Schroon Lake is a 9 mile long (with 24 miles of shoreline), 4,126 acre mesotrophic Adirondack lake offering AA quality water (the highest rating given by the DEC).  It is located in 2 counties (Essex & Warren) and 3 towns (Schroon, Horicon and Chester) have frontage on the lake.   The watershed spans 202,575 acres of which 60% is owned by New York State.  The average depth is 56 feet and a maximum depth of 152 feet.  Schroon Lake and its watershed area are part of the Hudson River drainage system. 

 In 1995 the Town of Schroon and the SLA hired a Certified Lake Manager (Steve LaMere) to perform water quality studies.  For some time the Schroon Lake Association had been warning our members and the public that findings of Eurasian Water Milfoil had been found in several Adirondack lakes. The SLA trained a group of “milfoil watchers” and when our Lake Manager discovered the first Milfoil in Schroon Lake, milfoil harvesting was added to his work load. As time went by, however, and more beds were found, the problem became much bigger than we could handle financially. Together with funding needed for scientific studies of the zooplankton and the aquatic plants, SLA needed more financial support. At that point the towns of Schroon Lake, Horicon and Chester agreed to take over the funding of the hand harvesting of milfoil, while the SLA would fund scientific studies. In 2006 our Lake Manager, Steve LaMere, obtained a grant from the State of New York in the amount of $28,000 over three years to assist the three towns with this ongoing expense.

 Schroon Lake has soft water, near neutral pH readings, and low but mostly detectable nitrate and ammonia readings. Conductivity readings have increased slightly since 1987 although it is not believed that this has resulted in water quality or ecological impacts. Calcium levels are below the threshold to support zebra mussels, although readings in the southern part of the lake are close to this threshold.