The 'Why' and the 'When'

 

June 29, 2021

The “Why?” and the “When?”

In a couple of weeks I’ll push off from Cleverdale to row to Hammondsport on the south end of Keuka Lake. And the more I read about what the Keuka Lake community has done to advance the protection of their natural resource, specifically as it relates to septic and holding tanks, the more I ask, “Why?” or, more ominously, “When?”

The “Why?” is essentially “Why can’t we do this, too, and sooner rather than later?”

The “When?” is a curmudgeonly premonition that if we are to keep our lake sustainably clean, the “when” may not happen until a succession of HAB’s and other unfortunate man-made “events” convince us that we have to act, united and in unison, if we are to save and then recover what we have.

Oh, I hope I’m wrong.

I apologize in advance for all the cutting and pasting, but here in a nutshell is what I’ve learned…..

In the 90’s, Keuka Lake was facing severe water quality issues. (From here on out I’ll provide (bolded) excerpts from the Keuka Lake Association (KLA) website (Keukalakeassociation.org ) to help me tell the story….)

“The KWIC or Keuka Watershed Improvement Cooperative was formed by inter-municipal agreement in 1993 after more than a decade of discussion and debate by the eight Keuka Lake towns and villages to ensure uniform regulations and enforcement  (my emphasis) of wastewater systems to protect the purity of the lake.”  (Keukalakeassociatoin.org)

Every Keuka lakeside municipality signed on because they recognized that if they weren’t all in, the Lake would suffer. This unity was essential, and when I get to Keuka I’ll want to learn more about how it was accomplished. The early conversations with my new friends out west suggest that things were going downhill fast in the 90’s but, still, this kind of municipal collaboration is a beautiful thing, right? (My own Big Question for later, and yours, too, perhaps, is whether we’ll be able to do the same thing before things get out of hand?)

Folks, I can’t help but opine here that a) Happily, we already have a lake-wide agency – The Lake George Park Commission- established to do some heavy lifting here if we’ll let her and push her and enable her, and b) Is our latest HAB a harbinger of more severe events to come, the evidence of overstress of the kind that Keuka Lake saw coming in the 90’s?)

As a retired English teacher (Walden, Common Sense, Silent Spring…you get it, right?), I’d like to think that it was simply good stewardship and their love and respect for nature that moved the Keuka Lake community to act, but the KLA is candid in recounting their motivation in the 90’s:

“The municipalities formed the KWIC because they recognized that a major responsibility of the towns and villages is the protection of clean water, both groundwater and lake water. Local tourism generates nearly $50 million dollars a year, and real property tax base represents an estimated $1 billion along the lake (up to 70% of all assessed value in many towns). Tourism and tax base depend on a clean and healthy lake, and since septic systems are a primary potential source of contamination, they must be managed properly. The municipalities also recognized that there was no uniformity in regulations and enforcement…” (Keukalakeassociation.org)

Yeah, it had to do with money. Sounds familiar, right? Yet very good things can come from this kind of pressure, and it certainly did in this story.

I’m not a scientist and I’ve never held a public office, and I confess here that what I’ll write in the following weeks may come from a place of naiveté and boyish enthusiasm, but as I read the Keuka Lake history, I come back to, “Why not us, too?”

Here’s what happened at Keuka Lake…again, from the KLA website:  

“In the early 1990's, each municipality formed local study committees and recommended a "watershed-wide" approach to address septic systems. The common themes of agreement were:

Pollution does not abide by political boundaries: if one town pollutes, all suffer! 

Therefore, a watershed approach is needed:

·            Uniform regulations and enforcement

·            Local control, maintaining "home-rule" power

·            Control costs 

Keuka’s subsequent success has hinged on their unity and uniformity of commitment to standards, monitoring, and enforcement. It can’t have been pretty, especially in the early going. Again, from the KLA website:

“The first step was to develop and pass local uniform septic system regulations. After nearly a year and 7 drafts, a model wastewater law was passed in each town and village. The law provides local authority for both new and replacement construction of septic systems, as well as the Zone 1 and Real Property Transfer Inspection Program. It defines required permits as well as penalties should a violation occur. The law uses the DOH/Building Code known as Part 75a as the basis for design and construction of wastewater systems. It is important to note that this state code applies to the construction of all septic systems and is not dependent on the existence of KWIC or the passage of local laws by towns or villages. The purpose of the local codes is to enhance the management of septic systems (inspection program) and ensure that Part 75a is followed uniformly in each town.” (Keukalakeassociation.org)

We’ve made some progress on the “property transfer inspections” here at Lake George and important progress it is, but it’s not yet lake-wide. Maybe this is the low-hanging fruit? Maybe this is our first big step?

