PEOPLE
P R O T E C T I N G L A K E G E O R G E S I N C E 1 8 8 5 • MAY 2 0 1 4
© Carl Heilman II
The Official Newsletter of the Lake George Association
LGA Honored with US EPA’s Highest Award!
W
e are so pleased to share with our members and friends that the Lake George Association has been selected to receive a 2014 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Environmental Quality Award for our flagship environmental education program, The Floating Classroom.
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When Asian clam was found in the Lake in the fall of 2010, we updated the program to teach participants about the clams, what they looked like, and what to do if they think they saw one. Over 6,200 participants have learned about Asian clam since then aboard the boat.
NMENTAL O R Q VI
We also provide education and outreach about Asian clam and other invasive species through our other programming and publications, but nothing still beats personal interaction. Sure, our Facebook page and email newsletters are great ways to get messages out in a timely manner. But you remember getting to hold a clam shell in your hand and rubbing it with your fingernail to feel the ridges on the shell. That is the kind of experience that you don’t forget. And that is the kind of experience that creates stewards to help protect the Lake for years to come.
ITY AWARD AL U
The Environmental Quality Award is the highest recognition presented to the public by the EPA. Each year, the EPA recognizes individuals, businesses, government agencies, environmental and community-based organizations and members of the media in EPA Region 2 who have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to protecting and enhancing environmental quality and public health.
issues such as aquatic invasive species have become more pressing for the lake in recent years, the program has adapted its curriculum accordingly.
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We are so honored to be selected as a recipient for this prestigious award. Here at Lake George we are lucky to have such an amazing resource right here in our own backyard. For over 129 years the LGA and its members have been working to protect the Lake. Creating the next generation of stewards through our Floating Classroom program for over 20 years is an honor and a privilege! Created in the early 1990s, the Floating Classroom has evolved over the years as the needs of the Lake have changed. For example, as Lake George Association • www.lakegeorgeassociation.org
Originally conceived as an educational field trip for area students, the program expanded in 2009 with the purchase of a new boat, largely through support from LGA Board Member Bruce Ashby, and now area residents and summer visitors of all ages are welcome aboard the Floating Classroom every summer to learn about water quality and how LGA • 518-668-3558 • May 2014 • page 1