Our Lake

Schroon Lake and its Watershed Area

Schroon Lake is a 4,126 acre, early mesotrophic lake which has 2 basins. Bounded by 2 counties (Essex & Warren) and 3 townships (Chester, Horicon - including the hamlet of Adirondack - and Schroon Lake), it has a mean depth of 56 feet and a maximum depth of 152 feet. Schroon Lake and its watershed area are part of the Hudson River drainage system.

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.

For some years prior to the discovery of Eurasian water milfoil (EWM) in Schroon Lake in 1995, the Schroon Lake Association had been warning our members and the public that this exotic invasive could be found at any time. We trained a corps of volunteer Milfoil Watchers and hired a professional Certified Lake Manager to look for the exotic invasive and when it was found in the lake we paid for hand harvesting. As time went by, however, and more beds were found, the problem became much bigger than we could handle financially along with continuing our funding of scientific studies about the lake, its zooplankton and its aquatic plants. 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, together with our member Eric Cordis, 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.