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Lake George Water Quality Reports Released

Lake George water quality data for 2010 has been released by the Citizen Statewide Lake Assessment Program (CSLAP). Since 2004, the Lake George Association has participated in CSLAP, which is coordinated by the New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC) and the New York State Federation of Lake Associations.

In 2010, LGA volunteers monitored mid-lake sites near Diamond Island, Harris Bay, Basin Bay, Huletts Landing, Gull Bay and Hearts Bay. Each year, volunteers collect and process water samples throughout the summer. The samples are mailed to a lab for analysis, and then results are reviewed and compiled by NYS DEC staff. Summary and detailed reports for 2010, as well as scorecards for each site, are available on the Lake George Association website along with reports and data from previous years. Some of the key findings are as follows:

Water Clarity
Lake George continues to be characterized as oligotrophic at all sites, based on water clarity, total phosphorus readings and chlorophyll a readings. Water clarity was lower than normal in 2010 at the Harris Bay site, and higher than normal at the Hearts Bay site. Neither of these sites exhibited a change in phosphorus or chlorophyll a readings in 2010, although there has been an increase in the water clarity readings in Basin Bay since 2004 (although nearly all water transparency readings at this site have been high). Total phosphorus readings were slightly higher than normal at the Gull Bay site in 2010, though this did not lead to a change in chlorophyll a or water clarity readings. Phosphorus readings were close to normal in 2010 at the Diamond Island site, but these readings have been lower in the last three years than in the period from 2004 to 2007.

Potability
Algae levels are not high enough to render the lake susceptible to taste and odor compounds or elevated DBP (disinfection by product) compounds that could affect the potability of the water. Hypolimnetic phosphorus, ammonia, iron, manganese and arsenic readings are low or close to those measured at the lake surface at all sites.

Chemical Presence
With the exception of a slight decrease in pH readings at the Huletts Landing site (which is probably not ecologically significant), there has been no long-term change at any of the sampling sites. Nitrogen oxide (NOx) readings were higher than normal in 2010 at all sampling sites except Harris Bay and Hearts Bay, and ammonia readings were higher than normal at the Basin Bay, Gull Bay, and Hearts Bay sites, although all readings for both NOx and ammonia continue to be low. Calcium readings were higher than normal at the Diamond Island, Basin Bay, Gull Bay, and Hearts Bay sites, but lower than normal at the Huletts Landing site. Calcium levels at each of these sites remain marginal for supporting zebra mussels, although near-shore calcium levels may be higher at some of these sites. Color readings were lower than normal at the Huletts Landing and Gull Bay sites in 2010, and pH readings were lower than normal at the Hearts Bay site in 2010.

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Floating Classroom to Return in 2011

The Lake George Association’s Floating Classroom, will return to Huletts on Friday, July 22nd at 10:00 am, courtesy of the Friends of Historic Huletts Landing who is sponsoring this event.

A donation of at least $10 is suggested to help defray the $300. cost. Sign up will be required ahead of time, as space is limited to 25-30 people.

So if you missed the excursion last summer, please plan on attending the July 2011 trip!

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Basket Fundraiser: Saturday 4/16

The Basket party for Gidget Connors will be held on Saturday, 4/16/11 at the Whitehall Elks lodge starting at 11:00 am.

Drawings will start at 1:00 pm.

Five dollar admission, refreshments will be offered for sale.

The Whitehall Elks lodge is located just across the street from Lock 12 on the Champlain Barge Canal at 7 Williams Street.

If you would like to make a donation or learn more information, please contact Bernadette Perone or Sue Young.

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Bits of Everything

Volunteers Sought to Monitor Spawning Migrations

WNYT.com tells you how to become involved monitoring smelt populations.

Albany TV Station Shows Huletts

The Adirondack Outdoors blog, tells us that an Albany television station ran some pictures of Huletts.

New Rules to Help Adirondack Lakes

Denton Publications reports on new federal rules to limit mercury emissions.

Where Did Lake George’s Name Come From

The Lake George Mirror Magazine talks toponomy and Lake George.

Warren County Boat Patrols May Be Saved

The Post Star tells us that Warren County got some good news last week.

Trout Season Begins: DEC Urges Caution

WNBZ advises that cold conditions have led to a DEC warning.

How to Give a Good Slap: Courtesy of Rachael Ray

Susan Lucci visited ‘Rachael Ray’ to school the audience on how to give a proper soap opera slap.

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Whitehall School District’s State Aid Announced

The state aid amounts to local school districts were released on Wednesday. These are the figures for the Whitehall School District.

