BALDWINSVILLE — As Dr. Russell J. Nemecek approached retirement, he thought the perfect way to wrap up his career in water quality was to create a “labor of love” — a history of the conditions of Beaver Lake.
Nemecek, who retired last year from his position as water quality management program coordinator for the Onondaga County Department of Health’s Division of Environment Health, has published “Beaver Lake: Then and Now — A History of Its Water Quality and Aquatic Ecology.”
The Liverpool resident’s interest in Beaver Lake began in the mid-1980s when he was charged with managing water quality for Onondaga County.
“Certainly important to the county due to the Beaver Lake Nature Center’s popularity, I also saw the situation at Beaver Lake, proper, as part mystery and part intrigue since being county property it was ‘ours’ to study or ask to be studied. The lake had been virtually unmanaged or altered since the county acquired it, and it was small enough that figuring out what the problem was and what might be done about it seemed doable,” Nemecek wrote in the foreword to the book. “Over the years, Beaver Lake became a pet project and in keeping with the Nature Center’s environmental education mission, I felt all of those interested should hear the ‘Beaver Lake’ story.”
Since few people have the time or inclination to sift through chlorophyll and phosphorus levels or track the migration of Canada geese, Nemecek has boiled down decades of data into an easily digestible 62-page book with historical photos, colorful timelines and maps, and discussion questions for students.
“I didn’t want to make it too scientific, but I didn’t want to make it too general. I tried to shoot down the middle,” Nemecek said.
Onondaga County purchased the property on East Mud Lake Road in 1963 and dubbed the body of water there “Beaver Lake.” The nature center opened to the public in 1970.
In the ‘60s, Beaver Lake was one of the few lakes in Onondaga County with relatively few algae problems. As many boaters and swimmers are aware, cyanobacteria — commonly known as blue-green algae — can wreak havoc on a lake’s ecosystem and recreational activities. Some types of blue-green algae contain liver toxins and neurotoxins. Periods of overgrowth of these cyanobacteria are called harmful algal blooms (HABs).
The Cazenovia Lake Association and the Skaneateles Lake Association have spent years monitoring and battling HABs in their respective waterways, and Onondaga County treated Beaver Lake with a compound called alum in 1992.
“Known as nutrient deactivation or inactivation, this technique usually involves the application of aluminum sulfate or ‘alum’ which binds to the phosphorus creating a heavier clump or aggregate which then settles out of the water column,” Nemecek wrote in his book. “The idea is that by reducing the amount of phosphorus available the amount of algae will also be reduced since phosphorus is crucial for algal growth.”
The county was unable to fund additional alum treatment, but Beaver Lake has largely healed itself, Nemecek found.
“We didn’t have the funding to do a lake-wide sealing of the bottom of the lake, [but] we started to see small fish and plant life along the shoreline,” he said.
Over time, chlorophyll and phosphorus levels have declined, with a few spikes here and there. Several species of fish such as Bluegill, Black Crappie and Golden Shiner are reproducing abundantly. Nemecek noted that spring 2017 recorded the area’s fourth-highest rain levels ever, and aquatic vegetation has expanded in Beaver Lake.
“It probably looked the closest to what it looked like back in the ‘60s,” he said. “Now it’s at the point where there’s areas where you might say it’s a little too weedy.”
Nemecek relied heavily on data collected by the Onondaga County Department of Water Environment Protection (WEP) for the book, and Beaver Lake Nature Center assisted in the publication process as well.
“Beaver Lake: Then and Now” is designed to appeal to a wide audience of readers, Nemecek said.
“I think anyone that’s gone out there and is interested in Beaver Lake can grab this thing [and understand it],” he said. “It’s in one or two libraries. Hopefully we can get it in a few others, but the COVID kind of put the kibosh on that.”
For a digital or hard copy of “Beaver Lake: Then and Now,” contact the author at [email protected]. For those who want a hard copy, Nemecek requests a donation of any amount to the Friends of Beaver Lake. Visit beaverlakenaturecenter.org/fundraiser/ to make a donation.
