News

Please join the Upper Saranac Foundation for a public meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 18, to learn more about the Upper Saranac Lake (USL) Management Plan effort and to provide your input on the future of the watershed.

This online session is the first of three public meetings hosted by the Upper Saranac Foundation and the Paul Smith’s College Adirondack Watershed Institute. We will present the results of this summer’s USL public survey and provide opportunities for you to contribute ideas toward future management of the watershed.

The public meeting will take place on Zoom. All members of the community who are interested in joining the public information session should register in advance — click here to sign up.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about how to join the meeting. 

This public meeting is part of a larger effort to develop a Lake Management Plan for the Upper Saranac Lake watershed that builds on decades of monitoring and management activities on the lake and throughout the watershed. Upper Saranac Foundation was awarded a $68,000 grant from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to develop the management plan and contracted with the Paul Smith’s College Adirondack Watershed Institute to assist. The resulting document will establish the framework for future state funding grant proposals and will define community priorities related to watershed resources.

Thank you for your interest in this effort. If you have any questions about the planning effort or logistics of the meeting please email Guy Middleton at lakemanager@usfoundation.net.

This hearing will be held virtually on Zoom beginning at 6 pm on 12/28. Details of the meeting and directions for attending are on the Town of Santa Clara Website under the Events Tab. 

The Santa Clara Public Hearing on a Moratorium scheduled for December 10th has been postponed to December 28, 2020 due to an increase in COVID 19 cases in the area.  The public hearing will be held on Zoom.  More information will be available closer to the date.

UPDATE: Board Meeting Postponed to Dec. 28 via Zoom

At a town board meeting, the town board will consider a motion to adopt a 6 month moratorium on Commercial development. The intent is to allow time to update town ordinances. As USLA members, we all have an interest in ensuring any future development is compatible with your surrounding environment. 

Please consider attending the meeting if you are in the lake area at this time.  Your support would be greatly appreciated!

SARANAC LAKE - Two local public health institutions have teamed up to launch a new high-speed COVID-19 testing lab, as reported in the Adirodack Daily Enterprise. 

The lab, located at Adirondack Medical Center in Saranac Lake, opened this past Friday. It's a collaboration between biomedical research facility Trudeau Institute and Adirondack Health, which operates the local hospital. 

This lab is the first of its kind in this region. The creation of this new lab - which currently has the capacity to process anywhere from 80 to 160 tests per day - means faster turnaround times for COVID test results. 

Generally, tests take around two or three days to come back. In some cases, when labs outside of the area were overwhelmed, results took upward of 10 days to come back. With this in-house lab, tests can be processed in 24 hours, according to Adirondack Health spokesman Matt Scollin. 

Click here to read the full USLA letter to DEC.  See also the Unit Management Plan (UMP) available on the DEC website.

NYS DEC proposes an upgrade and modernization for the Fish Creek Campgrounds.  Please review and send your comments to NYS DEC. Water quality in Upper Saranac Lake is directly affected by activities at the campground. USLA members are encouraged to send your comments soon.

Follow the link for complete information and Upper Saranac Foundation recommendations: https://usfoundation.net/newsfeed/usf-provides-comments-for-dec-fish-creek-management-plan/

To all Seasonal Homeowners:  

Review this attached flyer for important information about the 2020 US Census. Following these instructions ensures all properties are counted!

Please join the Paul Smith's College Adirondack Water Institute for Water Week taking place virtually from Sunday, 8/23 through Friday, 8/28, and celebrate one of our most precious and valued resources in the Adirondacks, our freshwater.

Learn more about our aquatic resources and discover ways you can take action to protect our waterways. This year's inaugural event focuses on the Legacy of Adirondack Waters and features a week-long Speaker Series and an Aquatic Invasive Species Spread Prevention Certification Training program. Detailed information on this free event can be found here.

I hope you will join us to celebrate our Adirondack waters!

Dan Kelting 

Dear Friends, 

Welcome home! 

On behalf of Adirondack Health, we hope this message finds you and your loved ones safe and well. We wanted to reach out with some guidance and best practices to ensure as safe a summer as possible for everyone.  Read here or download the PDF.

