained after the dam blew out during Tropical Storm Irene.

More to come on why we made the trip, but I can attest that the succession of ecosystems is well underway a decade after the water drained. Moss, grasses, shrubs and flowering plants have filled the area, attracting monarch butterflies. Fast-growing birches and the first generation of new spruce and cedar saplings have taken root. Nature is dynamic and, if allowed, fast to recover from humans’ mark.

Next, I’m headed to Paul Smith’s College for the Adirondack Lakes Alliance symposium. I’m looking forward to hearing discussion on a range of important topics, including the contested use of herbicide to combat invasive aquatic plants. I hope to meet some of you there.

Also:

Photo of Duck Hole by Zachary Matson. Editor’s note: This first appeared in Zach’s weekly “Water Line” newsletter. Click here to sign up. 



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