The Skaneateles Lake Association’s 5^th year started with the training of this year’s crew of Invasive Species Monitoring Stewards who have been in place since May 25^th, daily at the NYS DEC Launch site and Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Town of Skaneateles Launch site in Mandana and the Town of Scott Launch site.  The Milfoil Crew is back at work after some delay caused by a lot of rain and storm effect that made for poor visibility underwater.  They have 5 acres of Benthic matting to place over large areas of milfoil identified in the lake survey done by Bob Werner last fall.  They also have some specified areas to do harvesting by hand in areas where it is not possible to put down matting.

Our board has finalized the plans for our Annual Meeting which will be held on Sunday, July 12^th from 5 – 7 pm at Brooklawn on Fire Lane 43, the Mandana home of Ted and Nancy Norman.  Those who attended last year can tell you it was both an informative and fun event and we hope all of our members will save the date and come this year.  Please go to SkaneatelesLake.org for complete information about the annual meeting and how to RSVP.

Our editors and writing staff are finishing up the summer issue of our newsletter.  We know that you will find each of the articles informative.  We will be mailing it to everyone in the 13152 zip code by Every Door Direct Delivery and also by bulk mail to any one on our member or potential member list who has a different mailing address.  It will also be available on our website.  Look for it, read it, share it and use the Member Registration section on the last page to join if you have not already done so for 2015.  You can also join on line at SkaneatelesLake.org – just click on the “Membership/Support Tab” and then the “Become a Member” or “Renew Membership” tab.

All of what we do as the SLA is only possible with membership fees and additional, generous donations made by many of our members.  Please note and thank the following members for their additional donations that are supporting the Milfoil Boat and our Invasive Species Monitoring Stewards.

Milfoil Boat Sponsors:  6/12/15 Margaret Tourville, Eleanor & Ben Ware, Maureen & Joseph Wilson, Members of the Westside Lake Association; 6/15/15 Mary & Paul Torrisi, Ann & David Ann Lee, Marie & Joe Grasso, Barbara & Bill Dean; 6/16/15 Marjorie & Kenneth Blanchard; 6/17/15 Elsa & Peter Soderberg; 6/18/15 Paula White, Dawn & Michael Teixeira, Ann & John Sveen, The Sherwood Inn.

Invasive Species Monitoring Stewards: 5/25/15 Kristopher Scholl, 5/26/15 Mary & Paul Torrisi, 5/27/15 Barbara & John Spain, 5/28/15 Carolyn & John Tierney, 5/29/15 J=Kate & Mont Pooley; 5/30/15 Beverly & David Jones; 5/31/15 Janice Hardy; 6/1/15 – 6/5/15 Gretchen & Buzz Roberts; 6/6/15 – 6/10/15 Deborah & Ed  Brennan; 6/11/15 Contributions to the David Lee Hardy Fund made by Janice Hardy, Barbara & Robert Amsler & Sara Holben.

Source:  Skaneateles Press

Lee Hardy loved Skaneateles Lake.  He loved it in every season of the year and found fun, quiet enjoyment and peace in the lake.  His family wanted to do something special in memory of Lee when he died at far too early an age.  Doing something that would be good for the lake he loved made sense to them.  In 2012 they initially funded the David Lee Hardy Memorial Fund to support our Invasive Species Lake Steward Monitoring Program.  The Hardy Family’s initial donation to the fund was significant in supporting our early efforts to initiate the program.  Since the initiation of the Fund, there have been a few people each year who make donations to the Fund in addition to their annual membership fee.  Interestingly, this year the number and amount of those donations has increased.  So far this year a total of 13 days of Steward coverage have been supported by contributions to the David Lee Hardy fund.

The Board of Directors of the Skaneateles Lake Association is grateful to Lee’s family for establishing the Fund and also grateful to those who continue to support it.  We do not know if they make the contributions because they knew Lee or know his family or if they do it because they just support the Steward program.  We do know the Fund provides a vehicle for our members to make additional donations to an important part of the overall plan of the SLA to keep the waters of Skaneateles Lake clear and pure.  We are pleased that support of the Steward Program can continue to be a memorial to Lee.

You can join the Skaneateles Lake Association by going to SkaneatelesLake.org to complete your registration and pay your annual dues.  If you do not have access to the Internet and would like a registration form mailed to you please call 315-685-9106 and leave a message with your name and mailing address.

All of what we do as the SLA is only possible with membership fees and additional, generous donations made by many of our members.  Please note and thank the following members for their additional donations that are supporting the Milfoil Boat and our Invasive Species Monitoring Stewards.

