As I cruised Facebook the other day I saw a post about Lower Saranac Lake and the efforts by environmental groups to have the lake’s carrying capacity determined . No one seemed to like the idea. The comments ranged from conspiracy theories, “They want to make the lake private access only for the shore owners…” to “There is no overuse crisis.”
Rest assured, there is no conspiracy to eliminate public access to the lake and while there is currently no overuse crisis, if we don’t plan for the future, there could be.
The tenor of the Facebook discussion was that Lower Saranac Lake isn’t that crowded so doesn’t need to do a carrying capacity study. These folks are missing the point. You don’t conduct a carrying capacity study because it is too crowded. You conduct one to prevent it from getting too crowded. Trying to deal with overcrowding once it occurs is like trying to put toothpaste back in the tube.
What’s carrying capacity? The concept goes back to the 1800s and the creation of livestock ranches. It focused on how much land was needed to support cattle. Obviously, it depended on things like the ground cover, the availability of water, and how many months a year the cattle grazed. Carrying capacity relates to wildlands by focusing on how many people can use an area before it loses the qualities you want in an outdoor recreation experience.
In some cases this is easy. For example, the carrying capacity of a tennis court. You can’t have more than four people on a court because you’d no longer be playing tennis as we know it. The question in wildland recreation, like cattle grazing, is more complex.
The issue of free speech is similar. We all agree on the importance of free speech, but don’t agree on where lines need to be drawn in terms of lies, obscenity, and defamation. Likewise with recreational use. Most agree that at some point Adirondack lakes could get so crowded that it no longer would provide the outdoor experience we desire. But agreeing on where that point is, is the challenge.
The key issue is, how do we maintain and improve the quality of the user experience on Lower Saranac Lake and all the other Adirondack lakes? We do this by determining how much use is too much. But making it more difficult, each body of water has a different carrying capacity. Most people would agree the Finger Lakes have higher carrying capacities than Lower Saranac Lake and Lower Saranac Lake has a higher carrying capacity than St. Regis Pond. But it’s not just the size; surrounding environment, population density, and water quality and other factors help determine carrying capacity.
How do we determine how much use is too much? It can get pretty technical and bureaucratic, but the concept is simple. Figure out what information you need to collect that will help you make decisions, collect the information, and use it to make your decisions. Using Lower Saranac Lake as an example; on Lower Saranac Lake you already have campsite use data, you have the number of boats going through the upper and lower locks, you have data on how many commercial boat slips exist and how many private boat slips exist, and you know how many car and boat trailer spaces there are at the area parking lots.
For user data you could put out a handful of cameras at various spots on the lake that could take one photo every ten minutes. (If you are worried that Big Brother is watching, rest assured that he already is.) The information you gather will provide a view of how many boats are on the lake, where they are and when they’re there.
Over time we'd learn the use patterns. And this would help determine how much use was too much use.
We all agree that Lower Saranac Lake is special because it offers a wealth of recreation for all outdoor enthusiasts. It is unique in terms of providing a full range of recreational opportunities for everyone. Motor boating, canoeing, kayaking, swimming, sailing, fishing, and hunting all take place with extremely low levels of conflict.-- at least for now.
I probably get on the lake about seventy-five days a year. In the spring I fish, in the summer I go for boat rides and picnics, in the fall I hunt, in the winter I XC ski and fat-tire bicycle. Is the lake too crowded? Generally no, but on some days in the summer it’s getting damn close.
Perhaps recreational use hasn’t gotten to the point of exceeding the carrying capacity, but it’s in all our best interest to keep it that way.
Thanks, Jack, for a reasonable explanation. Establishment of a carrying capacity and enforcing it would benefit all who use the lake, not just the shoreowners or campers. The same is, or should be done, to prevent the mountain trails from overuse.