MTC 2022 EVENT
Maintain the Chain 2022 Event
The 2nd annual Maintain the Chain event took place August 5th - August 14th, 2022.
58 teams and over 190 people participated in this year's event surpassing the number of participants registered for our inaugural event last year. See photos below!
MTC partnered once again with the esteemed Adirondack Watershed Institute to celebrate the 3rd annual Adirondack Water Week and the 50th anniversary of the Clean Water Act. MTC also partnered, for the first time, with the prestigious Adirondack Council!
The first MTC "kick-off" event at the beautiful Great Pines Lodge on Fourth Lake was a hit. Local governments, year-round and seasonal residents, homeowners associations, and science and advocacy groups came together for a common goal - to protect and maintain the beautiful Adirondack Park.
Special thanks to Tom Collins from the Adirondack Watershed Institute, Blake Neumann from the Adirondack Council, Dr. Nina Schoch from the Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation, and Tom McCabe and Mark Steigerwald from the Fulton Chain of Lakes Association for their support and inspirational presentations.
Mike Schreppel (FCLA member and avid scuba diver), the Boon family (Mau, Nolan, Isabella Boon, and Carin Gonsalves), Peter and Owen Hotaling, and Lindsey Balman search for debris from last summer's house explosion on First lake.
Nate, Charlie and Isabella (not featured) Boon pick up trash from the bottom of Fourth lake.
Nate and Charlie take a celebratory swim after their hard work.
Isabella Boon, Carin, and Dana Gonsalves clean up Route 28 from Eagle Bay Welcome Center to Rocky Mountain.
Lindsey Balman, Isabella Boon, and Dana Gonsalves use a Secchi disk to measure water clarity around Fourth lake.
The Adirondack Council team picked up 100 pounds of trash at nearly two dozen pull-offs, trailheads, and water access sites between Seventh lake and Raquette lake!
Ray (Sixth and Seventh Lakes Improvement Association) and Janet Cardella clean up Sandy Beach Island at the east end of Seventh Lake.
Rick & Darlene Harrington with Pascha, Jay Gross, Matt, Violet, and Olivia Niles, and Elora Niles-Havens with grandpa (Rex Niles) clean up the lake shore and lake bottom around Sixth and Seventh Lake. They also picked up trash at the boat launch and vacant campsites.
The team from Kenmore Cottages (Noelle, Greg, Bryan, and Lauren) dove for trash in Fourth Lake for their self-directed MTC project. Thank you for going to all that effort to Maintain the Chain.
Bill Garofolo and Jennifer Shaffer clean-up Bug Lake Trail. Notice the sign on the tree above Bill.
Luis Mikelsons visits an Adirondack Watershed Institute boat washing station in Inlet. Luis Mikelsons wins the "best project" award for completing three self-directed projects!
Lillian, Emma, and Julie Kaputa picked up trash along the Beaver River Canoe Route. They even hauled an old broken toilet out of the woods. Now, that is dedication! Winner of the "most surprising find" award!
Bella, Josie, and Elli Shaw clean-up the lakefront in front of their camp.
The Shaw family creates a rain garden at their Fourth Lake camp.
Jocelen and Brad Pearson visited DeCamp Island on the Fulton Chain several times over the past month, picked up garbage, and tore down forts that were starting to look like permanent structures.
Luis Mikelsons and Lily Hager use a Secchi disk to measure Fourth lake water clarity.
The Trussell, Mylenski, and Apgar families kayaked and canoed around Second lake picking up a large amount of garbage. Winner of the "most collaborative effort" award.
Deb Evans picks up trash all summer long; Inlet to Raquette Lake.
Susan Storch, Mary Duk and Mary's sweet dog, Habi picked up trash around Eighth Lake and all the way to the start of the Brown’s Tract Carry. Winner of the "best visitor participation" award for traveling all the way from Saranac Lake.
Luis Mikelsons, Bella Shaw, Lily Hager, Ivars Mikelsons, Chase Shaw, Bob Hager, and John Jeffrey take water clarity measurements on Fourth Lake using a Secchi disk.
Bob Confer and his twins (the youngest and perhaps cutest 2022 MTC participants) picked up trash along the Tobie trail. They also encountered a fire pit left hot and filled with trash at the backcountry campsite at Cary Pond. Winners of the "youngest participant" award.
Nicole, Will, and George Riter from Fourth lake cleaned up Uncas Road.
Mary Denn and Judy Dillion's team picked up trash at trailheads and in parking lots around Moss Lake and Rocky Point. They also pick up trash along the Inlet public parking lot between the two churches.
Jay Eberle, Nancy Knoff, Lucy Nolan, Eric Knoff and Gwen Jones have a multiyear MTC project planned - the ADK Pollinator Project. Each year, ADK Action offers free Native Wildflower seed packets to anyone who lives within the Adirondack Park to help increase native pollinator habitat.
MTC is excited to see beautiful wildflowers grow in the location you chose for your ADK pollinator project (photo - left).
Anthony Rocco found some very old soda bottles at the bottom of First Lake. He rewarded himself with a yummy ice cream from Pied Piper (same as last year)!
Ann Sury and Dick Morrison participate from afar in the MTC event for the 2nd year in a row by cleaning up White Rock Lake in Dallas, Texas! Love the ADK Express, Ann!
