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Almost 50 scientists who work in the Adirondacks gathered March 6 and 7 in Old Forge to present results of research and monitoring activities in the region during the 16th Annual Adirondack Research Forum. Below is a quick summary of their reports and findings.
Readers will note that the names of a few private waterbodies where specific research is being conducted were redacted. This was done for privacy purposes and to protect the fisheries. Each of the research and monitoring projects fits into the state’s plan to protect itself from acid rain and climate change by proving what damage has already occurred. Some of the projects also seek to find ways to accelerate the park’s recovery from all air pollution-related damage. » Continue Reading.
Paul Smith’s College Adirondack Watershed Institute and the Hamilton County Soil and Water Conservation District have collaborated on a study detailing long term trends of the water quality in 21 Hamilton County lakes.
Scientists in the 1970s began to notice and be alarmed by the abnormally acidic lakes and streams they were discovering throughout the Adirondacks. In some cases, fish populations were disappearing. Their groundbreaking work coined the term acid rain, caused by fossil-fuel emissions that drifted on high-altitude winds and were flushed down in cloud bursts.
At the conclusion of his visit to Bear Pond in the St. Regis Canoe Area on August 10, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer answered questions from press and local residents who were worried about Federal Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. Senator Schumer confirmed that Kavanaugh would be bad news for clean air, clean water and public health in the Adirondack Park.
The Lake Champlain Basin Program has released the 2018 State of the Lake and Ecosystem Indicators Report. The report, produced every three years, provides an assessment of the condition of Lake Champlain. The report also serves to provide the public and resource managers with a better understanding of threats to the lake’s health, as well as opportunities to meet the challenges ahead.
Lake George Waterkeeper Chris Navitsky has called road salt “the acid rain of our time.”
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has announced they are recruiting participants for the 2018 summer sampling season to conduct water quality assessments in streams and rivers as part of the State’s Water Assessments by Volunteer Evaluators (WAVE) project. 
Kathleen Suozzo’s work is at the heart of one of the more difficult issues facing the Adirondacks today: upgrading aging waste-water and drinking-water treatment facilities in small communities where the cost is borne on the backs of local residents, though the heaviest usage is when tourists and seasonal residents come to visit. At stake are the lakes, rivers, and streams of the region.
The Fund for Lake George has developed a low-impact development (LID) certification that, if widely adopted, could significantly reduce one of the greatest threats to water quality — storm-water runoff — by stopping it at its source. And in a region dependent on its three thousand lakes and ponds for their recreational value — and sometimes drinking water — that seems like a program we all should get behind. 
The Ausable River Association will hold a workshop on Thursday, November 2nd from 1 to 4:30 pm at the Crowne Plaza in Lake Placid to discuss issues related to the protection of Mirror Lake.
The Chapman Museum in Glens Falls has announced a new fall exhibit, H2O: A Brief History of our Relationship to Water, which will open October 19th with a reception from 5:30 to 7:30 pm.
On Sept. 29 University of Vermont (UVM) Extension, Lake Champlain Sea Grant and the Winooski Natural Resources Conservation District will host a Lake Champlain Watershed Deicing Conference.
As the season draws to a close, Lake George partner groups, including the Fund for Lake George, Lake George Waterkeeper Program and the Lake George Association, along with state and local governments, continue to search for the source of contamination to the lake water at Million Dollar Beach. The Department of Environmental Conservation closed the beach again recently after detecting bacterial contamination.
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