About Gwendolyn Craig

Gwen is an award-winning journalist covering environmental policy for the Explorer since January 2020. She also takes photos and videos for the Explorer's magazine and website. She is a current member of the Legislative Correspondents Association of New York. Gwen has worked at various news outlets since 2015. Prior to moving to upstate New York, she worked for a D.C. Metro-area public relations firm, producing digital content for clients including the World Health Organization, the Low Income Investment Fund and Rights and Resources Initiative. She has a master's degree in journalism from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. She has bachelor's degrees in English and journalism, with a concentration in ecology and evolutionary biology, from the University of Connecticut. Gwen is also a part-time figure skating coach. Contact her at (518) 524-2902 or gwen@adirondackexplorer.org. Sign up for Gwen’s newsletter here.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Joan Grabe says

    It is obvious that the State and the APA have not been able to address modern day concerns of the environment here in the Park.To admit in a law suit that the agency did not conduct a carrying capacity survey of Lower Saranac Lake before issuing a permit for a marina expansion is a travesty. Or a joke.
    Many years ago my brother and other like minded lake owners on Lake Efner outside Corinth banded together and banned power boats ( electric motors were OK ). The peace and quiet on that lake after that agreement was just about perfect. But that is a small lake and really not applicable to a lake of the size of Lower Saranac at this point. I live near the old Hickok’s marina near the Fish Creek campgrounds, soon to be enlarged and spiffed up if allowed. We buy worms there for our grandchildren. There are days when I think that Upper Saranac Lake has reached it’s carrying capacity of boat traffic and others where the lake looks semi deserted especially this summer. Upper Saranac Lake is a work in progress thanks to Guy Middleton, the Lake Association and the Lake Foundation but it takes vigilance and determination. And attention to lake side septics, commercial expansion and lack of proper procedure by government entities, elected or appointed. Mr. Jorling may not prevail but his actions have energized a great many of the rest of us.

  2. Bobbie Leamer says

    It is hard to understand what “body” sets marina standards. At this point there are no marina standards. Could the two cases, Lower Saranac Lake and Upper Saranac Lake, force some standards to be set? By the state? By the APA?

  3. S.P. says

    It’s clear this marina is being targeted by multiple special interest groups with unlimited funds to continue to tie it up in court indefinitely. Nonshoreowners rely on the marina. These rich interests and town can keep delaying this project for years, while the majority of the public wants the marina to open and succeed. At what point does the public say enough is enough? The lake belongs to everyone not just a few select few who live along the shoreline. Imagine being so unwilling to share you just keep suing a single entity in the hopes you will wear them out and they give up and go away.

  4. Susan W says

    As long-time Lake George property owners and boaters, we can attest to the massive increase in day users accessing Lake George via rentals and marina berths and trailering. Many, especially renters, have no concept of the regulations or boating etiquette or safety. We cannot use our sailboat on weekends due to the hazardous and rude boating behavior of others. Every marina berth and rental opportunity creates more problems for the rest of us. Not all change is good.

    • Joan Grabe says

      As a friend of the family that lost their 8 year old daughter on Lake George a few years ago because of an impaired boater on Log Day evening, I know that could happen here very easily. Not all change is good !

  5. WTC says

    Speaking as a nearby waterfront landowner, we don’t need Upper Saranac Marina to be “upgraded” with proposed docks sticking 200 feet out into Lower Fish Creek Pond. It’s only ~600-700 feet wide in that area!

    Not only will it increase the boat traffic(much of it untrained and without knowledge of regulations) on the Fish Creek ponds, through the Channel, and out on Upper Saranac, it will become a navigation issue at that bottleneck.

  6. Skeptical ADK says

    Re” Editor’s note….What’s up with Guy Middleton, USF Lake manager? He doesn’t want the public to know he is an ad hoc member of the Town of Santa Clara Planning Board? And at the same time organizing letter writing campaigns through the USLA’s government affairs committee to Town of Santa Clara… Wonder why he’s so shy?

    You can read more about Guy Middleton’s role in Town of Santa Clara as an “ad hoc member of the Planning Board” in the town’s own meeting minutes. July 2020. See “Planning Board Report,” second to last sentence. https://www.townofsantaclara.com/july92020.html

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