The summer season is here, and, so far, our region has largely been spared from the catastrophic spread of COVID-19. To date, we appear to have successfully limited the reach of the virus by implementing early social and physical distancing measures, backed up by the natural protection of our mountains and rural location. However, we are concerned that could change when our population increases over the summer.

Our region may emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic as a public health success story, with our population safe and healthy. But despite our initial success, we remain highly vulnerable to infected persons and asymptomatic carriers of the virus coming from out of the area, whether they are year-round residents, second homeowners, guests of homeowners, athletes or tourists. It will take all of us working together to keep the virus in check.

We are asking members of our community who will be returning in the coming weeks and months to please keep up to date on the latest federal and state guidance, which can (and does) evolve weekly, if not daily.

• It is best to go directly to your destination and not stop for supplies along the way. The state of New York has mandated additional precautions for those traveling from certain states with relatively higher infection rates. The current list of such states is available at coronavirus.health.ny.gov/covid-19-travel-advisory.
   
• Please consider being tested for COVID-19 at the earliest appropriate opportunity following your arrival. Adirondack Health offers testing – visit adirondackhealth.org/covid-testing for our current schedule.
   
• If you are experiencing respiratory distress, shortness of breath, dry cough, fever, or any other potential COVID-19 symptoms, contact the Adirondack Health COVID Clinic at 518-897-2462 to receive instructions on accessing appropriate care. The full list of symptoms is available at cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/symptoms.html

• Comply with all local, state, and federal directives and recommendations regarding physical distancing and other measures to limit spread of the virus.
   
• Wear face masks in public places when physical distancing is difficult.
   
• Refrain from hosting or attending large gatherings and utilize physical distancing measures, such as entertaining outdoors, using disposable flatware, plates and glasses, providing guests individual servings, and wearing masks inside when keeping six feet apart is difficult. New York State Department of Health guidance on gatherings is available at coronavirus.health.ny.gov/travel-large-gatherings-and-quarantines.
   
• Be diligent with handwashing and disinfecting much-used surfaces.
   
• Limit trips to the grocery store.

Local businesses are working hard to adapt to the current situation and are under strict regulations as part of New York state’s phased approach to reopening. We encourage you to abide by any such limitations, which are meant to protect all of us.

We look forward to welcoming all who make our region such a special place. We know this season will be unlike any before, and it will take some time to adjust to the new normal, but we’ll get there.

In closing, thank you for weighing all this information as you consider a return to the Adirondacks.  If you wish to receive continue receiving periodic updates of this nature, please contact Hannah Hanford in the Foundation office at hhanford@adirondackhealth.org to be placed on an email list.

We look forward to being back together again as soon as possible, in a safe and responsible manner. Our skilled, compassionate clinicians are well prepared to care for all who seek our services. Although we hope you won’t need us, we are here if you do.

Sincerely,

Sylvia Getman
President and CEO
Adirondack Health
518-897-2301

The following information has been received from the Franklin County Legislature regarding cases of coronavirus (CoVid-19) in the USLA area.  We provide this to inform our members about the situation in our community.  For additional information about coronavirus in the USLA area, please see the additional links and the USLA website, where we will continue to post information.

Franklin County Legislature Notice

https://www.adirondackhealth.org/coronavirus 

https://coronavirus.health.ny.gov/home 

https://www.co.essex.ny.us/Health/local-covid-19-notices/ 

http://www.protectadks.org/2020/03/coronavirus-in-the-adirondack-park-and-north-country/ .  

You might also read current information in the Adirondack Daily Enterprise (subscription may be required);

https://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com/news/coronavirus/ 

From the Adirondack Daily Enterprise 3/25/20:

As people flee COVID-19 hotspots such as New York City and come to the Adirondacks, some — but not all — local officials are publicly urging those visitors to self-quarantine for 14 days before they go to shops or other public places.

Paul Maroun is one of those. He doubles as Tupper Lake village mayor and a Franklin County legislator, and he said the topic came up Tuesday morning in a daily phone conference among Franklin County officials.

Maroun said he knows people have come up to their second homes in the Tupper Lake area from New York City and Westchester County — epicenters of COVID-19 for the entire U.S. — and have then gone shopping in his community. He urged them to stay in self-quarantine for 14 days before they go out to shops or other public places.

