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Bridgit Watson and DWFI

Bridgit Watson and DWFI's Chuck Boylen

RPI Student Helps to Preserve a Vanishing Lake George

By Anthony F. Hall

Friday, December 9, 2011

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“Land conservation is about stewardship, and we’re stewards of the history and the memories that attach themselves to land as well as of the land itself,” says Nancy Williams, the executive director of the Lake George Land Conservancy.

To help preserve that history, the Conservancy’s Board of Directors have initiated an oral history project, interviewing life long residents of the lake.

“There are a lot of families here who have been here for generations, so I’m certain we’re going to get some good stories,” said Williams.

The project was on hold, however, until Bridgit Watson, a biology major at RPI who’s participating in the university’s  Semester of Study at the Darrin Fresh Water Institute, volunteered to conduct the first of what Williams hopes will be dozens of interviews.

According to Sandra Nierzwicki-Bauer, the director of the Darrin Fresh Water Institute, the project is well within the scope of the Semester’s requirements.

“The Semester includes an internship with environmental agencies and organizations, where they can get real world experience,” said Nierzwicki-Bauer. “We match them with an organization that will benefit from their skill sets, and we want them to gain new skills and additional knowledge.”

Watson gains intellectually, Nierzwicki-Bauer said, because “she’s learning about the lake from the people who feel deeply about it and its history. That’s a different perspective from what she gets by studying freshwater ecology or applied microbiology, but it’s a complementary one. It’s a different dimension of lake studies.”

Watson says she was attracted to the project because she felt it would deepen her knowledge of Lake George.

“Even though I grew up nearby, in Stillwater, I didn’t know much about Lake George,” said Watson. “So to hear from people on the lake about the changes they’ve seen is fascinating.”

Those changes are not limited to changes in water quality, though Watson said she’s heard many anecdotes illustrating a decline in the lake’s clarity. Changes in the landscape are also a recurring theme.

“People also talked about over-development, and even how expensive it’s become to live here,” said Watson.

Now in its third year, RPI’s fall Semester of Study at the Darrin Fresh Water Institute was designed for students interested in critical environmental issues.

“The semester of study at the Darrin Fresh Water Institute gives our students the opportunity to perform research that they often wouldn’t get the opportunity to accomplish in a traditional classroom setting and all right on the banks of one of the most beautiful lakes,” said Sandra Nierzwicki-Bauer. “They are able to earn a full semester of credits while also contributing to the preservation and understanding of some of our most vital freshwater resources and ecosystems.”

The program includes two formal RPI courses in freshwater ecology and applied and environmental microbiology, a weekly seminar series on environmental topics that range from underwater archeology to bacterial genomics, an individual research project, in addition to the internships with local environmental organizations.

“We’re very pleased with the success of the program,” said Nierzwicki-Bauer. “Students tell us that it’s among the most positive experiences they’ve had at RPI.”

Because of the limited number of rooms available at the Darrin Fresh Water Institute, only eight students can be admitted to the program at any one time, Nierzwicki-Bauer said, adding that she’d like to see the program grow.

“Our goal is to expand to whatever level our educational and residential programs can accommodate. We could offer a spring semester as well as a fall semester. Or, if the success of the program warrants it, we could consider pursuing additional housing,” said Nierzwicki-Bauer.

For Bridgit Watson, the Semester at DFWI appears to have been life changing.

“I’ve realized I don’t want to spend my career in a laboratory. If I pursue a PhD, it will be in environmental biology or sustainability studies. Paths are now available to me that I didn’t even know existed before coming to Lake George,” said Watson, who will receive  Bachelors and Masters degrees from RPI in 2012.

Watson will leave the Darrin Fresh Water Institute in December, but her research will become a permanent part of the Lake George Land Conservancy’s archives.

More interviews will be conducted in the future, with the help of other researchers, said Nancy Williams.

“Ultimately, these files will contain everyone’s best memories of Lake George,” Williams said.

