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.)
Back Corner of Building
Culvert Runs Under Parking Lot
Stream
Impervious Parking Area Runs Length of Building
Side of Building from Nearby Park for Perspective
Deck Adjacent to Stream
The irony of this should not be lost on anyone. While Maryland is a different state than New York, and while nothing about the building is improper, the Center for Watershed Protection, which is working to create some very restrictive and severe regulations for private property in the Lake George basin, occupies a building which wouldn’t be in existence if the same regulations they are helping the LGPC write in New York were in effect in Maryland when it was constructed.
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.
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?
Many people may remember longtime Huletts resident, Frank Nelson, who passed away sometime in the late 1970’s or early 1980’s. He lived past the entrance to the Mountain Grove Memorial Church.
I came across these recently and thought they’d make an interesting story. One of Mr. Nelson’s hobbies was making artwork that resembled miniature furniture out of beer cans. These were some of the pieces he gave to me when I was younger.
He basically took a beer can, cut it and twisted it and added padding for the seat and turned it into a miniature furniture set.
I took two shots of the same pieces below. Here is what the finished product looked like.
Here you can clearly see the bottom of the beer can under the padding.
Many people in Huletts probably have some of these pieces still around but it’s a great example of taking everyday garbage and making something useful and artistic out of it. The funny thing is, Mr. Nelson actually told me; “Hold onto these, someday they’ll be worth something.”
If you have any beer cans left over from the 4th, you can try it too! It proves the old axiom, “that one man’s garbage is another man’s treasure!”
A pine tree is a type of conifer in the division Pinophyta. Would you believe there are over 100 different species of pine? In any event, there are already pine cones appearing on their branches. Here was one I caught yesterday blowing in the wind.
On the way back to Huletts last night, as we were driving north on Route 4, we came across a brilliant rainbow. So we stopped and I was able to shoot some video. So here it is.
The Albany Times Union reports that the proposed stream rules are moving forward but any further public hearings will take place in the “off-season” preventing seasonal residents from attending. Not a good sign for openness.
Denton Publications has a story about guardrails that were supposed to be an environmental innovation, becoming well……rusty.
Warren & Washington County Homes Sales Plunge
The Post Star has a story about plummeting homes sales in Warren and Washington Counties.
When Photoshopping Goes Too Far
Here’s an interesting story about how some media outlets have gotten into trouble when they photoshop images. This is an interesting subject as image manipulation becomes more advanced. (The code on the page linked to has an error which may force you to scroll to the right to see the article.)
