History, Natural History & the Arts
Lake George’s network of navigation buoys represents one of the lake’s most important safety systems, guiding thousands of boaters around hidden hazards every boating season.
From the main lake to the Narrows, buoys mark underwater rocks, shoals, channels and speed zones, helping boaters safely navigate one of New York’s most beautiful — and deceptively challenging — lakes. [Read more…] about Silent Sentinels: Lake George Navigation Buoys
The exhibition “Balancing Ecosystems,” on display at The Courthouse Gallery of the Lake George Arts Project from Saturday, June 21st to Wednesday, July 2nd, features the work of four artists: Lauren Comito, Milcah Bassel, Amanda Thackray, and Rachel Frank.
Their multimedia artworks invite viewers to explore the visible, hidden, and symbolic aspects of natural beauty found in aquatic environments. Each artist expresses ideas of interconnection between organisms within ecosystems through imagery such as grids, nets, and repeating patterns. [Read more…] about Balancing Ecosystems: Art Meets the Environment at The Lake George Arts Project
Oswald D. “Ozzie” Heck, who owned a camp on the east side of Lake George, was Speaker of the New York State Assembly for 22 years, longer than anyone else. For everyone but the very few who find the state legislature a topic of more than passing interest, though, he is best known as the eponym of the of the state-owned island day use area off Assembly Point, which for most of its history was known as South Island.
South Island was renamed Speaker Heck Island in 1968 at the request of the Lake George Association (LGA), whose leaders at that time were, for the most part, Republican businessmen who had wires to pull in Albany and some influence with the governor, Nelson Rockefeller. [Read more…] about How Lake George’s Speaker Heck Island Got Its Name
Dr. Brendan Wiltse will be leaving Paul Smith’s College Adirondack Watershed Institute (AWI) to assume the role of Executive Director at the Lake George Association (LGA).
He succeeds Eric Siy, who resigned in 2023, and Leigh Youngblood, who LGA hired earlier this year to serve as interim executive director. [Read more…] about Brendan Wiltse Leaving Adirondack Watershed Institute to Lead Lake George Association
Oswald D. “Ozzie” Heck was Speaker of the New York State Assembly for 22 years, longer than anyone else.
For everyone but the very few who find the state legislature a topic of passing interest, though, he is best known as the eponym of the of the state-owned day-use island off Assembly Point on Lake George, which for most of its history was known as South Island. [Read more…] about Speaker Heck: A Republican’s Long NYS Assembly Tenure
Before Adirondack conservation leader Paul Schaefer began to organize his coalitions and, after a titanic ten year struggle, finally defeat through public referendum proposed big dams on the South Branch of the Moose River and elsewhere (1945-1955), Paul’s mentor John S. Apperson (often known as Appy) was waging another, longer, but less well known struggle concerning an actual, late 19th wooden and early 20th century concrete dam at the outlet of Lake George, built to power pulp, paper, and other mills in Ticonderoga, and to float logs down to those mills. [Read more…] about John Apperson’s Battle To Protect Lake George’s Islands
Rather than a reprieve, “it was a shot in the gut,” said Lake George Waterkeeper Chris Navitsky. On June 28, State Supreme Court Justice Robert J. Muller lifted a temporary restraining order preventing the Lake George Park Commission from treating Eurasian milfoil with the herbicide ProcellaCOR on two bays on northern Lake George.
Less than 24 hours later, on Saturday, June 29, roughly nine gallons of the herbicide were poured into the two bays, the first time a chemical has been used to treat invasive plants or animals in Lake George. [Read more…] about Lake Gorge Park Commission Dumps Herbicide into “Queen of American Lakes”
June 27, 2013, was a perfect Lake George morning – absolutely clear, with a southerly breeze animating the waters of Bolton Bay – and therefore the perfect day to witness something that could happen only on Lake George. Which we did. [Read more…] about Lake George’s Jefferson Project Marks Ten Years
A plan to use 10% less road salt as part of a pilot project notwithstanding, the New York State Department of Transportation still spreads roughly 290 tons of the stuff every winter on the highway along Lake George’s west shore.
“The DOT was actually using less salt on the trips out, which was good, but in 2019, its drivers started making two to three times more frequent trips, so ultimately, there was no reduction at all in the use of salt,” said Lake George Waterkeeper Chris Navitsky. [Read more…] about State’s Road Salt Use Impedes Lake George’s Recovery
Through September, the Lake George Park Commission’s boat inspectors have surveyed more than 35,000 boaters and vessels, placing 2023 on track to become the inspection program’s busiest year since New York State established it nearly ten years ago.
According to Justin Luyk, who supervises the program, trailered motorboats are the primary vectors for the spread of aquatic invasive species and nearly 500,000 of them are registered in New York State alone. [Read more…] about Lake George Boat Inspection Program Having Busiest Year Yet
A harmful algal bloom (HAB) was found on Northern Lake George in September, the Lake George Association (LGA) has announced. It is the first time that a HAB has been documented on the less-developed end of the lake, said Lake George Waterkeeper Chris Navitsky. [Read more…] about Harmful Algae Blooms Spread To Northern Lake George
Lake George lost a champion a half-century ago when the 91-year-old Charles H. Tuttle, the man who The Lake George Association honored as “Mr. Lake George,” died January 26th, 1971.
“His love for Lake George was an inspiration to all, including strangers as well as close friends,” the Ticonderoga Sentinel reported on February 4th. [Read more…] about Charles Tuttle: FDR Opponent, Lake George Advocate
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