News from the Noteworthy from the Otsego Lake Association
OLA: 'Commitment, Support and Hard Work'
The Otsego Lake Association is an all-volunteer, 501c3 nonprofit organization, the mission of which is to educate, advocate, and actively participate in protecting the health, beauty, and well-being of Otsego Lake.
OLA members and volunteers work toward this mission by:
- Training boat wash stewards who protect the lake from invasive species.
- Maintaining no-wake buoys.
- Working with and supporting initiatives with the SUNY Oneonta Biological Field Station.
- Organizing and conducting the annual Lake Clean-up Day.
- Providing books on lake science to local libraries and schools.
- Helping maintain the buffer strip at the end of Pioneer Street.
- Supporting the SUNY Oneonta BFS Volunteer Dive Team.
- Collecting water samples for scientific analysis.
- Educating the public regarding threats to the lake.
- Publishing real-time scientific data on our website, otsegolakeassociation.org.
- Running fun events, such as our Annual July 4th Boat Parade.
- Publishing the award-winning “Our Glimmerglass” journal.
Importantly for OLA, recent threats to our lake—including hazardous algal blooms, or HABs—have focused our work with local and state governmental agencies and civic environmental organizations working to develop a Comprehensive Lake Management Plan. OLA is playing a leading role in that effort.
