Winter 2004 - 05

Winter Construction Hints At Future Summertime Fun

Winter frosts may be nipping at noses in the North Country, but teams of construction workers are keeping their focus on summer.

Plumbers, electricians and carpenters are laboring through the winter on major improvements to recreational sites throughout the area and plan to have the facilities ready by the time summer arrives to chase away the winter blahs.

By Memorial Day, the three town parks undergoing construction—Massena Town Beach, Waddington Town Beach and Whittaker Park in Waddington—will showcase a range of improvements to their beaches, bathhouses, parking lots, boat launches and playing fields. The recreational areas were built by the New York Power Authority as part of its St. Lawrence-Franklin D. Roosevelt Power Project.

Work is also under way this winter at Lisbon’s beach and campground, and at the Robert Moses and Coles Creek state parks. At Hawkins Point, a town site within Robert Moses State Park, NYPA is providing a new handicapped-accessible fishing pier and an improved boat launch ramp adjacent to a new St. Lawrence-FDR project visitors center, scheduled to open by summer 2005.

Additional improvements are scheduled to begin this spring at town parks elsewhere in Massena, Waddington and Louisville. Rehabilitation of the state and local parks is part of a $17.5 million effort NYPA has planned through 2009.

J.E. Sheehan Contracting Corp. of Potsdam won the initial $3.7 million contract to start construction on the town recreational facilities. H. Schickel General Contracting Inc. of Malone is handling the Hawkins Point construction.

Expansion and rehabilitation work at the two state parks—funded by NYPA but managed by the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation—is also being done by local contractors, including Heritage Homes Inc. of Massena, Perras Excavating Inc. of Massena, Dow Electric Inc. of Malone, Continental Construction of Gouverneur and T.J. Fiacco Construction of Norwood.

Area residents and visitors alike will notice a variety of improvements at local recreational facilities this summer. At Massena Town Beach, for example, a new entrance will greet guests as they arrive, along with parking lot improvements. The park’s beach, playground and bathhouse are also being rehabilitated.

Waddington Town Beach will boast a new bathhouse, concession stand, picnic pavilion and lifeguard station. The beach and the playground are being renovated as well. Whittaker Park, in the Village of Waddington, was the first recreation site to see new construction. By summertime, the park will have a new boat-launch ramp and an adjacent parking lot along with a new playground and bathrooms; ball fields at Whittaker Park are also being rebuilt.

Because of the growing popularity of recreational vehicles using North Country facilities, both state parks will see an increase in the number of campsites that include electrical hookups. Boating has also flourished along the St. Lawrence River over the years, prompting expansions and improvements at several boat-launch areas in the region.

Once NYPA’s renovations are completed, all of the recreational sites will meet Americans with Disabilities Act regulations.

As part of its commitment to communities located around its St. Lawrence-FDR project, the Power Authority will re-evaluate the status of local recreational facilities every 12 years to determine the need for additional improvements.

(Photo caption - Once winter passes, green grass and sunny skies will welcome players to this ball field at Whittaker Park in Waddington.)

(Photo caption - A newly paved pathway at Robert Moses State Park awaits summertime visitors.)

NYPA to Assist in Implementing Tri-Lakes Energy Plan

The New York Power Authority will play a significant role in an energy plan announced by Gov. George Pataki in November to solve long-standing electricity supply problems in the Tri-Lake Region of the Adirondacks.

The governor pointed to “steadily growing demand for electricity in these communities combined with transmission limitations and the severity of winter weather conditions” as the reasons for power problems in the vicinity of Lake Placid, Tupper Lake and Saranac Lake.

As part of the plan, a comprehensive agreement among NYPA, the villages of Lake Placid and Tupper Lake, and Niagara Mohawk will result in a new transmission line expected to be in service by 2008, with state-of-the-art equipment to improve transmission efficiency.

Under the agreement, NYPA will also contribute $2 million for energy-efficient technology in a new $30 million convention center proposed for Lake Placid by Governor Pataki, provide a $1 million grant to Tupper Lake to study the feasibility of a biomass generating facility in the Tupper Lake Industrial Park and conduct energy audits to identify energy-saving projects in the two villages.

In addition, the Power Authority will install three megawatts of on-site generation at Tupper Lake’s substation to help meet peak consumer demand during the next two winters.

NYPA provides the electricity used by the municipal systems in Lake Placid and Tupper Lake, while Niagara Mohawk supplies transmission services to the villages and its own customers in the area. Because of capacity shortages, rolling, or scheduled, blackouts have occurred during the peak winter season.

(Photo caption - Last February, Power Authority President Gene Zeltmann, center, joined state Senator Betty Little, left, in announcing NYPA’s assistance in securing two temporary generators for Tupper Lake. This winter, three generators have been provided to the village’s municipal electric system, represented by employee Alan Quesnel, right.)

Habitat Improvements to Help Make a Home for Wildlife

When the North Country’s migratory birds return to New York this spring, at least some of them will have new nesting areas to call home.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in November approved a Power Authority proposal to implement 10 Habitat Improvement Projects (HIPs) to benefit wildlife in the vicinity of the St. Lawrence-FDR project. That cleared the way for work to begin on a series of projects over the next eight years that is intended to encourage particular species to reproduce in greater numbers in their natural settings along the St. Lawrence River.

The first HIP planned for the coming months will provide nesting platforms for osprey in Massena, Waddington and Louisville. At least three pairs of osprey have been observed nesting within the power project boundary during the warm-weather months. Once the first platforms are manufactured this winter, NYPA transmission crews will install them on poles, just in time for the spring migration. A total of 10 osprey platforms are planned for the region, with installations continuing through 2013.

Osprey are protected from hunters, but several other species of wildlife targeted for habitat improvements are popular among sportsmen. These include a variety of fish pursued by recreational anglers, including bass, walleye, perch and northern pike.

Some of the HIPs will benefit multiple species, since the creation of dikes and other water-control structures along the river help protect wetlands that are home to waterfowl, aquatic mammals and amphibians as well as several varieties of fish.

The Power Authority plans to spend $8.4 million on Habitat Improvement Projects around its hydro project. A total of $18 million will be spent on specific environmental enhancements, while another $28 million has been set aside to create three new funds for future research and enhancement projects.

(Photo caption - Bird watching is a popular pastime in the North Country at various locations along the St. Lawrence River. Here, NYPA environmental staff members conduct a waterfowl survey.)

RN Notes

NYPA Staffers Help the Needy This Season

The end-of-year holidays are a popular time to remember the less fortunate, and employees at NYPA’s St. Lawrence-FDR project have established their own charitable traditions to benefit area residents in need.

One practice, now in its 17th year, is a good-natured competition between employees at NYPA and other North Country businesses. Each site tries to outdo the others in collecting food and money (some of which is raised through weekly payroll deductions), with the total amount divided up just before Christmas between four local charities: the Massena Neighborhood Center and local chapters of the Salvation Army, the St. Vincent de Paul Society and Meals on Wheels.

NYPA staff members also have two drives in which money and gifts are collected for school children from low-income homes and senior citizens at two local nursing homes. In 2004, the power project’s collections benefited 52 youngsters and 30 nursing home residents, all of whom were “adopted” by Power Authority employees.