Lake Protectors in Action

“I’m a volunteer,” says Robert Nemer, co-owner of four automobile dealerships in Queensbury, Saratoga Springs, and Latham, NY.

Yes...but those humble words don’t come close to capturing his leadership when it comes to protecting Lake George. His actions, however, do. Again and again.

When the White family learned that adding another bedroom to their summer home on Dark Bay would require the installation of a new septic system, they didn’t lose sleep over it. They made the investment because it’s good for Lake George.

The view from Steve and Debby Seaboyer’s deck overlooking Lake George from the Rockhurst peninsula in the town of Queensbury is like a postcard coming to life. But for Steve, a retired engineer and business owner, things won’t be picture-perfect on Rockhurst until one big problem is corrected.

Walking around Steve and Cathie Schonwetter’s home on the east side of Lake George, the beauty unfolding before you is breathtaking. 

But it’s the things they’ve done to protect that beauty that Steve and Cathie point out first.

The Schonwetters are Lake Protectors.

When Virginia “Ginny” Rowan Smith saw the damage wreaked by a torrential rainstorm on the seasonal stream that runs down the Oneida Bay property she owns with her husband, Manning, and saw that their retention pond was nearly overflowing with silt and mud, she knew she had to act to protect Lake George water quality.

Rosemary Pusateri was taken aback in recent years by the number of boats launching from Million Dollar Beach in Lake George when the mandatory invasive species inspection station was closed. So, she took out her camera, marshaled her friends, and set out to make a difference.

When Tony DeFranco returned to his hometown of Hague in 2010 to manage his family’s longtime landscaping business, his goal was not only to help homeowners and businesses beautify their properties but to protect Lake George while doing so.

Driven by a grandmother’s love, the nine homeowner members of the Boon Bay Association are showing just how much can be accomplished when practicing Lake protection on a bay-by-bay basis.

The future of Lake George is in our hands. Ticonderoga residents Jill and Tom Cunningham take that both literally and figuratively.

The Town of Queensbury includes approximately 10% of the incredible Lake George shoreline. Town Supervisor John Strough gives 110% when it comes to Lake protection.

Scott and Jennifer Jacobs didn’t think twice when presented with the idea of replacing the antiquated cesspool at their 100-year-old “empty nester” home in the Town of Bolton with a small-scale wastewater treatment system … inside the house.

Barbara Simms was so disturbed by underwater photographs of excessive algae growth in Dunhams Bay, she rallied her neighbors behind a Lake protection effort that resulted in the creation of a wastewater disposal district and led to the replacement of 21 aging septic systems in a four-year period.

Recognizing the threat that improperly treated wastewater poses to Lake George, the not-for-profit Silver Bay YMCA Conference & Family Retreat Center voluntarily invested $3.5 million to replace its outdated 70-year-old septic system with a highly advanced wastewater treatment plant.

The Ingreys and Goreliks knew how much their neighbors in the close-knit Arcady Bay Homeowners Association care about Lake George. So they brought them all together for a show of support — and raised an extraordinary $200,000 for Lake protection.

A simple Help Wanted ad, placed more than 40 years ago, helped launch one of the most generous, meaningful, and still-enduring displays of family philanthropy ever bestowed on Lake George.

Helen Froehlich spent only 20 of her adventurous 91 years living on Lake George. But she gave the Lake a lifetime of love — and, in passing, left an incredible legacy of Lake protection.

As the longest-serving mayor in New York State history, Lake George Village Mayor Bob Blais has long been the foremost champion of the Queen of American Lakes. His crowning achievement: a $24 million state-of-the art wastewater treatment plant to replace the Depression-era facility that had been the predominant source of algae-causing nitrates to the Lake.

As a teenager, Elizabeth “Betty” O’Connor always wanted to work summers on Lake George. As New York State Senator Betty (O’Connor) Little, she worked tirelessly year-round on behalf of the Lake to protect its incomparable water quality and the regional economy that depends on it.

As a Lake George native, business owner and long-time town supervisor, Dennis Dickinson has a keen understanding of how much the Lake means to the region’s quality of life and economy — and he’s been a leader in a wide array of Lake protection initiatives. Quite simply, he says, “You have to take care of the Lake.”

Ron Conover can’t see one of the biggest accomplishments of his tenure as Bolton Town Supervisor. But he knows it’s there — by the major reductions he sees in algae-causing nitrates heading toward Lake George from the town’s wastewater treatment thanks to an innovative woodchip bioreactor buried beneath the soil.

They’re the first three municipalities in North America to earn the Sustainable Winter Management Program (SWiM®) certification — and their hard work has paid off, as they’ve dramatically and safely reduced their use of winter road salt and minimized the amount of harmful chlorides entering Lake George.

As CEO of one of the Lake George Region’s iconic hospitality businesses, the Fort William Henry Corp., Kathy Flacke Muncil is committed to enduring Lake protection — and ensuring that the rest of the regional business community is standing with her. She’s the founding Chair of the LGA’s Council of Business Advisors.

Four decades after spending childhood summers admiring Lake George from his grandfather’s Assembly Point property, Mike Kelly is one of the lead scientists and technologists on The Jefferson Project, protecting the Lake from its greatest water quality threats.

In a 25-year career as a water quality research scientist with New York State, and now as a consultant to the LGA, Jim Sutherland has conducted some of the most meaningful research ever on the threats facing the Queen of American Lakes. Some call him “The Father of Lake George Hydrology.

Tim Shudt oversaw the creation of the Village of Lake George’s new state-of-the-art wastewater treatment plant from conception through construction. “It’s Lake George,” he says. “It deserves the best technology and design.”

When it came to Lake George, the late Ed Bartholomew understood like few others that the environment and economy are two sides of the same coin. He valued both sides dearly and worked tirelessly to protect them.

By offering no-interest and low-interest loans for septic system replacements in the Lake George Basin, Adirondack Trust Company and Glens Falls National Bank and Trust Company are showing what it means to be invested in the local community.

Paul Vanderzon has been cleaning up snow and ice from roads and driveways since he was 12 years old. But as a key partner in the Lake George Road Salt Reduction Initiative with his employer, snow plow manufacturer and innovator Metal Pless, Paul takes a special pride in the role he’s played keeping roads around the Lake safe while keeping harmful salt out of the water