New York Group Works to Protect Lake George

A lake group in Lake George, N.Y., has taken protection matters into its own hands. With support from a foundation grant, members of the Lake George Association (LGA) have been educating lakeshore residents about native plant buffers and how they can limit runoff and other harmful effects.The foundation grant, totaling $469,000, was awarded to the association by the Helen V. Froehlich Foundation. The funds will support storm water and erosion control measures and "healthy lake demonstration projects" throughout the watershed, according to C. Walter Lender, LGA executive director.The LGA has used some of the funds to install a 200-ft buffer on its own small lakeshore lot. Members use the buffer to demonstrate to property owners how to use vegetative buffers to reduce the size of their lawns."We need to set the example and, more importantly, show that lake-friendly living is not difficult or expensive," Lender said.LGA members also plan to put the money to use by establishing storm water-controlling rain gardens and native plant landscaping on the association's grounds. These, too, will serve as examples for area property owners.Lender questioned why any Lake George area inhabitant would care for property in a manner degrading to the lake (i.e. adding fertilizer on a thick lawn). "It doesn't make any sense to buy lakefront property and then spend money destroying the lake by fertilizing the lawn," said LGA spokesman James Hood. And with about 10,000 full-time residents around the lake, he added, there are many lush lawns being fed with fertilizers. The LGA would prefer to see fewer large lawns and more buffer zones.Over the past few weeks, the LGA has teamed up with a YMCA youth group from western Massachusetts and planted a great deal of native vegetation along the lakeshore. Past consulting advice from an ecologist helped LGA identify hundreds of native plants that can be advantageous to the lake. Native plants, according to Drew Monthis, an ecologist who has addressed the group, are adapated to the local climate, do not need fertilizers or pesticides and usually do not need extra water.Planning and zoning boards in many Lake George area municipalities have urged people to work with the LGA in considering planting their own buffers. Large, thick lawns often require fertilizers, and their shallow roots are not good nutrient and sediment filters when it comes to storm water runoff.Hood said putting in trees of variable height, combined with certain plants, makes for an effective erosion protection plan. Low shrubs, he added, are good at catching storm water runoff.Other parts of the grant will used to continue and expand LGA water quality monitoring programs and to execute a similar demonstration project on the north end of the lake in Ticonderoga, N.Y.LGA volunteers, through the group's education and outreach programs, have been taking watershed water samples and completing surveys at several areas on the lake and in its streams. Phosphorous has proved the key pollutant in these samples, Hood said. "It seems to be increasing, but not at an alarming rate," he said. Lake George's water quality is vital because it provides drinking water for lake residents and nearby communities.The $469,000 grant is the 14th grant received from the Froehlich Foundation; combined these funds have provided $5 million in improvements to Lake George and its watershed over the past decade or so.