Mirror Lake

Road Salt Impacts Aquatic Life Year Round

July 5, 2024 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Road crews across the United States use more than 24 million tons of road salt (sodium chloride) to melt ice and snow each year – triple the volume used in 1975. Road salt is cost-effective and prevents traffic accidents.

But there is an ecological downside to this practice: rain and meltwater dissolve and wash road salt into streams, rivers, lakes, and ponds, where it severely impacts aquatic life and degrades freshwater environments. [Read more…] about Road Salt Impacts Aquatic Life Year Round

NYS Road Salt Plan Still Stalled While DOT Plans Another Season of Polluting Adirondack Waters

July 17, 2023 by Peter Bauer Leave a Comment

Road salt pollution in Adirondacks lakes has been well documented over the last three decades and spotlighted for political action over the last decade. Contamination of residential and small business drinking water wells in lands downslope of heavily salted roads have also been documented, and in some communities is on the rise. [Read more…] about NYS Road Salt Plan Still Stalled While DOT Plans Another Season of Polluting Adirondack Waters

New Educational Signs Installed Around Mirror Lake

November 6, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Pedestrians along popular lakeside routes in the Village of Lake Placid will find four new interpretive signs describing the Mirror Lake ecosystem, challenges to it, and protection efforts underway.

The Ausable River Association (AsRA), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), and Paul Smith’s College Adirondack Watershed Institute partnered to design and produce the four educational signs. [Read more…] about New Educational Signs Installed Around Mirror Lake

Salt Survey Being Conducted By Ausable River Association

March 6, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Ausable River Association’s (AsRA) has released a salt use survey for residents, businesses, and independent contractors in Lake Placid, with emphasis on Mirror Lake. Developed in partnership with the Adirondack Watershed Institute, the survey is essential to determining the amount of salt entering Mirror Lake and the Chubb River. [Read more…] about Salt Survey Being Conducted By Ausable River Association

Mirror Lake Water Quality Report Released

December 19, 2021 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

This week, the Ausable River Association released their fifth annual report on Mirror Lake at Lake Placid in the Adirondacks in partnership with Paul Smith’s College Adirondack Watershed Institute.

The technical brief focuses on data collected throughout the 2020 field season and documents the effects of road salt runoff entering the lake. The lake completed turnover in spring and fall of 2020 after a mild 2019-2020 winter season. This was the first time spring turnover occurred since 2016. [Read more…] about Mirror Lake Water Quality Report Released

Harmful Algal Bloom Confirmed in the Village of Lake Placid

November 12, 2020 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Paul Smith’s College Adirondack Watershed Institute (AWI) has confirmed the presence of a harmful algal bloom (HAB) in Mirror Lake in the Village of Lake Placid.

On Monday, November 9th, a concerned citizen contacted the Mirror Lake Watershed Association to report a suspicious algal bloom at the south end of the lake. A sample delivered to the AWI lab later that day was analyzed and confirmed the dominant algae to be a species cyanobacteria capable of producing cyanotoxins, harmful to people, pets, and wildlife. [Read more…] about Harmful Algal Bloom Confirmed in the Village of Lake Placid

An Adk Lake’s Sufferings: High Salt Load, 22 Less Days of Ice

April 14, 2020 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Mirror Lake, along which the Village of Lake Placid is spread, is no longer flowing like it should, and has been iced-over an average of 22 days less since the 1990s. High concentrations of road salt and climate change are considered the culprits.

The lake has apparently stop its natural mixing in the spring, a issue first documented in 2017. During February and March of 2019, the highest chloride concentrations documented so far were observed. [Read more…] about An Adk Lake’s Sufferings: High Salt Load, 22 Less Days of Ice

Mirror Lake

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