The reason, he said, is that they’re more likely to be unwittingly carrying the virus than local residents who haven’t traveled.

“They’re In contact with regular people in the community if they go to a store, if they get take-out,” Maroun said. “They come up here thinking they’re in a cabin. … They go in Shaheen’s (supermarket) and buy $200 worth of meat, well, they’ve potentially infected (several people).”

He said he isn’t trying to stop people from coming here. Instead, he’s pleading with them to help protect the community they enjoy here.

“It’s not to be offensive, not to be mean,” he said. “It’s just common decency.”

So how should someone who just came up from a COVID-19 hotspot get food? Maroun didn’t have a solid answer to that question yet, as of Tuesday morning.

“They could call the stores to see if they can deliver,” he said. “If not, if they go into a store, they should wear a mask and gloves … and maybe have one person instead of everybody.

“If they call the village office, (518) 359-3341, we’ll try to find a way to get it to them. … I’m not saying we would be able to do them all, but …”

Maroun said some Tupper Lakers doubt how dangerous the new coronavirus is, but not him.

“There are still people that don’t believe this,” he said. “The odds are very high something is going to turn up in Franklin County eventually, and we want to be ready for it.

“This isn’t a joke.”

—

Emergency response

—

Brendan Keough, chief of the Saranac Lake Volunteer Fire Department, was also on the Tuesday morning conference call. He and other fire chiefs are taking steps to make sure their firefighters don’t get infected.

“Two of our last three fire calls have been people from the city (New York City), and one was a couple staying in an Airbnb,” he said. He didn’t detail the fire calls but said they were typical of the kind his department at this time every year “as people are opening camps and Airbnbs.”

He said his fire department, as well as the Lake Placid, Tupper Lake, Paul Smiths-Gabriels and Bloomingdale volunteer fire departments and the Saranac Lake Police Department and Saranac Lake Volunteer Rescue Squad, are communicating with each other daily and trying to follow similar safety protocols.

The SLVFD has divided itself into two companies — named Woodruff and Miller for local historical figures — that each work 14-day stretches before handing off to the other. That limits the number of firefighters that come into contact with each other. Specialty teams such as diving and ice rescue will respond when those kinds of calls come through.

Thursday is normally the SLVFD’s training day, and this Thursday the department plans to conduct its first fire school class through internet conferencing using WebEx, a program it learned about from Franklin County officials.

“It’s been very useful for us,” Keough said.

—

Village response

—

Maroun said the village has also divided its departments’ staff so each worker interacts with fewer people. Similar steps have been taken by municipalities across the state in response to state recommendations.

Maroun also said he informed the governor’s office that Sunmount Developmental Disabilities Services Office in Tupper Lake — a former veterans hospital — has two buildings that could be converted for hospital beds if needed. It would take a lot of work, he added, but the Army Corps of Engineers and Navy Seabees might be able to do it.

“I think the governor has done an excellent job in terms of relaying to the people what’s going on, and I think he’s done an excellent job of (getting services where they’re needed),” Maroun, a Republican, said of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat.

How does he feel about the federal government’s handling of the situation?

“I think they’re coming on board,” he said. “It’s very unfortunate they couldn’t pass the stimulus” to get money into hands of people who are out of work. “I think they’re moving in the right direction. They’ve got the smarts. They’ve got the knowledge and the science … but I hope we can move this along a little quicker.”

One state has gone further than just encouraging isolation. As of Tuesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis mandated anyone on a flight from New York, New Jersey or Connecticut to self-isolate for 14 days upon their arrival or face criminal penalty.

—

Rabideau disagrees

—

Saranac Lake village Mayor Clyde Rabideau doesn’t have the same approach as Maroun or DeSantis when it comes to visitors. He said Saranac Lake supports the current state initiatives and isn’t encouraging anything further. He said it’s not his position to make those calls.

“If somebody owns a house up here and pays taxes on it, they should be able to go to their own home,” he said. “We’re already supposed to be in lockdown and confined and practicing social distancing.”

