President's Message

Dear Friend of Chautauqua Lake,

The Chautauqua Lake Association is a group dedicated to maintaining and improving our County’s largest recreational asset - Chautauqua Lake! As their President I ask that you join us in our efforts to improve conditions in and around the lake by sending in your tax-deductible contribution today.

Needless to say, we have been faced with the same decreased funds as many of you have experienced over the last year. Cut-backs in our New York State funding are anticipated again this year, which makes the support of our loyal membership all the more important.

This past summer, for the third year in a row, we successfully operated our harvesting operations and had a second shift available for shoreline clean-up even though we were forced to keep two of our harvesters parked because of lack of funds. Harvesting adds no foreign substance to the lake and since weeds are removed after cutting it eliminates the danger of oxygen depletion in the water which may occur during plant decomposition. Without any vegetation control it reduces water quality, hinders desired human usage, and may present health hazards. Our shoreline cleanup crews removed tons of debris after the spring storms and helped property owners maintain clean usage of their shoreline. We posted the weed removal schedule on our web-site to inform you where we are working and how many tons we removed that week from each area.

With a grant from the Sheldon Foundation our Chautauqua Lake Association capable winter staff has been hard at work replacing worn parts, overhauling engines and performing other maintenance on our fleet of harvesters, transport barges and support vehicles. Without their assistance we could not maintain our preventative repairs to the equipment so it will be ready for this summer’s season.

We also were very fortunate in that with the aid of HSBC Bank, Chautauqua Region Community Foundation, the Wilhelm Hoppe Fund and New York State Energy Research and Development Authority we had a Solar System installed not using any CLA funds. This will eliminate high energy costs and make the CLA a participating “Green” operation.

For the first time this fall, we used the Hydro-Mate to dredge Goose Creek and to remove trees and limbs that the storms had washed into the lake this spring.

Last year we held two symposiums to inform the public of our continued 7 year study of the successful Herbivores Program with Cornell University Research Ponds. Continued research will be conducted in 2010 through the CLA and Chautauqua County. Enclosed is our new brochure.

Please participate in this year’s fund drive by returning the enclosed pledge card. Now more than ever your support is needed to ensure the Chautauqua Lake Association can continue to be the steward of Chautauqua Lake.

Sincerely,

P. Christian Yates

President

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