Milfoil Boat Sponsors:  6/12/15 Margaret Tourville, Eleanor & Ben Ware, Maureen & Joseph Wilson, Members of the Westside Lake Association; 6/15/15 Mary & Paul Torrisi, Ann & David Ann Lee, Marie & Joe Grasso, Barbara & Bill Dean; 6/16/15 Marjorie & Kenneth Blanchard; 6/17/15 Elsa & Peter Soderberg; 6/18/15 Paula White, Dawn & Michael Teixeira, Ann & John Sveen, The Sherwood Inn.

Invasive Species Monitoring Stewards: 5/25/15 Kristopher Scholl, 5/26/15 Mary & Paul Torrisi, 5/27/15 Barbara & John Spain, 5/28/15 Carolyn & John Tierney, 5/29/15 Kate & Mont Pooley; 5/30/15 Beverly & David Jones; 5/31/15 Janice Hardy; 6/1/15 – 6/5/15 Gretchen & Buzz Roberts; 6/6/15 – 6/10/15 Deborah & Ed  Brennan; 6/11/15 Contributions to the David Lee Hardy Fund made by Janice Hardy, Barbara & Robert Amsler & Sara Holben.

Source:  Skaneateles Journal

 Just like many of us after a good night’s sleep or a long winter’s nap….the lake is awake.  It has stretched its arms, yawned some BIG yawns and turned over a few times.  While we have had some reports of shoreline structure damage, hopefully with the lake level down a bit before the big thaw there was not a great amount of shoreline structure damage or shoreline erosion.

It would be helpful to get reports of any major shoreline structure damage and we encourage you to report the damage, the approximate location and an estimated cost to the SLA via our website, SkaneatelesLake.org.  Just click on the “contact us” tab to send us the information.  We will compile the reports for use in putting together a picture of the type, extent and cost of damage that occurs with the spring storms and ice melts.

The SLA has had several reports of items close to the shoreline that have taken a ride up or down the lake.  Our website also has a “lost and found” report format under the “contact us” tab and you can use this tab to report items lost or found and you might be lucky and find out that we have a “match”.  That way you can get back your lost item or get those items that landed on your shoreline back to their home.

Last Thursday’s “Neighbors West” section of the Post Standard had a story about a special fund generated by hotel room taxes that the Onondaga County Legislature has for funding projects and programs that are supportive of increasing tourism and economic development related to tourism.  The Skaneateles Lake Association has applied for a grant from this fund to purchase a motor for our pontoon boat that is used to transport the Benthic matting that our divers place on the bottom of the lake over large areas of milfoil growth.  We have sent an email to current members who have an email address and reside anywhere in Onondaga County.  The email included the information about the fund and a copy of the SLA’s letter requesting funds for the motor.  Members were also provided with contact information for the County Legislators and asked to call, email or write to them in support of the SLA’s funding request.  The letter can be accessed on our website.  If anyone did not receive the email, you can help the SLA by making a supportive call or writing a letter or sending an email in support of this request.  All the information you need to do so is on our website under “News/Events” via the “News” tab.

JOIN the SLA for 2015 today.  You can join easily at SkaneatelesLake.org. You can enhance your annual membership fee by paying it by check thus saving us the fee we would have to pay to PayPal for a credit card or PayPal account payment.  If you do not have access to the internet call 315-685-9106 and I will send you a 2015 Registration Form and return envelope

Source:  Skaneateles Press

A few weeks ago the SLA received a membership renewal with an additional generous donation.  Subsequently, I happened to “run into” the individual and thanked him for the support.  He responded, “I live on the lakefront.  It is a donation to me.”  At our first annual meeting of the SLA held in concert with the Finger Lakes Land Trust a few years ago one of the speakers emphasized the same thought, but he expanded it to have meaning for the entire lake community, not just those who live on lakefront property.  While I can’t, years later, quote him, in essence he said that if you live here in the lake community supporting the SLA in its work to keep this lake clear and pure is a no brainer and that your membership is a donation to yourself in support of the community in which you live.

Please keep the words and thoughts of both of these people in mind.  Look around your community and ask yourself what would it be like to live here without this beautiful lake and all of the quality of life that it brings to the community and JOIN the SLA for 2015 today.  You can join easily at SkaneatelesLake.org. You can enhance your annual membership fee by paying it by check thus saving us the fee we would have to pay to PayPal for a credit card or PayPal account payment.  If you do not have access to the internet call 315-685-9106 and I will send you a 2015 Registration Form and a return envelope.

