I've spent more than four decades in government and academia studying, regulating, developing and implementing comprehensive land and water use and resources management programs and plans at local, regional and state levels and have been immersed in research and management of invasive species in Lake George and elsewhere.
Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens and Lake George Park Commission Executive Director Dave Wick are concerned about setting a "precedent" by requiring mandatory inspections and cleanings of vessels before allowing their use in Lake George.
They ask: "What about all those other waterways in the state?" ("Crisis time in Lake George," Feb. 8).
First-year students of comprehensive planning and natural resources management learn, and experienced practitioners of both know, varying circumstances, decision-making and appropriate responses to circumstances differ from place to place. It's quite simple: Human behavior and resources-protection standards for high-value natural resource and parkland areas don't apply outside of those areas.
Lake George is called "The Queen of American Lakes," and it's known and valued nationally and internationally for its many high qualities. The lake and lands around it constitute a unique area that is supposed to be regulated and managed as a park.
That park is especially unique, requiring a high level of protection and resources management, and doubly special, falling within the larger Adirondack Park, which itself is one of the most unique parks in the world. Given that Lake George is the most important resource of a unique and special park, within a park of state and national prominence, the state should be implementing types and levels of protection to the area, including appropriate levels of regulation, several magnitudes higher than elsewhere in the state.
STEVEN C. RESLER
Albany