News & Opinion About Huletts Landing, N.Y.
With the clear August nights we’ve been having, I thought this video on how to find the “Big Dipper” and the North Star would be interesting.
You can spot the “Big Dipper” at this time of the year from Huletts, by looking across the lake in the evening between Deer’s Leap and Sabbath Day Point. This video gives some background info and how to find the North Star once you’ve located the Big Dipper.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hepzUgFhgis
Governor Seeking to Streamline Bureaucracy
This Denton Publications article talks about the Governor’s attempt to curb unnecessary regulations.
Washington County Revenue Falls
The Post Star reports that Washington County’s revenue is projected to decline.
The Lake George Property Owners Group sent out these two press releases which I’m linking to in this post.
The first press release is about the recent vote in Dresden to oppose the Lake George Park Commission’s proposed stream rules. Their take on the vote is interesting.
The second press release is actually a letter which I pass along for the sheer enjoyment of the first line alone; To Editors of Local Newspapers and Blogs. While there are some who are critical of bloggers and even what I do here, the blogosphere is here to stay. This is the first press release/letter that I’ve received that recognizes this. It explains who the founding members of this group are and lays out a serious argument.
At Monday’s meeting of the Dresden Town Board, this resolution opposing the Lake George Park Commission’s stream rules was passed unanimously.
This adds Dresden to a growing list of towns surrounding the lake that are opposing the stream rules the Lake George Park Commission is proposing.
Town Councilman, John Barber, said it best: “They’re infringing on people’s liberty. You have to make a stand at some point.”
The Towns of Lake George and Bolton have passed resolutions to make a complaint to the Department of Education and the Attorney General against the Lake George Waterkeeper for misusing the letters P.E. after his name for approximately 18 months. Looks like they are even going to work together and submit the documents that were provided with the letters P.E. to both Towns.
An Otter is a very elusive animal. I spotted one last week and it took me another week carrying my video camera everywhere before I saw it again. But this time I got it on video tape. So here in 2.5 minutes is a week’s worth of work!
I present the Huletts Otter.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tmY2Sp3fBI
To learn more about the Huletts Otter read this.
I’ve noticed recently that more people are leaving old items out on the roadway for others to take by marking it as “Free”.
Yesterday I was on my way to Whitehall and I came across this little display covered with plastic because of the rain.
I stopped and opened it and found some interesting stuff. All of which you could take for free.
There was a remote control Dinosaur, some sheets, some interesting books, a puzzle and alot of other useful items. The word “Free” must trigger something in your psyche, because as I was leaving I heard brakes squeal and someone else stop. I picked up a few children’s books for my almost 3 year old niece who quickly started reading one about “pond life”. (She is studying ponds in school.)
I think this is one of those simple win-win-win all around ideas that more people should try. We have left free stuff opposite the Post Office on a few occasions this summer and all of it disappeared. It’s a win to the person getting rid of the stuff because you don’t have to lug it to the recycling center and pay to discard it. It’s a win for the person taking the stuff because you walk away with free stuff and finally it’s a win for the environment because the stuff doesn’t end up in the garbage pile.
I think we’ll see more of this in the days ahead. Perhaps you even have some “free stuff” hanging around your house.
Seen this morning after 12 hours of rain.
The Wyatt’s cove culvert has shown remarkable improvement in water quality over the last 20 years.
I was sitting on the porch today thinking of things to write about and saw the boat from the Darrin Freshwater Institute pull up and take a water sample from what they call the Wyatt’s cove culvert. So I called the Institute and spoke with Larry Eichler and learned a few things.
1.) The Darrin Freshwater Institute regularly samples locations throughout the lake and monitors conditions. The Wyatt’s cove culvert in the center of the Landing has shown dramatic improvements over the last 20 years. Mr. Eichler attributed this to the town sewer system that was installed in the 1980’s. There is lessened algae growth on the bottom of Wyatt’s cove and fecal coliform levels are in accepted ranges. The Institute checks this site numerous times over the course of the summer but it has reached a point, where Mr. Eichler said; “We don’t really see problems with that site anymore. We monitor but that site has shown remarkable improvement.”
2.) When asked if he could give any conclusions about the Lake George basin as a whole, he responded; “We have seen salt levels rise dramatically over the past few decades”. In 1980 (the first year salt was regularly tested for) salt levels averaged 6 parts per million, by 2008 this level had risen to 16 parts per million, almost tripling. When asked what this could be attributed to, Mr. Eichler explained that while waste water does contain salt which usually goes untreated through the sewage treatment cycle, most salt enters the lake through the application of road salt on surrounding area roads in the winter.