If you are doing some shopping for Mother’s Day Support the SLA through Amazon Smile… Every Little Bit Helps

The Skaneateles Lake Association has registered with Amazon to be a recipient under their Amazon Smile Program. This program enables you to choose the Skaneateles Lake Association as the recipient of a donation from Amazon each time you shop on Amazon. com.If you are interested the procedure for using it is quite simple:

Visit smile.amazon.com. Log in to your Amazon account. Search for “Skaneateles Lake Association, Inc.” Start shopping. Amazon will donate an amount equivalent to 0.5% of your purchases directly to the Skaneateles Lake Association. While the percentage is small it can be a significant contribution if a large number of our members participate.  There is no cost to the shopper. The donation comes directly from Amazon.  Please check it out at Smile.amazon.com.

 Source: Skaneateles Journal

While our beautiful Skaneateles Lake has been frozen in many areas the past few months, lake lovers, as I have mentioned before, have been using the lake as ‘home court” for many activities.  Despite the deep cold, ice fishing, snowshoeing, cross country skiing, and of course, our Polar Bear Plunge have been part of lake life.

The Board of the Skaneateles Lake Association has also been very active this winter.  As we do on a regular basis, we have been analyzing our membership in preparation for full speed ahead with our 2015 membership campaign.  To date, we have sent out about 40 letters to some former members who did not join in 2014 asking them to help us “kick off” our 2015 campaign by joining early.  There are many others in the category of having been members in earlier years, but not members in 2014, and we will be making a special effort to get them to join this year as well.  We have also sent out over 100 letters to folks who joined in January, February or March of 2014 asking that they join as annual members for 2015 now.  It is so important for our funding that we know where we are early in the year and that we keep the funds flowing in throughout the year.

Our big news right now is that our website, SkaneatelesLake.org, has been completely redesigned and updated.  There is so much information on it and so many ways you can use it to actually see what we do and what the results have been.  Please visit the website and let us know what you think of the content areas and the usability and, of course, you can use the membership section to join/rejoin for 2015.  We have already started to receive questions and comments from the “contact us” link.

Another really great thing that has happened during the winter is that the SLA Board has received two communications via our website from people who are not actually in the Skaneateles Lake community with some ideas about equipment or services that may support our mission.  We are in the initial stage of responding to these folks, but it was very heartening to hear from people outside our lake community with ideas for keeping our lake the beautiful body of water it is.

You can join the Skaneateles Lake Association by going to SkaneatelesLake.org to complete your registration and pay your annual dues.

Source:  Skaneateles Journal

While our beautiful Skaneateles Lake has been frozen in many areas the past few months, lake lovers, as I have mentioned before, have been using the lake as ‘home court” for many activities.  Despite the deep cold, ice fishing, snowshoeing, cross country skiing, and of course, our Polar Bear Plunge have been part of lake life.

The Board of the Skaneateles Lake Association has also been very active this winter. Our big news is that our website, SkaneatelesLake.org, has been completely redesigned and updated.  There is so much information on it and so many ways you can use it to actually see what we do and what the results have been.  Please visit the website and let us know what you think of the content areas and the usability.

The SLA Board has been analyzing our membership in preparation for full speed ahead with our 2015 membership campaign.  To date, we have sent out about 40 letters to some former members who did not join in 2014 asking them to help us “kick off” our 2015 campaign by joining early.  There are many others who were members in earlier years, but not members in 2014 and we will be making a special effort to get them to join this year.  We have also sent out over 100 letters to folks who joined in January, February or March of 2014 asking that they join as annual members for 2015 now.  It is so important for our funding that we know where we are early in the year and that we keep the funds flowing in throughout the year.

The SLA’s annual membership campaign is paid for with funds we have from annual membership fees.  Like all not for profit organizations we are always looking for ways to maximize the funds we have to achieve our mission.  You can help us to maximize those funds by almost 5% by going to our website, SkaneatelesLake.org.  Click on the “membership” link and then on the “current members” link.  You will see that only a few people have joined to date for 2015.  Join that group of people NOW by clicking on the “Renew Membership” or “Become a Member” link.  Here is how you can expand you annual SLA membership fee:

• If you join without the SLA having to send you an annual membership renewal reminder letter, you save us the cost of paper, envelopes, printing and postage.. You also save volunteer time that is necessary to put those mailings together.

• If you select to pay your annual SLA membership registration by check instead by credit card or PayPal account, you save us the fee that we have to pay to PayPal.

Please consider this easy process to make your membership dollars go farther.  If you do not have access to the internet please call 315-685-9106 after April 8^th and I will send a 2015 membership registration form to you.  

Source:  Skaneateles Press