But wait. For those of us who root for our lake, this story about their lake gets better. Way better. Here’s the Big Step, the Real Commitment…here’s what the Keuka Lake community committed to do that has made all the difference:

“…..routinely scheduled inspections are required of all holding tanks, aerobic treatment systems, and all sites within 200 feet of the lake or its tributaries. These inspections are intended to assure that those systems with the greatest potential to impact the lake through failure or mismanagement are upgraded or improved as necessary, and managed in an effective manner. Oversight and policy for the program is carried out by a board of directors consisting of one elected official from the municipalities of Barrington, Jerusalem, Hammondsport, Milo, Penn Yan, Pulteney, Urbana and Wayne. Staff for the program consists of the Watershed Manager, responsible for the approval of onsite wastewater treatment systems, and coordination of the inspection program, and the Watershed Inspectors, responsible for the various forms of system inspection required by local law.” (Keukalakeassociation.org)

Isn’t this where Lake George ought to to go? Honestly, if we are to preserve and protect Lake George, it’s where we’ll have to go. I’ve learned that within 200 feet of the shore of Keuka Lake, all septic systems are inspected once every five years, whether they are “failing” or not. Holding tanks are inspected annually. Failures are “upgraded or improved as necessary,” and the funding for those measures takes up a lot of the time and effort in the surrounding communities. But they’re doing it, because “pollution does not abide by political boundaries.”

The Keuka Lake community recognized their responsibility to their lake and legacy by uniting, codifying, establishing, and then, to their credit, doing the hard work of monitoring and enforcing waste water measures – the regular, periodic inspection of all septic systems and holding tanks- for the protection of their lake.

It’s a fantastic story. And by all accounts and evidence as tough as it has been to sustain the effort, it has worked.

Like I say, I’m not a scientist, and I’ve never held public office, but as I read what our neighbors to the west have achieved to protect their beautiful lake, I’m filled with admiration….and hope.

I admire the way they put aside parochial interests for the protection of their common resource which is, at the end of the day, their larger parochial treasure. I admire the patience and perseverance they showed in sustaining the march to an effective policy and an actionable program. I admire the breadth of shared responsibility that it all represents, from property owners to service providers to administrators to sustained scientific monitoring and fact-based decision making. I admire that they now have a data base born from decades of periodic testing of all systems around their lake from which to continue to monitor, adapt, and improve.

And back here at home, I so greatly admire those organizations and individuals in our Lake George community who have been doing this work for decades as well, albeit without and even despite the benefit of the lake-wide unity. You are the ones who have put us in a position to win before we begin to lose, to prevent before we have to undertake a major recovery.

I hope we can do it, too. We certainly have the people, the experience, the underlying resources, and a presently healthy lake to work with

As they say out in Hammondsport, “Listen to the lake.” And our beautiful Lake George…she’s starting to tell us what we need to do, yes?

More later…thanks for reading so far!

Now…I’d better row a bit. Calluses need forming. J

Al

 

Dwadling, Donuts, and Deadlines

Remember that scene from Rocky when Apollo Creed sits in his luxury hotel suite drinking coffee, knocking back Danish pastry, and negotiating the marketing spin for his upcoming bout with the unknown Rocky Balboa while his trainer watches TV in the corner? Over the trainer’s shoulder we see Rocky training in the meat-packing plant…hammering away at a side of beef, the ribs cracking, his hands bloody, his sweatshirt soaked. Riveted to the screen, in a voice seasoned with alarm and admonition, Creed’s trainer says, “Champ, I think there’s something here you might want to see….” Creed waves him away dismissively. The stage is set. 

This morning I sit at my little writing desk with, yes, you guessed it, a cup of coffee and a Danish, writing for this blog while my my guide boat rocks restively at its lines down at the dock. It’s looking up the lake into a bit of a north wind and saying, with increasing alarm and admonition, “Al, I think there’s something else you ought to be doing?” I lift a raspberry cheese dollop to my lips. The stage is set.