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Asian clams can reach the size of a dime or larger in 2-3 years

Asian clams can reach the size of a dime or larger in 2-3 years

Asian Clam Eradication Starts Monday

By Mirror Staff

Saturday, April 23, 2011

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The effort to eradicate Asian clams from Lake George will begin on Monday, April 25 with the installation of benthic mats over six acres of lake bottom, members of the Lake George Asian Clam Rapid Response Task Force have announced.

The mats will remain in place until mid-July, said Peter Bauer, executive director of The Fund for Lake George and a member of the Task Force.

“The plan is to try and contain the spread of the Asian clam. In just three years this invasive has spread from likely a few dozen clams in a bait bucket or aquarium to hundreds of thousands spread through six acres. We need to kill as many as possible. Results from this treatment will inform decisions about subsequent treatments,” said Bauer.

The Task Force hopes to eradicate most of the clams before the water temperature rises  and the clams start reproducing.

“Extensive monitoring will help to determine the effectiveness of the treatment. Additional sampling will be conducted outside the treatment area to locate any satellite populations.  Any populations found will be spot treated with benthic barriers,” said Dr. Sandra Nierzwicki-Bauer, Director of DFWI.

The eradication effort is expected to cost more than $415,000, with local governments and community volunteers providing more than  $100,000 of in-kind services.

The project area will be clearly marked with signage on the beach, docks, and in the water so that boaters and the public are aware of the work.  Lake users will be asked to operate boats slowly near the matted area with their motors trimmed up so they do not disturb the treatment mats or foul their propellers in the mats.  Swimmers are asked to stay out of the matted area during the course of the project.

“We are doing everything we can to minimize any inconvenience to lake users.  Hopefully we’ll have our work done well before the peak swim-ming and boating season.  We hope that any inconvenience seen this year is far outweighed by the long-term success of removing this invader,” stated Walt Lender, the Lake George Association’s Executive Director.

Originally, a suction harvesting operation was to be combined with the use of benthic barriers.  High costs, late ice-out conditions, and other logistical issues forced the Task Force to abandon that element of the plan and pursue an expanded benthic-barrier-only treatment effort this spring. Based on results from the spring treatment effort, an additional fall treatment that involves a combination of suction harvesting and benthic barriers is likely, Task Force members said.

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An diver places benthic barriers to eradicate Asian clams. Photo<br>by Emily DeBolt.

An diver places benthic barriers to eradicate Asian clams. Photo
by Emily DeBolt.

Lake George Launches Attack on Invasive Clams

By Anthony F. Hall

Monday, March 28, 2011

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First discovered in Lake George last August, Asian clams could be eliminated from the lake by the start of  this summer.

A $350,000 dollar eradication effort will begin in April, the Lake George Asian Clam Rapid Response Task Force has announced.

“We believe this effort will greatly reduce the numbers of these invasive clams to the point where they can be eradicated with subsequent treatments, or eliminated altogether,” said Dr. Sandra Nierzwicki-Bauer, director of  the Darrin Fresh Water Institute and a member of the Task Force.

According to Nierzwicki-Bauer, benthic barriers will be installed across a 3.25 acre area in Lake George Village where the infestation is largely concentrated.

“Benthic barriers will cut off oxygen supplies and suffocate the clams over a 45-day treatment period,” said Nierzwicki-Bauer.

The Task Force conducted a pilot study last fall to determine the best method of eradicating the clams.

“The goal of the pilot project was to assess four different mat types, and based on effectiveness, cost and ease of installation and maintenance, we selected the type of benthic mat that will be used this spring,” said Nierzwicki-Bauer.

“Without proper experimental design, data collection, and analysis, we would have been  taking an educated guess at what to do, based on experiences in other lakes,” said Nierzwicki-Bauer.  “It was therefore important to spend the time and money on the pilot study.”

In addition to installing benthic mats, the Task Force will also employ suction harvesting, removing clams from another 2.58 acres. In all, 5.23 acres will be treated for Asian clams.

“It’s likely that this 5-acre infestation started only a few years ago with a few clams in a bait bucket, in a fish tank, or transported on a boat, trailer or construction equipment. We’ll be probing the area throughout the treatment time to try and locate satellite populations and treat these,” said Peter Bauer, a member of the Task Force an the executive ditrector of The Fund for Lake George.

