The Census and Seasonal Home Owners

The good folks at the East Shore Schroon Lake Association sent an email blast to its members reminding them that seasonal and second home owners need to complete a census form for every property they own.

Here is what you need to do:

For each property you own but use only part of the time, please follow these instructions:

1. Visit www.my2020census.gov.
2. Enter the Census ID or address for your secondary property.
3. Enter “0” for the number of people living at this property.
4. Hit Next, and when a “soft error” occurs, click Next again.
5. Select “No” when asked to confirm no person lives at this property.
6. Select primary reason – for example, "Seasonal."
7. Complete!

And we are hearing from Joe Steiniger  that Schroon Lakers in Essex County need to be counted.

“As of last week (8/26), only 40% of Essex County residents and only 24% (!!!!) of Town of Schroon residents had responded to the census! It is urgently important for our area residents to be accurately counted for our community to receive its proper amount of federal benefits (and Congressional representation). If you are not SURE you have responded, please click on the link in the post and BE COUNTED! Please forward this to anyone you think might not have responded to a census questionnaire. Time is running out!

For more information, please go to 2020census.gov.

Tiny Discovery Could Prevent Huge Problems for our Lakes

Photo: Courtesy Roger Friedman

The above photo appears to show two, tiny gravel shaped pieces, less than the size of a finger nail.

They are Zebra mussels, one of the most dangerous invasive species that threaten the lakes of the Adirondacks.

These two were discovered by lake Steward Molly Wisser at the Route 74 Boat Washing station, according to Roger Friedman, from the Schroon lake Association.

The station, established two years ago, is vital to fighting invasives. A hat tip to all three of our area lake associations: The Paradox Lake Association, The Schroon Lake Association and the East Shore Schroon Lake Association for initiating this effort.

And take a bow Molly: your eagle eyes saved what could have been a disastrous event.  More about these mollusks from the Lake Champlain Basin Atlas:

“The zebra mussel is a small freshwater mollusk native to the Black and Caspian Sea regions. First discovered in the Great Lakes in 1988, it is thought that they were transported to North America in the ballast tanks of ships. Since then, the mussels have spread throughout much of the eastern half of the United States.

Zebra mussels were first discovered in the southern part of Lake Champlain in 1993. Since then, the State of Vermont has tracked the spread of zebra mussels northward as part of the Long Term Water Quality and Biological Monitoring Program. Since 1993, zebra mussels have spread throughout nearly all of Lake Champlain. The Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation also monitors for zebra mussels on inland lakes”.