Title and Description Edit: Compound Appeal for “Sunset Lake Trail- Restoration plaque"

Edit Justification: Intent to provide personality, capture a College tradition, and add imagery to a generic name and description.

Title of the Waypoint: Sunset Lake Trail- Restoration plaque

Approximate Location: (41.684296, -73.893411)

City: Arlington, NY

Country: United States of America

Confirmation of Rejection (Name):


Confirmation of Rejection (Description):

 


Supplemental Evidence:

EXHIBIT 1: Official Vassar Encyclopedia entry on Sunset Lake

Sunset Lake. (n.d.). Retrieved July 03, 2020, from http://vcencyclopedia.vassar.edu/buildings-grounds/grounds/sunset-lake.html

Exhibit 1-A: Documentation of Ice Carnivals

Summary: Quotation of paragraph four:

“On February 18, 1913, Vassar's Annual Ice Carnival, formerly at Vassar Lake, took place at the new lake. Underwood’s setting created the prettiest carnival Vassar had ever seen. The carnival was staged in the evening, and by the light of Japanese lanterns strung along the edge of the lake and five bonfires on the ice, a thousand girls skated about in Egyptian costumes, with different colored scarves to represent their classes. For the first time, males other than instructors were allowed to take part in the event.”

Exhibit 1-B: Documentation of Near Extinction of Lake and Fundraising

Summary: Quotation of paragraphs eleven and twelve.

“By 1973, Sunset Lake was in terrible shape. Besides its recreational uses, for decades up until the late 1950's the lake had been periodically drained to supply cooling water for the Vassar power generation plant. This process cleared the lake of silt, thus keeping the water fresh, deep, and lively. After the lake was no longer drained to aid power generation, the water quality of the small artificial lake went into decline. Several other factors were also turning the once beautiful campus retreat into not much more than a polluted mud hole. The Casperkill was no longer the creek it had been when President Taylor set out to construct the lake in 1912. As the city of Poughkeepsie grew, the Casperkill narrowed beneath the construction of new highways and buildings limiting its flow into Sunset Lake. For a time, a landfill used as the town dump was located along the creek's path just north of the Vassar campus. Later, a shopping plaza was built over the dump; during its construction a clay barrier meant to hold back years of garbage was destroyed. Declared "hopeless", the confluence above the lake was given a "D" classification by the New York State Water Resources Commission. When the creek finally flowed into Sunset Lake it was deeply polluted water. The lake had collected so much garbage and muck from Casperkill Creek that it desperately needed to be drained and dredged once more. The lake had last been dredged of sediment for the last time, and in 1973, the drainage of Sunset Lake was projected to cost $23,000 for just the first foot of water. The college decided against the expensive draining for fear of unsettling even more trash, thus causing an even greater mess.

Two years later, the situation had worsened to the point where an article entitled "Sunset Lake Faces Extinction" was front page news in the Vassar Miscellany News for September 12, 1975. Another problem was found to contribute to the dire situation. The original earthen dam of 1912 had apparently been replaced at some point by two smaller concrete barriers. The smaller barriers had made the lake smaller and more shallow than it had originally been. The once seven to nine feet depth had shrunk to just two feet. The enormous and rapid change in the lake aroused concern among the Vassar community. Lawrence N. Halfen, a professor of biology, led ecology and conservation studies of the lake. The studies found it to be a naturally eutrophic system—a lake rich in organic matter, shallow, lacking in dissolved oxygen and ultimately one that fills and ages quite rapidly. The eutrophic process taking place at Sunset Lake was both natural and accelerated by pollution. Halfen's study also discovered that the lake, although polluted and quite literally nearing its final sunset, was the home to numerous plant and animal species. As the lake transformed over the years trout and other sport fish that once thrived were replaced by many rough fish. These rough fish adapted to the lake's increasingly smelly, shallow atmosphere. The study concluded that Sunset Lake was a dying body of water that desperately needed a renovation. Under Halfen's advice and direction that renovation finally took place in 1977. The funds for the restoration, $80,000, were raised by President Alan Simpson and the Office of Development. Despite the 1977 re-birth, Sunset Lake would continue to be plagued by pollution and illegal waste.”

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Commentary: Current Title has grammar errors and current description is generic. Exhibit 1-A invokes strong imagery of a vibrant and unique College tradition. Exhibit 1-B provides evidence of the necessity to restore Sunset Lake.

Due to the nature of this plaque as the product of a group of donors, it is impossible to do all of them justice in ~250 characters—thus, I came up with the name of the plaque as “The Guardians of Sunset Lake,” as their efforts in effect guarded and preserved the Lake and saved it from extinction. I believe this title is more compelling than “Sunset Lake Trail- Restoration plaque.” The donors are the Lake Guardians!

The Lake itself has a several page essay dedicated to it. In particular, the tradition of Ice Carnivals produces very pleasant mental imagery. The College has an Encyclopedia entry enumerating traditions, and I tried to capture most of them in the description at the most appropriate location.

 Thanks!

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