—

Officials encourage travel limitations

—

In a letter released on Tuesday, North Elba Supervisor Jay Rand encouraged visitors to “limit travel to essential only.” It didn’t address self-isolation for visitors from downstate specifically.

The letter supported recent statements and initiatives from Gov. Andrew Cuomo to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. Rand reiterated the governor’s 10-point PAUSE plan, Matilda’s Law and descriptions of essential businesses identified by the state.

Lake Placid is among the busiest tourist destinations in the Adirondacks and home to the most short-term vacation rentals in Essex County. Around 636 rentals on Airbnb and VRBO listed Lake Placid addresses as of Tuesday, according to AirDNA, a vacation rental data and analysis website.

“We’ve got non-essential travel coming into the area, some of which may be occupying vacation rentals and others may be in hotels, which are listed as essential businesses (by the state), but we have no mechanism for stopping that,” Lake Placid village Mayor Craig Randall said in a phone interview Tuesday. Randall didn’t address isolation, but he said he hopes fewer people travel to Lake Placid during the pandemic.

“There’s no reason for people to come here right now,” he said. “There are no businesses. There are no restaurants or bars open. There are no venues here. There are no events going on.”

He read a piece of a public statement he was working on.

“Hotel lodging is a listed essential service,” he said. “However, many of our local lodging establishments have elected to close at this time. Further, some local real estate offices have suspended taking vacation rental reservations during this period.”

Merrill L. Thomas, among the largest local real estate agencies in Lake Placid and owned by former North Elba town Supervisor Roby Politi, announced on social media on Sunday that it would stop accepting vacation rental bookings for the month of April.

“We express our sincere appreciation for this and hope word spreads to others to defer their plans to spend time in Lake Placid until this current emergency has passed,” Randall said.

Between the coronavirus outbreak and the village’s recent adoption of new short-term rental regulations — which among other things establishes a registry and requires owners to apply for a permit to rent out their properties to vacationers — the number of Lake Placid listings online has plummeted in the last few days, though there are still hundreds of listings.

For the last few weeks, Wilmington town Supervisor Roy Holzer, in multiple posts on social media, has called for short-term vacation rental owners in his town to consider a self-imposed moratorium on accepting new bookings for the time being.

“I want to thank our Wilmington vacation rental hosts that have voluntarily ceased renting their places during this difficult and scary time in our world,” he wrote. “In fact, I know of rental owners that have offered their places in Wilmington for voluntary quarantine so the individuals can be reunited with their Wilmington family.”

The co-owner of Woodland Vacations in Wilmington, in a video posted on social media on Sunday, offered one of their short term rentals free to any healthcare worker in need of a place to stay.

The Essex County Board of Supervisors is asking people not to visit the Adirondacks during this time.

In a statement Tuesday, board chairman and Willsboro town Supervisor Shaun Gillilland said the county has limited medical and food resources.

“This is in keeping with federal and state mandates that people stay at home and stay put,” he said. “It is far better for you to stay home and limit your movements.”

Gillilland also encouraged people to pause their vacation rental operations.

“As we work together to minimize the spread of this virus across our most vulnerable populations, we respectfully ask that property owners comply with this request to limit new exposures and protect the health and welfare of all by removing short-term rental listings from services such as Airbnb and Vrbo, and not renting their short-term rentals,” he said.

From Lake Placid News:

LAKE PLACID — The town of North Elba’s Recycling and Transfer Station will stop accepting glass starting March 1.

The transfer station will still accept redeemable glass bottles, but locals turning in non-redeemable glass items will now have to pay to discard them. The town charges 9 cents per pound of garbage. Revenue generated from the redeemable bottles and cans go to local nonprofit organizations, according to the town’s website.

Town Councilor Richard Cummings suggested the town move forward with the change at the council’s meeting Tuesday, Feb. 11.

“There’s no market for glass,” he said.

The transfer station is open from 8 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. every day except Thursday, Sunday and holidays.

Clean water is the lifeblood of the Adirondack Park. However, the excessive application of road salt on state roadways is contaminating our surface waters and drinking water wells and it’s happening at an alarming rate.

A study of 500 wells across the Adirondacks found that more than half of the private wells exceeded safe sodium levels and more than a quarter exceeded chloride guidelines. To learn more, click HERE.