Of course, the space between what Creed and I are doing and what we ought to be doing, the danger inherent in the hubris of experience, is the point, right? Creed, as likeably flamboyant as he is, becomes less sympathetic at this moment. The die is cast. 

I’ve put less than 30 miles under my keel in preparation for this thing. My hands are still soft, and unlike Creed, I’m no reigning Heavyweight Champ. I’m a duffer who, in two weeks, will push off to Hammondsport, 400 miles away. If I don’t get cracking soon, this row will be as painful as letting Balboa cut off the ring and get to work in the corner.

At this rate I’ll be doing the training I should be doing for the row while I’m actually rowing to Hammondsport. And maybe this morning I’m thinking of this thing too much as a competition, as a zero-sum game, which it’s not. It’s a row.  But Creed paid a real price for underestimating Rocky and, in the early going, I’ll pay a bit of a price, too, unless I put down the coffee and pick up an oar.

Getting Started

 June 14, 2021

Two things happened this week. 

Of course, the beat goes on around the world….a fourth Covid vaccine has been shown to be effective, the G-7 met in a reset, Netanyahu’s on the sidelines, the west still suffers from terrible drought, Biden and Putin are about to take a corner table for a little chat…but as far as my row is concerned, two things happened.

First, I actually climbed into my boat for the first time since last October, making a perhaps overly optimistic 14-mile round trip to Bolton that included most of what I’m likely to see after I start on July 5th: glassy calm in the morning, a breeze by 10 AM building some chop, and the maddening mish-mash of boat wakes as the day proceeds. All of this affects the progress of a duffer like me; the glass makes me look pretty good as I cover ground at a good clip, the chop makes me look like I’m approaching 70, as I am. But it was heartening to feel some muscle memory coming back, and an Adirondack guide boat is real a joy to row- so forgiving of mistakes, so generous in her translation of effort to speed. Later on I’ll be writing more about my beloved old boat, but I’ll just say for now that I can’t imagine heading off into the aquatic unknown in anything else. Guide boats rock. Take that as you will. 

The second thing that happened this week that has pushed me closer to the start was finally settling on a name for this blog so we can finally go to press. We’re going with Lake(r) to Lake(r). It was a split decision.  

Gentle Reader, please, cut me some slack here if you will. I’m a retired English teacher, and metaphors and symbols and such are by now baked into my writerly DNA. Here’s where I’m going with Lake(r) to Lake(r) thing:

First, and obviously, without the parenthesis, I am literally rowing from a lake to a lake, from my home waters on Lake George to Hammondsport on Keuka Lake. Both of these jewels share “Grade A” water quality ratings (more on this later), and the idea that I’ll start and finish on two pristine bodies of water while traversing everything from Superfund cleanup sites to the storied YooHoo-like patina of the Erie Canal…well, there’s a bookend quality to it all, right? 

So Lake to Lake without the “r’s,” is literally what I’m doing.

But then there are the “Lakers” at each end of this trip on Lake George and Keuka Lake, and everyone in between: the lockkeepers of the Champlain and Erie and Cayuga-Seneca Canals, the shoreline residents and merchants and canal workers I’ll meet along the way, the kids racing along on bikes, waving, I hope, and the farmers who might permit me to camp out on shores along the way. If I’ve learned anything from rowing thousands of miles over fifteen years, it’s that there is a connectedness of community along waterways, a sinew of sociability, a sense of being on an artery of circulation. People living along the water see the comings and goings, the work and play, nature blooming or in distress, and maybe they feel a sense of being a part of something bigger than themselves as the cavalcade of humanity passes by their yards. Perhaps a life of journeying among strangers without having to leave home leads those on the water to their generosity of spirit?

I’m getting all soapy here, I know…but almost four thousand miles of waterfront have been authentically kind and compassionate to this oarsman. It’s true.

Finally, the third Lake(r) to Lake(r) hook is the serendipity that draws me to my destination - my host, actually - on Keuka Lake. In 2001, The Boys’ Latin School of Maryland hired me to teach English and, a year later, Alan came aboard to teach math. Each of us had come from business backgrounds, each of us found extraordinary gratification in teaching and learning with our students, and for years our classrooms were located right across the hall from one another. These were very happy years indeed and while we’ve stepped away from teaching, the friendship remains strong. Knowing that Alan will be waiting for me on the south shore of Keuka Lake (and cheering me on as only a football coach can cheer one on) makes me smile. 