For the 2010-2011 year, the district received $8,119,139. For 2011-2012, the district is scheduled to receive $7,361,054. This is a $758,085 cut which translates into a 9.34% reduction in state spending.

To see the entire year by year comparison for Whitehall, look here (bottom right of page).

The problem for the taxpayers of the school district is that historically no matter what the state does, the district increases property taxes. This is a good year to reduce spending, in so far as enrollment is falling and the population is declining. Once the school board recognizes that the decline of the town and the school district are related to their tax and spend policies, we might be on our way to an improved situation. At least our state leaders are recognizing this fact and are cutting spending.

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Huletts Weather Report

I get requests now and then for what weather conditions are like in Huletts. While I’ve never considered this a “weather site,” it certainly has been one long winter! So here are two pictures taken earlier today. It was a beautiful but cold day. We need some sun to melt the snow.

Click on the images to see in full view.

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FHHL Speakers – 2011

The Friends of Historic Huletts Landing (FHHL) will be bringing in three guest speakers during the summer of 2011 to speak on interesting, historic, topics of interest.

Previously, I announced the first talk here.

With things being quiet lately, I thought this would be a good opportunity to announce the second talk.

“The Adirondack Railroad: People and places along the Rails”.

By Persis Granger

While the large steamships get most of the publicity for bringing people up Lake George, the fact is that the railroads brought most people into the Adirondacks between 1880 and 1930. With there being renewed activity on the former Adirondack Railroad Line recently, this is a topic you won’t want to miss. It will touch on how the railroad brought people to the North Country, and how the trains brought life and activity to those who lived there.

Persis Granger is the editor of the John Thurman Quarterly and the President of Thurman Station Association.

More information on specific dates and times will be announced by the Friends of Historic Huletts as we get closer to summer. Plan on being at all three talks, you’ll be glad you did.

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School Board Math

I went through the last 6 years worth of data that is publically available and put together this table which compares the student enrollment in the Whitehall School district to the number of staff positions. As you can see, enrollment has been falling (and is projected to continue to fall) while teacher and staff positions have either risen or stayed approximately the same.

04-05 05-06 06-07 07-08 08-09 09-10 % Change
# Students 885 860 858 845 815 779 -11.98%
# Teachers 83 85 79 86 87 86 + 3.61%
# Professionals 6 10 10 9 10 9 +50.00%
# Paraprofessionals 38 46 39 45 46 37 -2.63%

I think these numbers are important for a number of reasons:

1.) The school board during the last 5 years lobbied for and spent millions of dollars expanding the physical plant of the school while enrollment was falling. It should be apparent that this was a very poor use of resources (as residents of Huletts argued). You may recall that the teachers supported this expansion. Doing simple projections on the expected enrollment over the next 10 years should result in a discussion about mothballing certain buildings going forward. It is absolutely reasonable to look into consolidating both the elementary school and the high school into one building at this time. At one time the buildings which comprise the school district housed approximately 1200 students. If current projections hold, we will reach approximately half that number sometime during the next 10 years.

2.) The teacher’s are very vocal about losing jobs and while this should be a concern to all of us, the ability of the taxpayer to fund rising salaries, benefits and other expansive ideas of the education establishment (all in a time of documented enrollment loses) has been reached at this point. Doing away with a number of positions based on falling enrollment is quite reasonable and should be expected based on these numbers.

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Some Winter Pictures

Things have been incredibly slow this week, so I thought I would post some winter pictures. (Which people always seem to enjoy.) My niece, Margot, wanted to have her picture taken in front of the sign!

Click on the picture to see in full view.

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School Admits Falling Enrollment – Plans Tax Increase

The Whitehall Times has an eye-opening article on the problems Whitehall has made for itself by the school board’s out of control tax and spend policies.

Finally, the plummeting enrollment of the Whitehall school district can’t be hidden anymore. Readers of the Huletts Current have known about this for some time now. What is the school’s board’s response? A proposed property tax increase of 13% at this time, which taxpayers of the district (including Huletts Landing) will be expected to pay.

Here’s an idea for the Whitehall School board. The plummeting enrollment (which all of New York is experiencing) is directly related to policies that always assume that the taxpayer can continue to match the spending increases that our school board regularly enacts. Look around Whitehall, the town is in serious decline and has been for some time.

The plummeting enrollment is expected to get worse over the next ten years. The discussion needs to include mothballing buildings, cutting spending drastically and lowering property taxes.