Chautauqua Lake Partnership
Box 337
Bemus Point NY 14712
November 2019 Update
Fellow Members & Contributors –
2019 seems to have flown by at a record pace. The Chautauqua Lake Partnership has had a very busy, very productive year and once again it’s that time when we have to request your generosity with our annual fundraising campaign in order to make 2020 just as successful. We desperately need your help in order to preserve this tremendous natural resource we have been blessed with in our community.
This past spring, the CLP continued its role as an integral component of the annual herbicide treatment program, which was the most ambitious herbicide campaign in decades. We were able to coordinate the funding of almost $300,000 to the various towns & villages around the lake and then make up the short fall with CLP contributions. We then participated in a collaborative approach with Chautauqua County and the other municipalities and facilitated herbicide treatment in almost 400 acres of littoral zone primarily in the South basin. This proved to be a tremendously successful endeavor as evidenced by the fantastic condition of this portion of Chautauqua Lake. Furthermore, this was confirmed by county sponsored third-party monitoring by Princeton-Hydro, which documented the success of this treatment with no adverse effects. The targeted invasive leads were greatly eradicated, the native vegetation re-emerged as anticipated and there was no significant drift other than what was predicted by our pretreatment diffusion modeling. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, which supervised the entire process, agreed with these conclusions as well. Your Chautauqua Lake Partnership has already funded the annual weed survey encompassing the entire lake and completed by Solitude Lake Management last month to be utilized for the 2020 herbicide treatments. And with your support, hopefully we can orchestrate another successful herbicide campaign for the spring of 2020.
During this past summer, many of you may have noticed a strange-looking marine machine involved with shoreline cleanup. This is the recently purchased Mobitrac, which is an amphibious vehicle initially identified by CLP and funded with a SAM grant through Senator Young, but ultimately purchased by the county & leased to the town of Chautauqua. The CLP has now requested CFA funding through New York State for an additional 4 Mobitracs, which we would then add to the town of Chautauqua fleet to be utilized throughout the entire Lake. This would then mechanize the tedious process of shoreline cleanup & mitigate the risk of the existing process which has individuals with pitchforks in the lake among the toxic algae.
Finally, the most exciting project CLP has undertaken, and potentially the most important for the long-term health of Chautauqua Lake, is that of deploying phosphorous sensors in various locations in the lake in order to monitor legacy phosphorus release from vegetative debris on the lake bottom. By monitoring the activity of these “hot spots” in the lake we may ultimately be able to focus on the specifically removing these areas. Initially, we have obtained just two of these sensors, but we have several more being funded by the Alliance for 2020 and have also written a CFA grant request through New York State for the funding of 6 additional sensors next year.
As you can see, the focus of the Chautauqua Lake Partnership may have evolved a bit, but we continue to concentrate on actively bringing novel solutions to these chronic Chautauqua Lake problems. In order to do so, we ask for you continued support and financial contributions. We sincerely hope that you agree with the Board of the CLP that, with your help, we have successfully “moved the needle” in terms of successful Lake management practices unlike any other organization in recent history. Remember we are an ALL-Volunteer Board & Organization and we could certainly use more help.
Please mark these two dates on your calendars for 2020. We plan on another CLP Memorial Day weekend event at the Casino in Bemus next spring. We also are sponsoring a major fundraising event on July 9th at the Chautauqua Harbor Hotel featuring renowned artist & entertainer Michael Israel and his world famous show. We hope you all make every effort to attend each of these.
Partnership goals are ambitious but attainable. As a Chautauqua Lake area resident or Lake User, you can do the following to help:
- Donate to the Partnership. Donations can be mailed to:
Chautauqua Lake Partnership
PO Box 337
Bemus Point, NY 14712
- Donate to the Partnership. Visit our website at www.chqlake.org or use PayPal
- Donate to the Partnership. Visit us on GoFundMe, Search for Chautauqua Lake Partnership.
- Donate to the Partnership. By shopping on smile.amazon.com – 0.5% of your purchase will go to our charity. It doesn’t cost anything and every bit helps. Search Chautauqua Lake Partnership.
- Use the Enclosure Card to provide/update our mailing address, email and lake location/bay.
- Participate in Partnership Rallies along with County, Town & Village meetings to advocate for the lake. See the CLP website for sample letters and contact information.
Please help us make CLP goals a reality. Our properties and our communities will be of little value if we tolerate the status quo and continue to let our lake deteriorate. With your support, we can enjoy Chautauqua Lake as in years past and be proud of where we live, work and play. Please spread the good news of the CLP and encourage others to join you in donating.
With Sincere appreciation of your Support,
Sara DeMink, Fundraising Chair Tom Turner, Fundraising Chair
Dr. Jim Cirbus, President Frank Nicotra, Vice President
Mike LaTone, Treasurer Jodee Johnson, Secretary
Dr. Tom Erlandson, Biology Advisor Dr. Doug Neckers, Chemistry Advisor