Boys’ Latin is located on Lake Avenue in Baltimore, and students and teachers alike are “Lakers” forever.

So, Lake(r) to Lake(r) is literal as well, with or without the “r.” Make sense?

Anyway…. Go, Lakers!           

Fundraising

Fundraising: What’s your reason?        

I’m rowing in hopes of raising some money for our lake.

Years ago, during an animated discussion about how to most effectively encourage people to give their hard-earned money to our school, a seasoned fundraiser calmly said, “Folks ultimately give for their reasons, not for ours. Just describe how you will use what their generosity delivers; don’t try to convince them to be generous. If they see a match, they will be.”

I’ve never forgotten the wisdom of that statement. Sure, our lakes have needs and face dire challenges, but at the end of the day, the needs have to connect to our “reasons” for wanting to support the agencies doing the heavy lifting of science, advocacy, preservation, and protection.

As I row 400 miles to Keuka Lake, I hope that this blog will incite you to want to contribute to the work of the Lake George Association or, if you’re reading at the other end, to the Keuka Lake Association, or to others that I’ll meet along the way. My wise colleague from years ago would say that you love the lake for your own reasons. Maybe as a refuge, as a place for tranquility and solitude. Maybe for the friendly bustle and variety of its towns and villages. Maybe for the swimming, hiking, camping, fishing, or skiing. Maybe for the arts, the music, or to witness sites of historical consequence. Maybe to recharge in front of a breathtaking sunrise or a magnificently mellow sunset while working on a spreadsheet, a design, or a novel.

If you’re at all like me, you’ve checked more than a few of these boxes…and you probably have more to add.

Lake George has been my extended family’s watering hole for almost a hundred years. My mom and dad met as kids here in the 30’s. My own kids learned to swim here, and my granddaughters marvel at the descendants of the bass and sunfish that dwell in the same crib out front. Thirty years ago my dad passed away on our Cleverdale porch, peacefully if far too soon, right where he wanted to be.     

But it seems to me that almost everyone I ask about why they love the lake comes back to its extraordinary and unique beauty: the mountains, the clear water, the islands and amenities of nature that await us when we step outside, the very atmosphere of the place. Whether these natural gifts are the backdrop to why one loves the lake or are the precise reason why one loves the lake, they are central to the love. If the water wasn’t swimmable or drinkable, if the native species were gone, if weeds or blooms made boating or swimming impossible, if the mountains were denuded or, alternatively, densely packed....well, Lake George would be just one of those countless places that might look beautiful if you squinted, but it wouldn’t be a destination, an extraordinary wonder, with eyes wide open.

And that’s the work ahead: to pay this hard-won present treasure forward to the future. That’s the work of The Lake George Association and others….and that’s why I hope -for your reasons, not for mine- that you’ll consider writing a check today, or at some point through this journey, or even at the end of the year, as you look back and also forward.

Let the LGA know why you gave, and they’ll put your generosity to work in the best possible way.

Thanks for being in the boat with me.

     

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Introduction

 

June 8, 2021

Algal blooms…storm water runoff…septic system management…invasive species prevention…effective cooperation between state and municipal governments and agencies…individual rights and responsibilities intersecting with the common good….

I get the feeling that Lake George is going to get a real workout this summer, possibly more than she’s ever seen. There’s a lot of pent-up energy out there, and the Lake will feel it all.  Her extraordinary beauty and her peril are very much on my mind as I anticipate another rowing expedition this summer, a route that will take me out of the Lake George basin through waters very different from our beloved Lake but, at the end, that will finish on waters very similar to our own.

Fifteen years ago I discovered the joy of rowing trips like these. My mom gave me a guide boat for my 55^th birthday and at the end of the summer I rowed it from Troy to Baltimore, raised $15,000 for the school there that employed me as an English teacher, and wrote The Big Row, a “book” (some call it a coaster) about it all . Like the fabled dancing dog (“The miracle was not that he danced so well, but that he danced at all…”), the bet was as much about whether a post-middle-age duffer like me could do such a thing as anything else. I think half of my students raised money as an anticipated memorial, the other half actually thought I would make it.

