Category: The Environment

Last week, crews cleaned out the sediment that has built up in a retention basin on Hague Brook. This pond on the upper part of the brook was originally constructed by the LGA in 2006. Over 45 dump trucks full of material was removed from two different retention basins on the brook.

This past week, three sediment basins in Hague were cleaned out: two on Hague Brook, and a third at the mouth of Jenkins Brook. The project was a team effort by the Lake George Association, Warren County Soil and Water Conservation District, and the town of Hague. Over 1100 cubic yards of material was removed from the three sites.

“These basins are instrumental to maintaining high water quality in Lake George,” said LGA executive director Walt Lender. “We began constructing the basins several years ago, and now every one to two years we go in to clean them out. The LGA provides project support and partial funding for the construction projects as well as funding to help maintain the sites,” he added.

Approximately $5,000 of the $8,000 Hague clean-outs has been funded by the LGA, with in-kind management and project oversite by the Warren County Soil & Water Conservation District, and in-kind hauling services provided by the town of Hague. “The town of Hague realizes the importance of maintaining the basins and the health of Lake George. We were happy to contribute to the project,” said Hague Town Supervisor Dan Belden.

A long-reach excavator removes sediment from a retention basin at the mouth of Jenkins Brook.

From the upper basin on Hague Brook, crews removed 530 cubic yards of material, or roughly 31 dump trucks full. On the lower basin on Hague Brook, 285 cubic yards of material was removed, equating to roughly 16 dump trucks full. At Jenkins Brook, 345 cubic yards of sediment was removed, roughly 20 dump trucks full. Morrissey Construction provided trucking services and an operator for the long reach excavator, and Services Unlimited also provided trucking services.

Beginning in the early 1990s, an active program of utilizing upland in-stream sediment basins to capture sediment began in Warren County, spearheaded by the Warren County Soil & Water Conservation District (WCSWCD). Old reservoirs were cleaned out and new in-stream sediment basins were created. By slowing stream velocity, basins allow sediment to drop out of suspension and be captured by the basin prior to reaching Lake George.

Michael Abrahamson, LGA lake steward, inspects a boat for invasive species at the Dunham’s Bay launch this summer. Dunham’s was a new location for the program this year.

The Lake George Association (LGA) has released preliminary results from the 2011 Lake Steward program. The LGA has managed training, hiring, supervision and reporting for the Lake Steward Program since 2008.

During the summer of 2011, LGA Lake stewards were posted at six different boat launches: Norowal Marina, Mossy Point, Hague Town Beach, Rogers Rock, Dunham’s Bay, and Million Dollar Beach. The stewards inspected 8,584 boats for invasive species, removed suspicious specimens from 52 boats prior to launch, and educated over 19,000 people about the threats of invasive species and how to prevent their spread.

“We had an extremely busy summer,” said Emily DeBolt, LGA director of education and outreach. “From over 8,500 boats inspected, 1,016 were at risk of bringing invasives into Lake George because they had been in a body of water other than Lake George during the past two weeks,” she said. “Right now, Lake George has only four invasive species. Some of our nearby water bodies have dozens.”

Upon launch, suspicious specimens were removed from 52 boats. Of those, 31 of the boats were carrying at least one invasive species. The LGA recovered 22 samples of Eurasian watermilfoil, 9 samples of curly-leaf pondweed, 4 of water chestnut and 2 of zebra mussel.

The stewards also inspected boats returning to the launch after boating on the Lake. Seventy-three of these boats had suspicious samples removed. Of these, 46 boats contained at least one invasive species. The LGA recovered 15 samples of Eurasian watermilfoil, 6 of curly-leaf pondweed, and 2 of water chestnut.

“Our stewards ask the boaters if they have taken preventative steps to guard against the introduction and spread of invasive species. This year, 75 percent of the boats we interacted with said they had,” said Walt Lender, executive director of the LGA. “While this is definitely positive news, and shows that people are becoming increasingly aware of the need to properly clean their boats, we want to see these numbers go even higher in the years to come,” he said.

The program grew significantly from its 2010 level, when 2,538 boats were inspected at four launches. Additional funding provided this year by the Lake Champlain Basin Program and the Lake George Park Commission allowed for more coverage during peak periods and at launches that receive the highest traffic. Additional financial support was provided by the Helen V. Froehlich Foundation. The program was originally conceived by the Invasive Species Task Force of the Lake George Watershed Coalition.

In addition to inspection, lake stewards collected additional data about lake users and invasive species spread. This information sheds light on the pathways of invasive species, and helps to identify target areas for early detection and control. A full report for the public is being prepared and will be ready later this year.

The program is closely coordinated with similar programs. Lake George, Lake Champlain, and the Adirondack Watershed Institute collaborate on training, printed materials, and data collection as members of a regional partnership, the Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program (APIPP).

The Lake George Association announced today that Glens Falls National Bank and Trust Company is donating an additional $20,000 to the LGA for the West Brook Conservation Initiative (WBCI) project, located on the former Gaslight Village property. This gift brings Glens Falls National Bank’s total commitment to the project to $25,000.

“In all of our 125 year history, the West Brook Conservation Initiative is the Lake George Association’s largest, most important water quality remediation effort,” said Walt Lender, executive director of the LGA. “This project will treat millions of gallons of stormwater,” he continued, “while also educating thousands of annual Lake George visitors about the importance of water quality. We are so grateful to Glens Falls National for recognizing the importance of this project.”

“Glens Falls National Bank has been a strong partner from the start. We appreciate their increased support,” said Victor Hershaft, LGA president.

Due to the filling of historic wetlands, channeling of the stream, and development in the stream’s watershed, West Brook today is the single largest source of contaminants — pollution, nutrients and sediment — entering the south basin of Lake George. The delta at the mouth of the brook has grown to over 7,000 square meters. To date, $9.4 million has been raised toward the $15 million dollar project.