3.) Zebra mussels have not been found to date in the Huletts area. They have been found at 8 locations throughout the lake, 6 in the south and 2 in the north, but the lake’s low levels of calcium make it hard for the mussels to survive. Zebra mussel’s need roughly 20 parts of calcium per million in order for the shells to harden, whereas Lake George averages 12 parts of calcium per million in most locations. Where they have been found, calcium levels have been heightened. In these locations, the problem is being dealt with by hand harvesting by underwater divers which seems to be working. In the areas they have been found, calcium levels have been high. Cement seawall’s have known calcification effects and the Darrin Fresh Water Institute is studying these effects.
The Post Star reports on what happened at the Warren County Board of Supervisors meeting on Friday.
I was there for the beginning of the meeting and presented my pictures of the Center for Watershed Protection’s own backyard.
What the Lake George Park Commission is proposing is completely in the extreme. They want no cutting or land disturbance within 100 feet of a stream.
So here are some of the things that I can think of that couldn’t be done under the new regulations. A person couldn’t cut brush to improve their view if the brush was along a stream. This would affect many in Huletts including the line of houses across from the tennis courts. The new green sign that says “Village Green” wouldn’t have been put in this past winter because it would have been disallowed. People living within a 100 feet of a stream will not be able to expand their houses by more than 20%. Work on the golf course would be impacted along Fairy Creek. A walkpath along a stream would need a permit.
The end result is that people who own land with streams will abandon their land because they will not be able to do anything with the property. A lot of taxable property will come off the tax rolls. Taxes WILL increase if these regulations go through.
The sad part is, is that no alternatives are being considered. New and immerging technologies that could help the environment and protect property rights aren’t even being considered.
Boos to the Lake George Park Commission for turning down an extreme path, Bravos to the Warren County Supervisors for thinking this one through.
The Lake George Park Commission has regularly informed the public that they have hired the Center for Watershed Protection, based in Maryland, to help them draft the proposed stream corridor rules now being considered for the Lake George basin. The centerpiece of these proposed rules is a buffer area around any streams where virtually no development or land disturbance could take place by private individuals. (State, county and town highway crews will still be allowed to cut drainage ditches for road and salt runoff to enter streams.)
In an effort to learn more about the Center for Watershed Protection, I contacted the Lake George Park Commission and asked if they would provide a person at the Center for Watershed Protection whom I could interview. I never received any reply.
So when I was in Maryland, I visited their office myself. I was quite surprised to learn that their building has a stream flowing directly behind it through a giant culvert under their parking lot. The back of the building which houses their offices as well as part of the building’s parking lot, is clearly within 100 feet of the adjacent stream. There is also a deck which employees can sit on approximately 5 feet above the stream. The stream actually flows under the parking lot in a huge culvert. The parking lot was evidently constructed over the stream by placing the huge culvert under the length of the parking lot.
Here are pictures of the building they occupy, the parking lot and the stream. (Click on images for larger view.)
There was no evidence of any stormwater or sediment controls that I could see, and it appeared that every bit of stormwater and parking runoff simply entered the stream unabated. It is ironic that a group that advocates clean water management seems to turn a blind eye when it comes to the backyard of their own building.
The office was closed when I visited it and please remember that I gave them an opportunity to present someone to be interviewed and never received a response.
Some would call this rank hypocrisy. This is type of thing that makes people really mad about some elements of the environmental movement. They propose rules that they do not want to live under themselves and they are not accountable when questioned.
One of the things that the Center for Watershed Protection argues for is that trees should not be cut over streams because the shade is important to protect natural habitats. However, as you can see from the attached pictures, their own building is what provides the shade behind their building for the staff sitting on the deck and the stream alike.
If the Lake George Park Commission is going to tout the Center for Watershed Protection’s involvement in this process, it has to provide someone who can be interviewed and answer questions about and for this organization. It can’t be a shadowy group, immune to research or questions about their involvement and philosophy.
Remember the old saying; “What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.”
Except that seems, if you’re the Center for Watershed Protection. You saw it here yourself.
Thoughts going through your mind as you’re climbing a tree at 7:30 in the morning trying to get some scenic shots:
I hope my wife doesn’t find me dead.
If only I weighed what I did in high-school.
If only that branch was a little thicker.
Boy what a great view, why isn’t the camera getting what I’m seeing.
Maybe I can get a few days of Posts right here.
(Click to see a larger view.)
Spotted on Glen Island today.
Sleeping Whale Island, sometimes also called Whale Rock, is a familiar sight for boaters.
Indian folklore, handed down for many generations, told of a species of fresh water whale that once inhabited numerous lakes in the north country.
Sleeping Whale Island gets its destinctive name from this legend. The story that I’ve always heard and which is corraborated in the book, Stories of Lake George, Fact and Fancy, by Thomas Reeves Lord is that the Indians told that the only proof left that these whales existed was through enormous casts where one could see their shape.
Thus the name Sleeping Whale Island. Can you see it?