Legislation to extend protections against the spread of Aquatic Invasive Species is now making its way through the NYS Legislature.  

This bill:

"Extends provisions relating to the department of environmental conservation's management of aquatic invasive species, spread prevention and penalties"

We know how important this is to your lake association.  As such, we encourage you to contact your representatives in Albany and make your voice heard.

Click here for more information.
 

From the Adirondack Explore 1/24/20:

The Adirondack Land Trust announced Friday that it has purchased Upper Saranac Lake property that once belonged to early Adirondack conservationist Clarence Petty’s family, preserving 570 feet of rugged shoreline on an interstate canoe route.

The trust last week paid $200,000 to Ed and Teresa Palen, of Keene, for 5 acres with a boulder-edged shore between Indian Carry and Indian Point on the lake’s south side. Department of Environmental Conservation — lived their first 

Read more.

SARANAC LAKE, N.Y. (AP) 12/1/19: 

Through the middle of the 20th century, ailing people seeking a “rest cure” reclined on cottage porches in the community to take in the crisp Adirondack Mountain air. Saranac Lake grew into a mini-metropolis of medical care, with a dozen trains chugging in and out daily, a famous mountainside tuberculosis sanitorium, hotels — and three undertakers.

Read more. 

From DEC: The Remsen-Lake Placid Travel Corridor is a railroad right-of-way approximately 119 miles long and generally 100 feet wide. Constructed in 1892, the line was operated continuously until freight service ceased in 1972. In 1974, the Corridor was purchased by New York State. In 1977, the State leased the line to the Adirondack Railway Corporation. After the bankruptcy of the lessee, and following a long period of litigation, the State acquired the remainder of the lease in 1991. Title to the Corridor remains under the jurisdiction of the Department of Transportation (DOT). Read more.

The new law will gradually be phased in until all boaters of all ages have passed the boating course by 2025. You will be required to show a certificate that you have completed the course.

Jean Chubb Hardy, 99, beloved wife, daughter, mother, grandmother, aunt, second Mom and devoted friend to many died April 7, 2020 at theWartburg Nursing Home, Mount Vernon, New York. Since 1944 Jean has spent and loved many memorable summers on Upper Saranac Lake, where she embraced nature and the love of family and friends. Jean is survived by 3 daughters, 2 sons-in-law, 3 grandchildren, 2 step grandchildren and 7 step great grandchildren.

Dan Weber died February 3, 2020. He leaves behind a wife and 5 children. Read Obituary.

Thomas Robert Kimpton, born June 19, 1945, in Tupper Lake, passed away the evening of Jan. 22, 2019, at the Francis House in Syracuse.

Tom grew up with his parents Robert and Erma Kimpton on Land's End, at the end of the Kimpton Road in Saranac Inn. After high school, Tom left the Adirondacks when he joined the U.S. Navy and was stationed in Southern California for four years, where he served as an engineman on various sub tenders and submarines. Tom returned home to the Adirondacks, where he continued his love of cars and most anything mechanical, eventually starting his own tow truck and plow business. For over 40 years, Tom worked for the town of Santa Clara, taking care of the landfill and served as a town councilman. Tom was a camp caretaker around Upper Saranac Lake as well as an entrepreneur of many things for the last two decades. Tom loved music, singing, boating, waterskiing, his wife and family. The most important thing to Tom was having the ability to help people in any way he could. Within his family, Tom was always known for being the problem solver of many things.

Tom is survived by his wife of 48 years, Patricia Kimpton, his sister and brother-in-law LeEsta and Art Smith, his son and daughter-in-law Theron and Heather Sweet, his grandsons Noah and Jonah Sweet, along with many nieces and nephews. Tom was predeceased by his sister and brother-in-law Barbara and Everett Sochia. Since he touched many lives, always with a smile, he will be missed by many.