“Here at Glens Falls National Bank and Trust Company we are well aware of the central role Lake George plays in our region’s economy. We know that protecting the exceptional quality of the lake’s water is essential, and are very excited about this project, as we believe it is key to ensuring a healthy future for the lake and its citizens,” said Tom Hoy, CEO and chairman of Glens Falls National Bank and Trust Company. “And as a result of our donation, we hope other businesses will be able to support this Lake George project as well,” he continued.

Earlier this year, grading and infrastructure for a stormwater treatment complex was completed on the south parcel of the property. This series of sediment ponds and wetlands will naturally slow stormwater generated from the Route 9 corridor and adjoining properties, capture sediment, and filter pollutants. Wetland plants will be installed next year. Project engineers estimate that 90% of the sediment will be successfully treated and over one-half of the nutrients will be removed.

Conceptual designs for an interactive environmental education park and festival space on the property are underway, and were approved earlier this fall by the Warren County Board of Supervisors. Public input for the designs was gathered over the summer, and a public review of the concepts will occur later this fall.

Significant state and federal funding has been acquired to complete the construction of the project, but monies still need to be raised from private individuals and corporations to pay for the conservation easement on the land. In addition to a $2.1 million loan on the Gaslight Village purchase by the LGA and the FUND for Lake George, the Lake George Land Conservancy is carrying a $2.7 million loan on the 1,400-acre Berry Pond tract, which protects the upland watershed for West Brook.

LGA Volunteer and board member Salim Amersi works as part of a LGA beach clean-up effort after Tropical Storm Irene.

Tropical Storm Irene left large amounts of debris on the beaches at the southern end of Lake George, and due to the wide-spread damage caused by the storm, officials weren’t able to attend to it immediately. On Saturday, September 17th, volunteers from the Lake George Association stepped in to remove the debris and rake up the beaches.

“Tropical Storm Irene created a real mess along Million Dollar and Dog Beach, and I saw that it wasn’t getting cleaned up very quickly, so the LGA got on it,” said Mike Grasso, an LGA volunteer and board member. “There were pieces of asphalt in the Lake near the West Brook Inlet, lots of blue Styrofoam, empty water bottles, and lots of other manmade and natural debris everywhere. This past Saturday LGA volunteers raked it all up before it could float back out into the Lake,” he said.

“The area is once again pleasant for walking and in good shape for our shoulder season tourists,” said Walt Lender, LGA executive director. “But its’ not just about aesthetics, this was a water quality problem too. We wanted to make sure to pick up the plastic, especially the Styrofoam, before it returned to the Lake,” he said.

Styrofoam is a particularly bad product for the environment because it does not biodegrade, and is not easily recycled. It crumbles into fragments that have no expiration date, and persists indefinitely as litter, breaking up into pieces that choke and clog animal digestive systems in waterways.

Walt Lender, executive director of the LGA, comments at a public hearing before the Warren County Board of Supervisors, about the new invasive species transport law they recently passed. The LGA provided information to the supervisors which led to the drafting of the new law. The county law is based on a law that is still pending at the state level.

The Warren County Board of Supervisors voted almost unanimously to pass an invasive species transport law on Friday September 16th after a public hearing about the law.

“The LGA has been working for weeks with the supervisors to help draft this law, which is based on a law that is still pending at the state level,” said Lake George Association Executive Director Walt Lender. “This groundbreaking law will help us tremendously in our efforts to fight invasive species on the Lake. The LGA plans to be instrumental in teaching people about the law, and in helping area business owners explain the law to visitors next summer,” he said.

The law will make the introduction and transport of aquatic invasive species into Warren County waterbodies illegal. It is the first county law of its kind to pass in New York State. “Several towns have passed similar laws, including Lake Pleasant and the village of Lake Placid, but county and statewide efforts are really needed, otherwise controlling the spread of invasive species is too piecemeal,” said Emily DeBolt, LGA director of education.

“With this law in place more people will pay closer attention to the issue of invasives on Lake George, and we hope the leadership and initiative that the supervisors have shown in passing this ground-breaking law will soon be duplicated in other counties and at the state level,” Lender said. “Our lake stewards and staff have spent hours actively fighting the Asian clam this summer — erecting signage, producing and distributing brochures, securing mats with sandbags, and most recently, surveying the lake for additional sites. It makes little sense for the LGA, and for other organizations, to spend tens of thousands of dollars removing invasives from Lake George when people can legally re-introduce them,” he continued.

“The LGA is particularly grateful to the Warren County Board of Supervisors and its legislative committee chaired by Supervisor Bentley. They clearly see how important this action is for the Lake,” Lender said.

For decades, the LGA has been educating people about invasive species and the threats they pose to Lake George, both environmentally and economically. LGA Lake Stewards inspect boats at area launches, removing specimens of invasives prior to launch, and educating boaters. “Since starting the Lake Steward program in 2008, we have seen over 16,000 boats and have removed 270 specimens of invasive species,” said Emily DeBolt, LGA director of education. “The vast majority of boaters want to do the right thing, and certainly don’t intend the Lake any harm. Laws like this will help us tremendously in communicating the seriousness of the threat,” she said.

One of the reasons a law like this is so important is because Lake George is surrounded by water bodies that have invasive species, and LGA’s lake steward data shows how frequently boaters come to Lake George from these infested waters. The Great Lakes have 184 invasive species. The St. Lawrence River has 87. Lake Champlain has 49. The Hudson River has 91. Lake George has only the four: the Asian clam, Eurasian watermilfoil, Zebra mussel, and curly-leaf pondweed.