Oops!

October has been a busy month, what with the General’s Birthday Bash and political debates to prepare for, and somehow I managed to lose track of last Friday’s deadline for responding to a survey on lake issues sent out by the Conesus Lake Association. When I finally figured that out yesterday, I was informed that it was a firm deadline and no extensions could be given. Therefore my views will not be posted on the CLA website.

Luckily, I have my own web site and I will remedy that ASAP by posting my answers there. In the meantime, here is my answer to the first question: “1) Do you think the health of Conesus Lake is getting the appropriate level of priority and attention from the towns and the county in helping to restore the quality of the lake? If elected, what would you do differently?”

I don’t believe the government response to the problems of Conesus Lake water quality has been adequate. This is perhaps understandable because, even though lake residents pay a substantial portion of our town taxes,  from a political point of view the residents of the lake represent a small part of the voters in most towns and especially in Geneseo.

There is a tendency for those of us who do not live on the lake to dismiss the lake issues as just a bunch of summer residents and rich people complaining about their taxes. I will confess I may have had a little of that attitude myself before I spent many days campaigning around the lake this summer and meeting many lake residents.

What I learned is that there are many year-round residents, a large number of whom are long-time residents of Geneseo. Many told me that the lake is in much worse condition than it had been years ago, and that last summer was particularly bad in terms of weed and algae growth.

I am also friends with Dr. Sid Bosch at the college and have discussed the science of the lake with him many times. I should add, however, that my views on the lake are mine alone, and should not be attributed to Dr. Bosch or anyone else.

I am the only candidate, besides the incumbent, who regularly attends Geneseo town board meetings. I have attended the last two “Lake” meetings at Long Point Park and I also recently attended the quarterly meeting of the Conesus Lake Watershed Quality Committee.

I was at the meetings when the Solar Bee decision was being made and frankly, I believe this program was launched more for political than for scientific reasons. I do not believe the Solar Bee technology will ever be a viable way to address the problems of Conesus Lake and I believe our leaders knew that when they approved the program. I believe the decision was made because it was perceived as an expedient and inexpensive way to appease lake residents by making it appear that the government was doing something about the problem.

My understanding about the real solution to the water quality problem comes out of my background as a farmer for 15 years in Caledonia. I know a great deal about how soil erosion and nutrient and chemical run-off can be caused by a lack of adequate conservation measures. I believe the problems of the lake are mainly the cumulative result of long-term farming practices.

As a former farmer, I also understand the economic pressures that can lead to this. I would approach this problem at its source by thoroughly studying the farming practices and the topography of the watershed and coming up with long-term solutions such as putting substantial acreage into permanent cover, or even allowing some land to revert to forest.

In order to do this, however, we have to be prepared to pay the farmer or the landowner a fair price for the loss of use of the land, more than the profit that could be gained by continuing to farm. I estimate this could be as much as $1,500 for each acre permanently taken out of production, and we may need to take hundreds of acres out of production around the whole lake.

This is a program that can only be successful if it is applied to the entire watershed, and since the quality of the lake water affects not only the residents of the four towns bordering the lake, but other towns which use the lake as a water supply, I believe that this is a problem that should be funded at the county level. It should also be recognized that the lake is a major tourist attraction that brings substantial business activity and sales tax to the entire county.

If we are able to get state or federal help to fund these measures that would be great, but we can not afford to wait any longer without taking strong action to reduce erosion damage to the lake. While the price tag for this kind of remedy may be steep, I believe it is the only approach that will work in the long term.