But as I’ve gotten older, my preparations for these rowing expeditions have shifted from the physical to the cerebral, from lifting weights to turning pages and tapping keys. In the run-up to a row I’m now spending far more time at a desk and in a chair than on an elliptical…but that’s another story. That’s another book.

As concerns and restrictions around Covid diminish this spring, anyone with eyes and ears can see the resurgence of human activity on the lake. It’s wonderful that people are out and about, clearing their heads and regenerating their hearts on the water and around the shores of our most beautiful lake.

But I worry, too.

My rowing journey last summer, One Lap Around, took place under the overhang of Covid restrictions. The Canadian side of Lake Huron, which had been my planned destination, had been closed to US visitors and even now, Covid concerns complicate international travel, even by rowboat in Canada.  So last year I simply rowed “one lap around” Lake George and Lake Champlain, wrote a book about it (Row West, Old Man), and raised some funds for the LGA by spending two weeks on the water. The seemingly constant headwinds I faced proved to be an apt- if overworked- metaphor for the country.

Now, Covid is in retreat, at least in the US, but Lake Huron will have to wait one more year. The virus is still an issue on the north shores of Lake Huron and Lake Michigan and since my rowing routine compels me to count on the kindness of strangers for camping, I’ll not want to put would-be hosts on the spot. Instead, I’ll keep this year’s trip close to home once again and hopefully – with your help- do some good for Lake George along the way.   

I’ve recently retired from teaching in Baltimore as has Allan, a former colleague who lives in Hammondsport on Keuka Lake, one of the eleven Finger Lakes. Allan is as much of a kid at heart as I am, and on the phone a while ago we realized that other than a two mile portage through Ticonderoga to Champlain (226 feet lower) and, later on, an eight mile portage between Seneca and Keuka Lakes (270 feet higher), I can nudge the bow of my Adirondack Guideboat into the grass of his front yard, roughly 400 miles away - including the two trudges and maybe some detours - if I just keep at it.

The “just keep at it” thing is important, at least for me. I’ll be 70 in August. As my sister tells me about our shared advancing years, “It’s pretty simple, Al. Just keep moving.”

Besides, since Stewart’s Shops territory overlays much of my route, a Stewart’s Egg Salad Sandwich washed down by a couple of bottles of their killer Vanilla Shake concoction (don’t read the label….just shake it and guzzle), my favorite provisions while underway, will be available through much of my journey.

In Canada it might have been…..Horton’s?

Here’s the plan, in a nutshell, and here’s what’s on my mind about our Lake.

 

The Route to Hammondsport

I’ll row north from Cleverdale to Ticonderoga, put the guide boat on a set of clunky wheels that I’ll carry for that purpose, and push the boat and my gear through Ticonderoga to the lovely Park and falls at the headwaters of LaChute, the waterway that delivers our precious Lake George water to Lake Champlain on its way to the Richelieu River, the St. Lawrence, and ultimately, the Atlantic.

But at the end of LaChute I’ll be heading south, not north, onto southern Champlain, then on to the Champlain Canal and the Hudson to Waterford, then west on the Erie Canal to the Cayuga-Seneca Canal, then the south and west again to Dresden, NY on the west shore of Seneca Lake where I’ll portage yet again to Keuka Lake and, 22 miles later, to Hammonsdport and Alan’s front yard. Badda bing, badda boom. Whew.

The Connection: Stewardship of the environment

Keuka Lake has a lot in common with Lake George. Sure, it’s a bit smaller, (22 miles long vs our 32), but its water is also of wonderful quality even as it, too, faces the challenges of use and development. The Keuka Lake Association, like our own Lake George Association, works hard across municipalities and special interests to preserve and protect this fragile environment, and the similarities of concerns are striking. So I’ll be rowing from one pristine body of water to another, and along the way I’ll be learning what kinds of leadership, stewardship, and best practices will enable future generations to enjoy what we have been given.

After all, facing backwards in a rowboat and moving at 4 miles per hour, you have time to think….and there sure is a lot to think about.

I hope you’ll join me in the boat as this thing unfolds. I have some Covid pounds to shed and a lot to learn, and I could use the company. And our LGA, newly fortified and enhanced by its merger with The Fund, has a lot to do, too…more than ever, I think, and in ways that calls on all of us to pull on the oars, together.

More later….

Big ups!

Al