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Volume 14, No. 43
AllOTSEGO.com, OTSEGO COUNTY’S DAILY NEWSPAPER/ONLINE COMPLIMENTARY
Oneonta, N.Y., Thursday, August 11, 2022
Harmful Algae Bloom in Otsego Lake
Eagle Rescued at Brookwood Point The Otsego County Sheriff’s department was contacted about a sick eagle at Brookwood Point early in the week. They have worked with wildlife animal rehabilitator Charles Koop from the Town of Pittsfield. The eagle was transported to the Cornell Animal Hospital, and as of Tuesday, they reported that the eagle’s condition is improving with treatment. Cornell is testing and evaluating the eagle to try to discover why the animal was in distress. The ultimate goal is to release this beautiful raptor back into its home environment. INSIDE ► Cooperstown Law Enforcement helps with Special Olympics, page 2 ► SUNY Oneonta names new Chief of Police, page 3. ► A FEW THOUGHTS ON IMPORTANT THINGS: Monkeypox vaccines, our great National Parks, The Sound of Music and a public apology, page 4 ► community foundation of otsego county talks about CANO facing challenges, page 5 ► The jungle book comes to Glimmerglass Festival, Summer Dreams insert. ► Robin and Linda Williams return to Hyde Hall, August 20, Summer Dreams insert. Follow Breaking News On
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Funding is always a challenge with Otsego Lake no matter what the problem or opportunity may be. “The new problem is actually an old problem. It’s the algae bloom and the quagga mussels that we predicted back in 2018 that are still here, but they are causing greater problems,” said Paul Lord, environmental scientist at the Biological Field Station in Cooperstown. “I told the board of directors of Otsego Lake Association that we were going to have a problem, and this was the summer for that problem. In October when we were doing our deepest check in the lake, we were finding 8 or 9 quagga mussels per square meter at about 160 feet down,” Mr. Lord said. That in itself didn’t mean much but given the reproductive potential of the quagga mussels; it could be worse. “I predict when we make that same check in October of this year, there will be 100s of quagga mussels per square meter. And that’s a problem.” Every quagga and zebra mussel filters about one gallon of water a day. They eat plankton, zoe planktons, but they don’t like to eat cyanobacteria at all. “This is like having a cow in a pasture and you want the cows to eat everything, but they don’t like the thistle. The pasture gets over run with the thistle. That’s what is happening with the lake right now, we
are getting overrun with quagga mussels,” Mr. Lord said. “The algae bloom comes to the surface on quiet mornings and wind pushes it to the shore line. The bloom is distributed throughout the water column and comes in on quiet days with no wind. Then it rises to the surface and grabs the sunlight. The wind pushes it, and that is what makes it hazardous. It can make you pretty sick.” If waves are breaking on the beach, that means the wind is pushing algae that way so you should close the windows in your house and put the AC on. “It costs a lot of money to monitor. It’s very expensive to test the waters, so people become complacent. If the water looks good, they still go in. The toxin is a neurotoxin,” Mr. Lord said. “The symptoms of exposure are sore throat, red and runny eyes, maybe trouble breathing,” he said. There isn’t anything to do to eradicate this. “My advice to people? Pay attention to when the wind is pushing the waves onto the beach areas. The algae blooms are going to come on stronger and earlier in future years. I’m not saying don’t use the lake, enjoy it, just be aware of the wind. Swim on the downwind side of the lake, go out on your boat, and stay safe.” If you want more information, Mr. Lord suggests reading Death and Life of the Continued on page 2
The Wolf Is at the Door Carrie Thompson
Last December, an unidentified hunter in Central New York killed a coyote — or so he thought. The hunter posted the picture of his prize on Facebook and, frankly, it looks a lot like a wolf. But there are no wolves in New York State, right? This post was spotted by a member of the Northeast Ecological Recovery Society and the hunter was contacted for a tissue sample submission. He complied and the DNA results are in; 100% wolf. The sample tested as a mix of “Great Lakes Wolf, Northwest Territories Grey Wolf, and Eastern Wolf. The purity of this DNA sample is consistent with a wild wolf ‘dispersed’ from Canada where wild wolves are known to intermingle”. The discovery that the animal was a pure wolf came as a surprise to the organization due to the assumption that wolves, which thrive in the Canadian and Alaskan territories, are prevented from traveling into the Adirondacks by the Saint Lawrence River acting as a natural barrier. However, there have been 11 wolf kills south of the river documented since 1993. A dispersal wolf, aka a lone wolf, is a male or female who leaves their natal pack and travels alone in search of new hunting grounds and a mate.
Eastern wolf
Eastern coyote
Due to lack of suitable breeding pairs and hierarchal packs, dispersing wolves will readily crossbreed with eastern coyotes as they attempt to recolonize a territory. In other words, the assumption was that the “coyote” would test as a hybrid, also known as a coywolf. Typically, a wolf pack is comprised of one alpha male and one alpha female. If the conditions are favorable (plentiful hunting grounds, low risk from rivals and a friendly human population) males and females will remain in the pack. If conditions are not satisfactory, for whatever reason, wolves between the ages of one to two years will leave in search of their own territory to create their own pack. Wolves are highly territo-
rial and dispersal wolves travel great distances to locate an unoccupied territory. Lone wolves have been known to travel up to 600 miles and swim 8 miles in search of this new home. If they are lucky enough to survive the perilous journey and find a mate, as well as promising hunting grounds, they will settle. In New York State coyotes are in a category know as Furbearer, which means that state hunting license rules apply. They may be hunted at any time of day or night using a plethora of weapons according to the Department of Environmental Conservation/New York State website. Wolves, however, are protected under the Federal Endangered Species Protection Act and therefore are illegal to kill. After 45 years of federal protection the grey wolves were deemed to have made a successful recovery in that the grey wolf population exceeded goals and numbered over 6,000. As a result, in 2020 the Trump administration delisted the grey wolf category as a federally protected species and regulation of the population was returned to the states, with the caveat that the Fish and Wildlife Service was to continue to monitor the species to ensure its continuing successful reentry. Since passing the governance back to the states, wolf hunting became legalized and there have been passionate cries Continued on page 7
THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST PRINT CIRCULATION 2010 WINNERS OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD