Letter from Otsego Lake Association
Dr. Harman To Be Commended
The Otsego Lake Association extends its congratulations and thanks to Dr. Willard Harman for his more than five decades of service to Otsego Lake and our community. Dr. Harman has led an effort to increase awareness of our lake’s issues and made substantive steps in research and work to improve the health of our lake.
As a community, we are most fortunate to have the SUNY Oneonta Biological Field Station. Under Dr. Harman’s leadership, the BFS has been a constant resource—teaching, researching and working on lake science.
OLA’s gratitude to Dr. Harman is best summed up by our words accompanying his 2017 Otsego Lake Association “Lake Citizen of the Year” award, thanking him…“for his 50 years of continuous research and reporting on the condition of Otsego Lake, being director of the SUNY Oneonta Biological Field Station since 1968, educating hundreds of biology students and interns in the field of limnology, working with area farmers to implement lake friendly agricultural practices, overseeing construction of the boardwalk and maintaining the Goodyear Swamp, developing the Thayer farm and boathouse for educational purposes, starting and running the master’s degree program in lake management, and, most importantly, for his genuine interest and dedication to ensure the health, well-being, water quality, and future of Otsego Lake—truly a local treasure we all love!”
Jim Howarth
Co-President, Otsego Lake Association