According to Task Force member and Lake George Association executive director Walt Lender, suction harvesting  will be used near seawalls, beaches, boat launches and docks.

Nierzwicki-Bauer said that the process of suction harvesting will be completed by mid-May, so as to minimize any inconvenience to local residents and business owners.

The area where the Asian clams are concentrated is located near one of the lake’s busiest commercial strips.

Lender noted the area contains more than 750 motel rooms and cottages and more than 150 boat slips, but added that the eradication effort should not disrupt business.

“We’ve already met with half a dozen property owners; we listened to their concerns, and we’ll do everything we can to accommodate those concerns,” said Lender.  “We also explained the plan, which was well-received. Everyone wants to do what’s best for the lake.”

The Task Force will provide signs explaining the eradication project to motel guests and boaters with instructions in how to avoid interfering with its success, Lender said.

According to Nierzwicki-Bauer, the eradication effort had to begin before the lake’s temperature rises and the clams reproduce.

“If treatment were delayed until the fall, it’s likely that the treatment area would be 20 to 33% larger than it is now, as two new breeding cycles would have been completed by then,”  said Nierzwicki-Bauer.

“We’re optimistic that we have a good plan to eradicate this invader, but our margin of error is small,” said Peter Bauer.

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Lake George Trout and Salmon Getting a Fresh Look

By Anthony F. Hall

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

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If the fishing on Lake George improves over the course of the next few years, anglers may have an unlikely benefactor to thank: RPI’s Darrin Fresh Water Institute.

According to Dr. Sandra Nierzwicki-Bauer, the  executive director of the Darrin Fresh Water Institute, the research facility has been awarded a grant from the Helen V. Froehlich Foundation to launch a study Lake George fish and their habitat.

“Fish and fishing are critical to Lake George, and thus far it’s been a missing component of our work here,” said Nierzwicki-Bauer. “Our capabilities for studying fish have grown through our work on other Adirondack lakes, and our goal is to deploy those capabilities for the benefit of Lake George.”

Using hydroacoustics and underwater videography, Darrin’s researchers will begin to assess the status of Lake George’s lake trout and salmon populations, Nierzwicki-Bauer said.

Jeremy Farrell, a doctoral candidate at RPI, will conduct the research as part of his Ph.D. thesis, said Nierzwicki-Bauer.

“The concept of the study is excellent,” said Bill Schoch, the Department of Environmental Conservation’s regional fisheries manager. “With traditional sampling gear, it’s really difficult to get hard data on  either predators like lake trout and salmon or forage, such as smelt.”

That hard data will assist DEC in formulating policies for Lake George fisheries, said Schoch.

“With better data about fish abundance, our policies on stocking, size limits and creel limits will be refined,” said Schoch.

Nierzwicki-Bauer said she was pleased that the study would have practical applications.

“One of our goals at the Darrin Fresh Water Institute is to collect information that’s useful to policy makers,” said Nierzwicki-Bauer.

According to Emily DeBolt, the secretary of the Lake George Fishing Alliance, more precise information about Lake George fish populations, of the kind that the Darrin Fresh Water Institute’s studies are expected to yield, would have been of use to the DEC earlier this year, when it contemplated allowing smaller lake trout to be taken from Lake George.

“One of the reasons why people didn’t support that proposal was because they felt there wasn’t enough information about what was going on,” said DeBolt.

That proposal would have reduced the minimum length of a legal lake trout from 23 inches to 21 inches.

According to DeBolt, it was thought by some that the salmon population might benefit if fewer lake trout were competing for forage. That proposal has been shelved, said the DEC’s Bill Schoch.

The study could also provide base-line data about the health of Lake George’s fish populations before more invasive species are introduced to the lake, said DeBolt.

“The Alewife and the Spiny waterflea, for instance, could have profound impacts on Lake George fisheries,” said DeBolt. “If and when they do arrive, we won’t be able to assess those impacts without detailed information about current populations.”

According to Nierzwicki-Bauer, a major component of the study will be a comparison of fish populations in healthy sections of the lake with those in the so-called “dead zones,” the water quality-impaired areas in the south basin.

