I'm interested in local lakes for a study that I'm doing. I have research sites in the Poconos and on the Beartooth Plateau in Wyoming, and the Gunks may be the next best spot to expand the study. I need lakes with a low calcium content, and the quartzite bedrock of the New Paltz area should provide this.

Browsing through topos, Lake Minnewaska and Lake Mohonk are the obvious ones, are there any others in the area? They need to be fairly large, like 8m deep or more. Also, what's the situation for getting out on these lakes in, say, a canoe?

The work is very simple and onubtrusive, I would paddle out to the middle, take a tow with a net to collect a small sample of the plankton community, and then take about 50 ml of water. The whole thing should take less than an hour.

Thanks!

Lake Awosting

There is a lake in my back yard right now.

I'm not sure you'll find plankton or much else living in the waters of Minnewaska or Awosting. If I remember they have an extremely high content of some mineral (maybe it was copper?) from the rock which is disolved into the water. There are no fish in Awosting or Minnewaska. I could be wrong about all of this, but I'm close!

Other lakes? There's the chain of Binnewater extending from Rosendale up to Kingson, Williams Lake and then of course there are the reservoirs.

-em

well, copper content hasn't stopped all sorts of flora (scummy pond plants) and fauna (evil pond critters) from making their home in Hidden Pond. On the downside, it's not canoe accessible and it's a small shallow pond, so maybe it doesn't meet your other requirements.

ahh I bet there are plankton. invertebrates can tolerate all sorts of junk (in grad school i was involved in a study looking at worms living in mud with the most ridiculously high levels of cadmium you could imagine). FYI there ARE things living in the lake (check out all the salamanders some time!)

Ridgetop lakes are, in south to north arrangement....Lake Maratanza, Mud Pond, Awosting Lake, Minnewaska Lake, and Mohonk Lake. I'm almost certain only Mohonk Lake has fish in it. As far as access. The Nature Conservancy forbids any swimming or boating in Lake Maratanza as it is the Village of Ellenville backup water supply. Mud Pond is in Minneaska Park, and also off limits to swimming and boating. Even if you could, walking out there with a canoe would suck. You can get a canoeing permit for Minnewaska Lake, but not Awosting..as far as I know. Mohonk Lake....good luck.

RR

I'm almost certain only Mohonk Lake has fish in it.

I've been told by a knowledgeable ranger that only Lake Mohonk of all these lakes has a shale outcrop underneath the water that buffers high acidity, allowing fish to live.

To the OP, if you haven't already done so, talk to Pul Huth, the Preserve's director of research. He can probably get you into some/most of these lakes, as well as assist you in your planning.