Calling hours are set to take place at the Fortune-Keough Funeral Home in Saranac Lake on Sunday, Jan. 26, from 2 to 4 p.m. A funeral service is set to take place at 11 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 27, 2020 at the Adirondack Presbyterian Church in Lake Clear, with Pastor Joanne White officiating.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial donations be made to the Francis House in Syracuse in care of the Fortune-Keough Funeral Home. Family and friends can also share their condolences at fortunekeoughfuneralhome.com

From Adirondack Daily Enterprise 3/3/19: 

It is with deep sorrow that the family of Virginia G. Bristol announces the passing of a wonderful wife, mother, loving grandmother, great-grandmother and thoughtful friend on Nov. 29, 2019 at the age of 100.

She was born Virginia Catherine Gallagher, the second of four daughters to the late John P. and Norah A. Gallagher in Irvington, New York, on Feb. 15, 1919.

She graduated from Irvington High School and the Woods School of Business. In New York City, she worked as an executive assistant to the general manager at the Commodore Hotel (now the Grand Hyatt), the Hotel Edison and the Barbizon Hotel for Women. In 1944, she married Leonard J. Bristol in Immaculate Conception Church in Irvington. After living in Baltimore, Maryland, where her husband was a physician at Johns Hopkins Hospital, they moved to Trudeau, New York in 1949, and then to Saranac Lake in 1951.

Her life was completely focused on family, and she was the consummate stay-at-home mom. She never missed an opportunity to cheer on and support her children with unfailing attendance at all types of school-related activities and athletic games. When her seven children were grown, she and her husband built a home in Rainbow Lake, where she has lived since 1978.

Ginny, as she was known by all, was a woman of outstanding kindness and grace who lived her life in love and wisdom. She faced adversity and sickness with great courage, and her unwavering faith in God was evident in everything she did. Each time she was stricken with an illness, her faith in God and prayer gave her strength, courage and the will to endure, succeed and survive.

She was a longtime, faithful communicant and active member of St. Bernard’s Catholic Church for 70 years, having served as a trustee of the parish, and for many years as a Eucharistic Minister.

She was a tireless volunteer who served countless religious and civic organizations including St. Bernard’s School and Church, the Girl Scouts of America and Meals on Wheels. For over 30 years, she greeted patients and visitors at the front desk of the Adirondack Medical Center.

Ginny was a matriarch in the best sense of the word and leaves a legacy to her family and friends that celebrates the strengths of family and service to others.

She was the deeply cherished mother of Noreen and her husband Donald Oslander of Madison, Connecticut, Dennis and Pamela Bristol of Durham, Connecticut, Michael Bristol of Middletown, New York, James Bristol of Bartlett, Illinois, and Eileen and her husband Paul Leahy of Saranac Lake; mother-in-law of Sandra Bristol Masci; the loving grandmother of Kathleen Ann Bailey, Kristen and David Oslander, Shannon and her husband Christopher Flatley, Erin Bristol, Nicholas Bristol, Jonathan Bristol and his wife Naomi, Ryan and Zachary Bristol, and Tabatha and Craig Leahy; and the treasured great-grandmother of Alexis Smith, Nora and Colin Flatley, Lillian, Ruby, James David Bristol and Virginya Bristol. In addition, she leaves to cherish her memory 34 nieces and nephews, many of who were in attendance at her 100th birthday celebration.

She was predeceased by her beloved husband of 71 years, Leonard J. Bristol; son Kevin; daughter Kathleen; granddaughter Carrie Leigh Bailey; and three sisters and their husbands, Frances and John Madey, Patricia and James Lynch and Eleanor and Fred Anderson.

Virginia’s family expresses sincere gratitude for the exemplary care she received for the past several years from the home caregiving team.

The family will receive friends from 10 a.m. until noon Friday, Dec. 6 at the Fortune Keough Funeral Home in Saranac Lake.

Following the visitation, a Mass of Christian Burial to celebrate Virginia’s life will be held at 12:30 p.m. in St. Bernard of Montjoux Church with the Rev. Patrick Ratigan officiating.

Expressions of sympathy in her memory may be made to the Saranac Lake Volunteer Fire Department, Historic Saranac Lake or to the youth camp named in honor of her son Kevin, the New York Elks Camp Bristol, Inc. in West Monroe, New York (nyelkscampbristol.org). Family and friends may share their memories and sing the online guestbook at fortunekeoughfuneralhome.com.