The Helen V. Froehlich Foundation has granted the Lake George Association $378,700, offering significant resources toward continuing the LGA’s work to preserve and protect Lake George water and educate for the future.
“For the twenty-second year, the Froehlich Foundation’s support will allow the Lake George Association to perform those critical in-the-ground projects that protect Lake George water, and to educate students and visitors about how they can protect Lake George,” said C. Walter Lender, executive director of the Lake George Association. “In some cases, the money that the LGA invests in projects is used to fulfill matching grant requirements for municipalities – grants that ensure projects to protect Lake George water are able to be completed.”
This grant award will provide $157,700 toward Lake-Saving Projects, $51,000 toward education and outreach programs, and $170,000 toward lake quality programs, including invasive species management, land use management and outreach into local communities and geographic information systems (GIS).
Two of those Lake-Saving Projects are:
• Rainbow Beach Stormwater Redirection: A small watershed in the Town of Bolton drains about 1,000 feet of roadway in a developed area adjacent to the Lake. Partnering with Warren County Soil and Water Conservation District as well as the Town of Bolton, the project will include the installation of a bio-retention swale large enough to capture all of the stormwater runoff and the re-grading and repaving of the road to direct stormwater into the swale. The goal is to redirect the stormwater away from the Lake, allow the stormwater to filter into the ground, and stop further erosion.
• Foster Brook Stabilization: A comprehensive engineering study on Foster Brook in Huletts Landing, severely damaged by Tropical Storm Irene, shows several bank locations that are in critical need of stabilizing. Once final designs are complete, the project should stabilize up to 150 feet of streambank.
The LGA’s popular Floating Classroom program was awarded $25,000 to continue its program of broadening people’s understanding of the Lake, its watershed and related environmental issues. While the Floating Classroom is a popular educational trip for schools in the watershed, the public Floating Classroom program during the summer helps any attendee understand that their decisions can negatively affect the Lake’s water quality and encourages them to protect the water and the watershed.
Other Education and Lake Quality programs being funded by the Froehlich Foundation grant include:
• Revising, expanding and updating our popular “Lake-Friendly Living” guide, which offers simple strategies for property owners so they can create sustainable lakeshores and landscapes that protect Lake George. The current guide is available for download at www.LakeGeorgeAssociation.org under “Lake-Friendly Living.”
• Beginning an “Adopt a Storm Drain Program,” starting with the Town and Village of Lake George. Working with Warren County Soil and Water Conservation District – which is geo-locating all of the storm drains in the town and village – the LGA will seek “parents” of those drains to keep them clean of garbage and debris throughout the year. Water from those storm drains flows directly into the Lake, along with whatever debris might have made it through the storm grates.
• Investing in training and updated equipment for Towns around the Lake to cut back on salt application now and work to develop future strategies to cut back on the amount being placed on our roads throughout the watershed. “With these resources, we can continue our mission as guardian of Lake George water, and continue our 130 years of service to the Lake,” said Lender.