Two dozen third graders from the Hartford Central School District in New York are packing onto a Lake George Association boat and fastening their lifejackets.
The boat doubles as a so-called “floating classroom,” and materials for a number of experiments are stored all over the boat.
The classroom arrives at a quiet, relatively calm cove along Lake George’s eastern shore. Students drop modified measuring tapes into the water to gauge the lake’s cloudiness – also known as “turbidity.”
“You have to instill in these kids at a young age the importance of not just protecting Lake George but every water body, stream, pond, lake. Everything that they care about. These are the kids that are going to be dealing with environmental issues. Certainly—probably at a more progressed rate due to climate change as they grow up and to be able to give them this experience means everything,” said Kenna.
Lindsay Kenna is the LGA’s Education for Action Manager. The association oversees the maintenance of the lake in collaboration with organizations like the Lake George Park Commission. It also runs annual shore clean-ups.
While federal spending cuts under the Trump administration have threatened some of the LGA’s operations, Kenna says the floating classroom is here to stay.
“One of the main grants for the boat is federally funded, so we are concerned but we’re not letting that stop us. We are actively seeking other grants and moving forward. If that funding was to go away we will seek other funding sources out in the future. We are very fortunate we have a lot of support here on Lake George. Our federal funding is quite minimal compared to every other funding source we have. So, we’re concerned but ready and have a plan to move forward and the program’s not going anywhere,” said Kenna.
While the pandemic caused a dip in the number of students taking tours on the boat, Kenna says the floating classroom now hosts upwards of 2,000 students annually.
Instilling the next generation with an appreciation of the 32-mile-long lake is especially important as a changing planet could threaten its long-term viability.
According to the LGA, over the past 40 years the temperature of the top 10 meters of water in the lake has risen by 2.5 degrees. Over that same time period, the concentration of chlorophyll a, the green pigment in algae the LGA tracks to monitor algal blooms, has increased by 29%. In 2020, the lake experienced its first confirmed harmful algal bloom. So, the association says, it’s vital that more people are invested in protecting the sparkling Adirondack gem.
Next up, students dunk hand-held trawls to capture the critters that form the lake’s ecosystem. Kyson Hammond and Mason Monrien are hard at work.
“So what are you guys doing right now, talk to me.”
“We’re trying to catch the zooplankton. Pull it up, man,” said Hammond.
“It’s leaking out,” said Monrien.
“Yeah it does that, man,” said Hammond.
The two take their captured lake water to one of several microscopes.
“There’s a big one, he’s right there,” said Monrien.
“Alright so can you tell describe to me what you’re seeing in there?”
“They’re like little green planktons and they’re moving,” said Hammond.
“What do they look like?”
“Little green things!” said Hammond.
Apart from learning how to catch and identify various plankton, students learn the roles those organisms play in the local ecosystem.
Teacher Victoria Vanier says her students get way more out of the annual boat trip than just an afternoon out of the classroom.
“One of the reasons why we keep coming back to the Lake George floating classroom is because the kids really love it. They learn about the environment, they learn about the health of the lake and how and why it’s so important for them. And not just Lake George, any water source,” said Vanier.
Ellen Wetherbee has been running classes on the boat for three years, but she’s been around the lake her whole life. It means the world to her that she gets to share her passion for the Queen of American Lakes.
“When I was a kid, one of the more impressionable things for me was a whole thing in sixth grade about pollution. And that’s one of the things I tell them, it’s not just this lake, it’s any body of water, any place that you feel you want to protect it’s important. And I think it is important at this young of an age because obviously it made an impression on me when I was in sixth grade. I get that, they’re very impressionable at this point,” said Wetherbee.
