People Protecting the Lake
Since 1885.
Lake George
Association – P.O. Box 408 – Lake George, NY 12845
(518) 668-3558 – Fax
(518) 668-4702 – www.lakegeorgeassociation.org
July 16, 2008
For
Immediate Release
Contact: James Hood
Communications Coordinator
Lake George Association
Phone: (518) 668-3558
LGA receives $452,700 grant FOR Lake saving work
Lake George, NY – The Lake George Association is proud to announce that the Helen V. Froehlich Foundation has awarded the 123-year old conservation leader a grant of $452,700 for progressive lake-saving initiatives. This is the fifteenth consecutive award from the Froehlich Foundation.
“We are pleased and honored that the trustees of the Helen V. Froehlich Foundation have so generously considered us for funding again this year,” stated Walt Lender, the LGA’s Executive Director, upon receiving the news.
Nearly half of the total grant award will provide funding for the LGA’s Lake Saving Projects. These “shovel in the dirt” projects provide tangible solutions to threats to Lake George’s water quality. Included in these projects is the West Brook Conservation Initiative, an ambitious project to use restored wetlands to capture and treat stormwater on the site of the former Gaslight Village in Lake George.
According to Lender, the funding provided by the Froehlich Foundation grant will be used as a local match to state and federal funding.
“The funds in the grant award, leveraged with our members and donors generosity, put us in a strong position to receive significant funding from public sources. This strengthens and extends the LGA’s ability to take on more projects to conserve Lake George for future generations.”
Added Lender, “I believe Mrs. Froehlich would be pleased with what we are able to accomplish.”
In addition to the advancement of stormwater management and erosion control projects throughout the Lake George watershed, the LGA has received funding in this grant for what the organization is calling “Technical Assistance to Municipalities.”
“The LGA is about to re-launch our Land Use Management program with a new vision aimed at assisting municipalities and homeowners,” said Lender. “We are going to provide resources and information to towns and residents to employ innovative practices to protect Lake George.”
As part of the revamped program, the LGA is promoting lake-friendly living by utilizing its own grounds to demonstrate installing vegetative buffers, reducing lawn size, using rain gardens to control stormwater runoff, composting, and using native plant species in landscaping.
A similar project was completed recently in Ticonderoga. The LGA held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to open the new beach house at Ticonderoga Beach. Improvements to the building and grounds included low-flow toilets, use of natural light instead of electrical fixtures and a rain garden to capture the building’s stormwater runoff.
The Froehlich Foundation has also provided funds necessary to continue and to expand the LGA’s water quality monitoring programs. Through the LGA’s Education & Outreach program, many volunteers around the watershed are providing vital data by taking water samples and completing surveys at several areas on the lake, as well as in a number of streams that feed into Lake George.
“The data collected from these monitors will help identify water quality trends and point out possible pollution hot spots that may require remediation,” stated Emily DeBolt, LGA Education and Outreach Coordinator. DeBolt runs the volunteer monitoring programs for the LGA.
The 15 consecutive grant awards from the Froehlich Foundation represent over $5 million dollars worth of improvements to Lake George and the watershed.
With assistance from the Froehlich Foundation, the LGA’s Lake-Saving Projects program was launched successfully in 1994 and has expanded and improved with each passing year. The goal of these projects is to protect Lake George’s exceptional water quality by minimizing or eliminating negative impacts through stormwater management, stream corridor restoration and lake-friendly land-use practices.
“Our members’ dollars go only so far in funding our efforts to protect Lake George,” said Lender. “These funds will enable us to accomplish more projects on the ground and provide expanded programs around the lake.”
Established in 1885, the Lake George Association is America’s first lake association and a pioneer in the conservation movement. The LGA’s core programs include: Lake-Saving Projects, Education and Outreach Initiatives, GIS Mapping and Applications, Technical Assistance for Land Use, Lake Awareness, Invasive Species, and Advocacy.
The LGA spends around $800,000 per year to directly carry out its mission. In addition to the funding from the Froehlich Foundation, the LGA relies on financial support provided by its membership, as well as a number of fundraising events like the LGA’s annual golf tournament and its summer celebration.
The LGA is a not-for-profit membership
organization of people interested in working together to protect, conserve, and
improve the beauty and quality of the Lake George Basin. Interested in becoming an LGA member? Contact the LGA at (518) 668-3558 or check
out LGA on the web at www.lakegeorgeassociation.org.
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