In 1994, the total population in the watershed was estimated at 2,097 (2.74 people/dwelling) (C arlton, 1994). Summer residents increased that total by approximately 1,000. This compares with 2,073 in the early 1970s with no data on the number of summer residents. Watershed residency is broken down by municipality in Table 1.
This population was housed in 764 permanent residences and 368 seasonal dwellings. The numbers of residences along Otsego Lake's shoreline have grown phenomenally over the past 125 years. In 1868, there were 40 dwellings excluding those in the Village of Cooper stown (Beers, 1868). In 1937, aerial photographs showed at least 147 homes (Harman et al., 1980). Photographs taken in 1969 show 273 (U.S.Dept.of Agriculture, 1969). In 1994, within 300 meters of Otsego Lake's shoreline, there were 76 permanent and 331 seasonal dwellings (Albright, 1996.) housing nearly 1,150 people during the summer. During 1993, public and commercial establishments along the lake employed, year around, 110 full time and 27 part-time workers. Seasonal workers were 133 and 5 42, respectively. Over 330,000 people visited these establishments in 1993 (Albright, 1996).
In 1868, there were an estimated 875 people using the lake on pleasant summer weekends including residents, those on steamboats and at the Three Mile Point public park (Harman et al., 1980). Today, about 7,000 people visit Glimmerglass State Park on a nice, summer Sunday. Current residents and their guests as well as visits to additional public and commercial establishments result in nearly a 350-fold increase in weekend population pressure.
