Letter from Gerry Welch Zebra Mussel Control May Be Possible Chip Northrup stated that there is no way to control zebra mussels infesting Otsego Lake. Yes, there is, but the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation will not allow the introduction of predatory species. Their reasoning is they consider the introduction of other species as being invasive. Take for example the drum fish, which feeds on zebra mussels. The drum fish is good to eat and is prized by…
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Letter from Chip Northrup STR Loophole a Real Concern We greatly appreciate the Zoning Board’s unanimous rejection of the absentee owner’s attempt to turn 40 Lake Street into a transient rooming house. Transient housing would have ruined the neighbors’ quiet enjoyment of their homes. Susan Snell has proven to be an excellent chairman of the zoning board.…
Letter from Chip Northrup Short-term Rentals Should Be Limited There are short-term rental permits at 25 single-family houses in the Village of Cooperstown. Some were grandfathered when the village began issuing such permits in 2018. Some are exemplary applications of the ordinance—the owners are renting a garage apartment or other auxiliary dwelling unit that might otherwise go unused. Where the short-term rental is incidental to the family’s use and occupancy of the property. Where the building is not turned into…
Letter from Chip Northrup ‘HABsteria’ Imminent Without Planning Now To avoid another summer of HABsteria, I’d suggest the following: Coordinated Plan—Since Otsego is the largest New York lake in the Chesapeake Bay watershed (which starts in front of our house on the Susquehanna), funding for watershed mitigation can be obtained from the Chesapeake Bay watershed authority—to supplement, not replace—a state-approved plan. Although the DEC 9-E Plan is imperfect, it’s better than a repeat of last summer’s Dueling-Banjos of HABsteria. Since…
Letter from Chip Northrup Cape Cod Water: a Cautionary Tale Most septic systems are designed to remove solids and bacteria, not nitrogen and phosphorus. The harmful algae blooms, or HABs, in Otsego Lake are driven by two key nutrients: nitrogen and phosphorus. Septic systems in the Otsego Lake watershed—including ones that are adjacent to the lake—may be leaking nitrogen and phosphorus into the soil, which may subsequently enter the lake, feeding a toxic bloom. Old-fashioned septic tanks are the culprits…
Letter from Chip Northrup Kudos to ‘A-Team’ for Lake Protection Glimmerglass Lake (aka Otsego) faces its biggest ecological challenge since the last Ice Age in the form of harmful algae blooms, “HABs,” which can make lake water not only unpotable, but un-swimmable, un-skiable, un-rowable and unpopular. Fortunately, we have the A-Team on the job: The new incoming president of the North American Lake Management Society, none other than our own Dr. Kiyoko Yokota of SUNY Oneonta, and Mr. Doug Willies,…
Letter from Chip Northrup Communities Urged To Safeguard Lake Proposition 1 passed last week. It authorizes state bond funds for environmental infrastructure—including $650 million for clean water projects. The Otsego Lake community should make a proposal to address harmful algal blooms (HABs) in the lake. The funding proposal should come from the Village, the townships and the county. The proposal should be crafted by the lake stakeholders and experts—led by the Biological Field Station. HABs can be reduced by better…
Invention by Cooperstown Resident Getting Interest from Military By Caspar Ewig Ghosts, especially at this time of the year, are meant to scare one to death. But ghosts can also be used to save a soldier’s life. And it is upon that idea that Cooperstown’s James (or “Chip,” as he likes to be called) Northrup filed a patent seven years ago that underlies the function of a training system designed to enhance a soldier’s ability to zero in on a…
Letter from Chip Northrup Carefree Gardens + Origins = Paradise As the days grow shorter and the nights grow colder, we begin to think of heading back to Texas. But we never leave before the closing event of the season: the plant auction at Carefree Gardens on October 10, Columbus Day. One of our great pleasures at Cooperstown is our time spent at Carefree and at Origins Café, where, if I’m lucky, I get to shoot the breeze with my…
Letter from Chip Northrup Keep the Glimmer, Lose the Slime Dr Willard Harman of the Biological Field Station understands the biodynamics of toxic slime (“blue green algae”) and he knows what can be done to mitigate their blooms — which may become chronic if left unaddressed — in which case lake water would become non-potable, fish would die, and people would get sick. The Biological Field Station is going to come up with plans to attempt to address the problem…