“With that kind of data, we could have a much better idea of how land use practices are affecting ecological systems in the lake,” said Lake George Waterkeeper Chris Navitsky.

“Fish life is a major indicator of water quality,” said Peter Bauer, the executive director of The Fund for Lake George “We often hear from local officials that there’s no evidence of environmental damage to the lake. Perhaps the best way of telling that story is through the fish.”

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Students test water samples from RPI on Lake George

Students test water samples from RPI on Lake George

Darrin Fresh Water Institute Open its Doors to Undergraduates

By Anthony F. Hall

Thursday, January 20, 2011

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RPI’s Darrin Fresh Water Institute has a global reputation for pathbreaking research on zebra mussels, acid rain, milfoil and water quality. But according to Chuck Boylen, the institute’s associate director, its mission has always included education and a focus on building relationships with the community as well. The Fresh Water Institute’s community outreach programs have encompassed not only a popular lecture series, but a willingness to test local residents’ water and identify plants and animals that may or may not be invasives. And, of course, many of the institute’s research projects have been undertaken to support efforts to protect Lake George’s clarity and purity. And as of this fall, the Darrin Fresh Water Institute has the foundation for a strong and lasting education component.

RPI undergraduates can now spend a semester at the Fresh Water Institute, which is located in Bolton Landing, overlooking Lake George.

“We’ve wanted to offer undergraduates a Lake George experience ever since the 19th century Lodge was converted to a year-round facility in 2003,” said Sandra Nierzwicki-Bauer, the Darrin Fresh Water Institute’s executive director.

With the support of the Darrin family, that onetime summer cottage became a year-round education and research facility, with a state-of-the art computing center, space for lectures and films and rooms for visiting scientists and students.

While some of the undergraduates participating in the semester on Lake George are commuting to Bolton Landing from RPI’s Troy campus, others are now occupying those rooms.

“We feel as though we’ve expanded the RPI campus to include Bolton Landing,”  said Nierzwicki-Bauer. And the students’ reactions: “So far, it’s been awesome,” said Kelsey Cote, a senior from Nashua, New Hampshire. “Lake George is so beautiful. I can’t wait for fall and to see what Bolton Landing is like once all the tourists have gone.”

The rooms’ rustic décor is certainly a departure from that of the  usual dorm rooms, said Nicole Nolan. “Mine is moose-themed,” she said. Bolton Landing is certainly quieter than Troy, but that contributed to the program’s appeal, said Megan Bramhall. “I grew up in a small town, and I like being out-of-doors,” she said.

As on any campus, the students spend a significant amount of time in the laboratories and classrooms.

But they also spend equal amounts of time on Lake George.

That’s one of the aspects of the program that attracted Kelsey Cote.  “I had intended to be a cell biologist,  but I realized that spending my life in a lab was not something I wanted to do,” she said.

Her experience at the Darrin Fresh Water Institute, where she was awarded an internship last summer to study Zebra mussels, has helped direct her toward a career in wildlife conservation, she said. As part of her course of study, Cote interns with the Lake George Association. Another student interns with another environmental organization, The Fund for Lake George, and another, Nicole Nolan, has an internship with the Department of Environmental Conservation’s fisheries expert in Warrensburg.

“The students do field work, work with graduate students on individual research projects , do lab work with sophisticated technology and get exposed to environmental conservation organizations,” said Nierzwicki-Bauer. “That’s what we offer. It’s a great opportunity for these students and they receive a full semester’s credit for their work.”

The program’s blend of theory and practice makes it an especially strong one, said Chuck Boylen. “Especially today, undergraduates don’t want just facts, they want to know how theory applies to real life,” said Boylen. “In our lab studies, we give them the tools they’ll need in the real world.” “We’re educating the next generation of environmental stewards,” said Nierzwicki-Bauer.

The program also includes a series of weekly seminars led by visiting scholars. Local residents interested in auditing the seminars, which are held every Monday morning, should contact the DFWI office at 644-3541.

This year’s semester is essentially a pilot project for what Nierzwicki-Bauer and Boylen hope will become a multi-disciplinary program serving large numbers of students every year.

