Category: The Environment

The Lake George Association has the chance to win a BoatUS Foundation grant that will allow them to develop more resources to keep Lake George clean, but they need your help and VOTE.

It is a popular vote contest, and they are now losing to a project at Lake Hopatcong in New Jersey!

Please vote for the LGA’s project at http://bit.ly/Vote4LGA.

Voting ends at 11:59 EST on March 24, 2015.

Vote up to once per day.

Christopher LaGuardia has been named to the Board of Directors of the Lake George Land Conservancy.

The Lake George Land Conservancy (LGLC) is pleased to welcome Kattskill Bay resident Christopher LaGuardia as the newest member of its Board of Directors.

Originally from Guilderland, NY, LaGuardia now resides in Sag Harbor, NY, where he is president of LaGuardia Design Landscape Architecture P.C. LaGuardia holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Georgia’s School of Environmental Design and is a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects.

His connection to Lake George started in his childhood with frequent family camping and scouting trips. His parents purchased the annex to the Trout Pavilion Hotel in Kattskill Bay in 1979. In 2003, LaGuardia and his wife, Jane, purchased a home in Kattskill Bay with their two children, Charlotte and Elliot.

“The lake is a special place to me; it’s been my refuge and hideout during a busy professional career and provided my family with countless memories to last a lifetime,” said LaGuardia. “I now feel it’s time to give something back to the lake and so it is an honor and privilege to join the LGLC board of directors and I look forward to helping promote its goals and ideals.”

“We’re excited to have Chris on the board,” said LGLC Executive Director Jamie Brown. “In addition to benefiting from his professional expertise, we’re pleased to have more representation from the lake’s southern basin. I look forward working with him directly and getting him engaged in upcoming projects.”

LaGuardia Design Landscape Architecture’s work is focused on a sustainable approach to high-end land development and provides services related to the land planning, site planning, restoration of natural areas, and project management.

Runoff entering the Charles R. Wood environmental park on the south side of West Brook Road in Lake George.

You may have seen a story in The Post-Star newspaper this morning (http://bit.ly/1ClYkoU) that construction of some of the infrastructure at the Charles R. Wood Park in the Village of Lake George has been slowed because of the cold winter weather.

The Charles R. Wood Park is being constructed on the former Gaslight Village property. It is the northern section of the West Brook property that was purchased by a consortium of non-profits (including the Lake George Association) and local governments in order to solve some long-term storm-water and pollution problems for Lake George.

While work has slowed on the north side, the state-of-the-art environmental park that was designed and constructed on the south side of West Brook Road is up and working, treating storm-water runoff from Route 9 and surrounding properties.

The park was built to treat millions of gallons of storm-water (by removing nutrients and sediment before the water gets to the Lake) and protect Lake George water. As the snow melts, it is ready to handle the runoff as winter melts into spring.

All ice fishing shanties must be removed from ice on water bodies by March 15, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) reminded ice anglers today.

Shanties that fall partially through the ice may be difficult to remove and also create hazards for snowmobiles and other motorized vehicles on the ice. Shanties that remain after the ice has melted away (ice out) also present navigation hazards for boats.

State regulations that require ice shanties to be removed are based on the average date when good ice still exists on waters, not on the actual thickness of ice. Shanties must be removed by March 15 even if the ice on a water body is still thick

Shanty owners who don’t remove their shanties can be ticketed and would face a maximum possible fine of $100.

Continuing its dual mission of performing projects that protect Lake George water and of engaging the public in discussions about lake-friendly living, the Lake George Association has been awarded two grants from the Lake Champlain Basin Program.

The first grant, for $7,500, will help underwrite the costs of the LGA’s Floating Classroom, which takes students onto Lake George in the LGA’s custom vessel to teach them what distinguishes Lake George from other lakes in the state and provides them with a real-world learning experience on environmental topics.

“We are so thankful to the Lake Champlain Basin Program for awarding us this grant,” said Kristen Rohne, Director of Education for the Lake George Association. “We rely heavily on grants and donations to keep the Floating Classroom operating so we can create a new class of Lake stewards each year.”

Each weekday during the spring and fall, Rohne and LGA Educator Jill Trunko fill the Floating Classroom with groups of eager students for a two-hour program where students identify animals that live in the Lake, measure the clarity of the water, and deepen their understanding of how to keep the Lake healthy. Since 2008, more than 9,000 students have participated.

The custom vessel that the LGA uses for the Floating Classroom – the Rosalia Anna Ashby – was built to our educational specifications thanks to Bruce Ashby, an LGA board member whose generous financial support helped to fund the purchase.

The second grant, for $13,430, is a pollution prevention grant for stormwater mitigation projects on the west side of the Lake in the Town of Lake George.

Working together with homeowners in the Lake View Estates area, professionals from the Warren County Soil and Water Conservation District performed a watershed assessment to determine what potential projects could be performed to cut back on the amount of stormwater that is draining into the Lake. The current flow of stormwater is forming a delta on the shore, and also is potentially carrying other pollutants into the Lake.

While the assessment unveiled dozens of potential projects, staff from the LGA and from the Soil and Water District have determined that a number of smaller projects will be performed – creating a new floodplain in one area, adding more vegetation to existing swales, installing dry wells – in order to mitigate stormwater flow and allow time for the sediment now being carried in the water to drop out.

“This whole process shows how the LGA works together with homeowners and other environmental professionals to protect Lake George and emphasize lake-friendly living,” said Randy Rath, LGA Project Manager.

Construction on the projects being funded by the Lake Champlain Basin Program grant in the Lake View Estates area will begin in the spring.

The Lake George Park Commission has released the Final Report for the 2014 Aquatic Invasive Species Prevention Program (Boat Inspection Program). Click the image to read the entire report.

The Lake is frozen but that doesn’t stop the Lake George Association from teaching about it. It’s the perfect time of year to bring Lake George to the classroom.

In January, 5th graders from Queensbury learned about invasive species, 3rd graders at Lake George learned about fish adaptations to tie into their buoyancy unit, and 3rd graders at Malta Ave Elementary School learned about watersheds during the LGA’s “Water We Use” program.

Congratulations to the staff of the Lake George Association for bringing this important instruction to the classroom.