December 18, 2019 End of Year Letter from the ED, Jamie Brown

Dear Friends,

Thank you for making 2019 an amazing year for the LGLC and the land that protects the lake. By the end of 2019, we will have permanently protected over 350 acres, including over 35 acres of wetlands and over nearly 3 miles of stream corridor.  Millions of gallons of water will be filtered every year as it flows over and through this newly protected land on its way into Lake George.  Thanks to you, this land will continue to naturally clean the water and protect the lake for future generations.

Nearly 30,000 visitors came to our preserves and the preserves that we manage for others, helping to educate folks as to the importance of protecting land to protect water, habitat, and forests. These visitors also contributed to the local economies of our community. We hosted numerous events, including the Hike-A-Thon, Walk on Water, guided hikes, summer Lake Talk Series, and our Annual Meeting, all of which brought out another 2,500 people to learn about our work and our preserves, and to enjoy the outdoors.

We completed the restoration of the Schumann Preserve trail and are working with the Towns of Queensbury and Lake George to complete new trails for hiking and mountain biking on French Mountain. We are also working with the Town of Bolton on trail improvements on the Pinnacle, and looking at adding new trails to the Bolton Hub.

Thanks to your support, we continued to work on fighting terrestrial invasives throughout the watershed. This included a strengthened partnership with the Town of Hague to manage Japanese knotweed there, and we are discussing a similar partnership with the Town of Bolton. We continued our hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA) monitoring program early in 2019 and are gearing up for this coming winter. Volunteers and staff treated phragmites, shrubby honeysuckle, bittersweet, and other invasive plants on LGLC preserves and easement properties. We also worked with partners to exchange information on new treatment and monitoring methods and held numerous workshops to educate the public on how to identify and manage these pests.

We could not have done so much for the land that protects the lake without YOU.  Thank you so much for being a part of our work and making a lasting, positive impact.

Enjoy the holidays and have a Happy New Year!

Jamie Brown
LGLC Executive Director