LAKE GEORGE, NY (WRGB) — Twenty-one years ago, Robert Kennedy Jr. came to Lake George as a leading voice in the fight to protect our environment – to support the newly created position of Lake George Waterkeeper and to work to preserve the pristine nature of the Queen of America’s Lakes.
In the 1990s, RFK Jr. was an environmental lawyer who campaigned to clean up the Hudson River, earning Time magazine the title of “Hero for the Planet” in 1999.
Liz Bishop asked him where and how his love affair with the Hudson River began. He told us that as a young boy he had gone whitewater rafting in the Upper Hudson with his father (former U.S. Senator Bobby Kennedy) – he remembered the water being the coldest he had ever experienced – and that he could drink the water on rafting trips out west.
This time, however, he said, “I remember the guides telling us not to drink the water. And it occurred to me that there was something wrong with that. Why couldn’t we drink it?”
And when he spoke to Liz from Rogers Park in July 2003, his focus was still on clean water – this time for Lake George.
He said:
The big problems with the lake are development problems – it’s unwise development. The lands that feed into the lake are being developed at a very rapid pace. If you pave 10 percent of the catchment that feeds into the lake, it will damage the biological integrity of the waterway. And if it continues like this, you won’t be able to see as far as you can now. In ten years, the lake will be covered in algae and will no longer be clear. The quality of the lake will decline dramatically.
Liz also asked him about an issue that was a big deal 21 years ago and has again sparked fierce controversy today: the use of chemicals to eradicate milfoil in pristine Lake George.
He told Liz:
There are times when it may be appropriate to use chemicals, and there are times when harvesting – actually harvesting by hand or with machinery – is effective. But I would not be averse to looking at a whole range, a whole portfolio of responses to milfoil and trying to use the ones that make the most sense for the lake and its long-term value.
Liz asked Chris Navitsky, the water supervisor for Lake George, what Kennedy’s concerns were based on. He tells Liz today that since the interview in 2003, the lake has experienced increased algae growth – in addition to the development of harmful algal blooms. Despite this, the lake is incredibly clear. The average is over 30 feet – but in the southern basin, where more development has taken place, it is about five feet lower.
Also interesting is that at the time RFK Junior was here, the Lake George Park Commission applied for a permit to use the herbicide Sonar to treat milfoil, which was denied.
As Liz is sure, many people know, about six weeks ago, in a very controversial move, the chemical ProcellaCOR was used in the lake to treat milfoil. Navitsky tells Liz that his group continues to oppose the use of ProcellaCOR in Lake George without a long-term management plan.