“Our students this year will become our ambassadors,” said Nierzwicki-Bauer. “Their enthusiasm will help it grow and make the Semester of Study an integral part of the Lake George Community.”

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Brook Trout Lake

Brook Trout Lake

As Brook Trout Go, So Goes Brooktrout Lake, and Maybe Just Maybe, Other Lakes Too

By Anthony F. Hall

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“If the emissions that cause acid rain are curbed, we have an opportunity to restore lakes that were altered by human activity,”  says Sandra Nierzwicki-Bauer, the director of RPI’s Darrin Fresh Water Institute, which is located in Bolton Landing. “The opportunity exists to bring these lakes back to the state they were in prior to human impacts.”

Nierzwicki-Bauer’s statements, cautious as they may be,  are supported by twelve years of research.

In 1994, scientists from the Darrin Fresh Water Institute helped create the Adirondack Effects Assessment Program to study the effects of the 1990 Clean Air Act on more than 30 lakes in the Adirondacks.

The question the scientists have sought to answer, according to Nierzwicki-Bauer, is what, if any, are the effects of the reductions in emissions mandated by the Clean Air Act on those lakes.

By 2002,  the scientists, who came from a variety of institutions and agencies as well as disciplines, had concluded that acidity had  decreased moderately in 18 of the those lakes.

Three years later, one of them, Brooktrout Lake, had shown such a remarkable rate of recovery that a decision was made to restock it with brook trout, a species which flourished there in the 1930s but had vanished by 1984,  a victim of acid deposition.

As Nierzwicki-Bauer explains, “Species are indicators of water quality. Some species tolerate stress, and they thrive. Others are vulnerable, and they diminish. When lakes become acidified, you find the numbers of species reduced.”

Brooktrout Lake, she continues, “was fishless because of acid rain. But the lake had improved to the point where it was feasible to reintroduce fish.”

In the autumn of 2005, New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation,  one of the Fresh Water Institute’s partners in the Assessment Program, stocked the lake with 24 adult brook trout  and 1,500 fingerlings, all from the fish hatchery in Warrensburg.

Since last spring, the lake and its fish population have been has been monitored every month and the results, says Chuck Boylen of the Fresh Water Institute,  “are very promising.”

According to Boylen, all the adult brook trout appear to have survived.

Fingerlings are thriving as well, though that population is more difficult to estimate, the scientists say.

The results of the fish stocking experiment thus far were presented at the American Fisheries Society’s annual meeting in Lake Placid earlier this week by Fresh Water Institute scientists

Among them was Jim Harrison, who adapted hydro-acoustic technologies to the small lake to monitor the fish populations.

Without hydro-acoustics, it would have been necessary to net the fish to determine if they had survived.

“You had to kill the fish to see if you’d succeeded,” said Harrison.

According to Nierzwicki-Bauer, the Brooktrout Lake experiment was “an opportunity to use sophisticated hydro-acoustic technology, to transfer techniques to other applications while making advances.”

Harrison’s work in hydro-acoustics will have prove to value to the scientists who came from all parts of the globe to the American Fisheries Society meeting in Lake Placid, but according to Nierzwicki-Bauer, it is also an example of the collaborative effort that defines the Adirondack Effects Assessment Program.

According to a panel of scientists who evaluated the program,  “no other program has its breadth of focus, its inclusion of physical and chemical limnology, bacteria, phyloplankton, zooplankton, macrophytes and fish.”

The breadth of the program, the panel concluded, made it the most important of its kind in the United States and perhaps the world.

Scientists working on the Assessment program will continue to monitor changes in the entire ecosystem of the lake and synthesize their findings to see if ecological recovery occurs; if it does, scientists will have a better understanding, not only of what our lakes should look like, but of what they may look like in the future.

“Brooktrout Lake is on the trajectory toward recovery,” said Nierzwicki-Bauer.

A lake fully recovered, said Nierzwicki-Bauer, “will support a fully-developed fresh water ecosystem;  what you would expect to see increase in species richness.”

But, warns Chuck Boylen,  “We will not continue to see progress without additional curbs on emissions.”

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