A Canada goose and goslings graze in a park beside Lake Flower in the village of Saranac Lake on May 23.
(Enterprise photo — Lauren Yates)
SARANAC LAKE — The village is starting to mow its parks less and let the natural world do more in an effort to reduce time, energy and fuel while improving the ecology of the area — and also attracting more butterflies and fewer geese.
Christopher Cohan, a downstate landscape architect and a self-described “lifelong seasonal resident” of Saranac Lake, said he got an interest in his field of work up here. He’s worked with many state and local governments, private land owners and museums to implement similar practices in Connecticut, Manhattan and Adirondack state boat launches.
Village Parks Manager Andy Testo has already been implementing some of these “grow zone” or “no mow zone” practices on the shoreline of Lake Flower at the village’s Riverfront and Prescott parks on either side of the state Department of Environmental Conservation boat launch. Testo said this was a goal set in the 2017 Park Vision Plan, so village crews have been accounting for wetland boundaries and native habitats more when maintaining the parks.
The DEC has also been not mowing the Lake Flower shoreline at the land it owns between the village parks.
Village Trustee Kelly Brunette said Cohan’s efforts are to formalize this practice, expand it to more parks in the village and start planting native plants to attract pollinators.
Cohan proposed doing the same at the Will Rogers recreation path corridor on the state rail trail, Lake Colby Beach, the Willow Way athletic fields at the former dump on the east side of town, along the River Walk on the Saranac River and at the village-owned and operated ski area at Mount Pisgah.
“I think what’s become evident to everybody is that when you’re just cutting the grass right to a water’s edge, you are promoting erosion,” Cohan said.
This also adds silt to the water, which is bad for fish, and introduces wash-off of petroleum and chemicals from the parking lots. And grass clippings full of nitrogen get thrown into the water. He said this extra nitrogen is “one of the worst things” for water ecology.
Cutting the grass less stops harming the lakes, promotes biodiversity and protects the water by creating a natural buffer shielding the lake.
Cut grass is a magnet for geese, Cohan said, and when they come they leave their droppings all over.
“It was truly foul from all the fowl,” Cohan said.
He hopes by also planting native, deer-resistant and hardy shrubs and flowers like cardinal flower, Joe Pye weed, bee balm and winterberry, they can turn the village into a “pollinator paradise” for monarch butterflies, bees, hummingbirds and songbirds. Brunette said the village may include money for planting these next year.
Cohan said establishing Saranac Lake parks as a monarch hub in New York could be a tourist draw in a very public place in town for both pedestrians and motorists.
The village plans to cut grass at Pisgah once a year instead of twice and plant milkweed on the slopes.
“It’s the number-one plant that they (monarchs) need to survive,” Cohan said.
Cohan said sometimes people look at him like he has “three heads” when he first pitches the idea of mowing less, but once he explains that it saves time, money and manpower, people get on board. He said the village board immediately told him, “Let’s do it.”
“It’s happening as we speak,” Cohan said.
Local artist Tim Fortune introduced him to village leaders last year, and Cohan credited Fortune as the “initial promoter of this project.”
“Tim, Andy and Kelly deserve credit for making this a reality!” Cohan wrote in an email.
Brunette said the village plans to install signs at the sites to explain why there isn’t a cut lawn. These signs have been ordered, she said, and should be installed soon.
Brunette prefers the term “grow zones” to “no mow zones” since that allows the village to mow them if they need. Now that the parks department and Department of Public Works are fully staffed, she said they can implement these initiatives.
“Before, they were just thought about. Now we can get them done,” she said.
Cohan is excited about the “glorious” locations for these grow zones in Saranac Lake. He referred it to a “necklace” of life where there used to be suburban lawns.
Though the spring has been dry, the grasses on the edge of Lake Flower are growing tall.
