Coalition Updates

Putting a finger on watershed protection

When compared to the size and wonder of the Great Lakes, New York State’s Finger Lakes can sometimes seem overshadowed. These glacially formed lakes in central New York, however, play an integral role in the Lake Ontario watershed. Understanding this interconnectedness, groups like the Cayuga Lake Watershed Network are working to identify the key threats to the health of the Finger Lakes and advocating for solutions that foster vibrant communities and a healthy environment across the lakes.

The Cayuga Lake Watershed Network focuses on the widest and longest of the Finger Lakes, Cayuga Lake. The Lake is 38 miles (61 kilometers) long and up to 435 feet (132 meters) deep. That’s nearly 200 feet (60 meters) deeper than Lake Erie’s deepest point. Its no wonder why the Cayuga Lake Watershed Network’s over 430 members work so hard to protect this amazing lake.

For Executive Director Hilary Lambert, one of the best ways for the Network to achieve its goals is to work with the residents along the shores of the lake. As many of these communities face continued population and development growth, Lambert stresses the importance of helping them to solve the water quality problems they want to tackle.

Since it was founded in 1997, the Network has worked to bring together the six counties and 49 municipalities within the Cayuga Lake Watershed to collaboratively develop planning and water monitoring databases and documents. This provides the backbone to ensuring sustainable development and tackling obstacles like problematic septic systems, the overuse of lawn and fertilizer chemicals, and the proliferation of aquatic weeds.

To address these problems, the Network has employed a variety of outreach and awareness initiatives. Lambert described the ‘traveling road show’ that the Network uses to visit and educate the public. “The topic of lake levels is a hot button issue, especially for lakeside residents,” Lambert said. “This one gets a lot of folks to come out and spend an evening learning more about our beautiful lake.”

In addition to the road show, the Network has hosted two conferences this past year on both ends of the lake. On the north end, the conference focused on aquatic plants, both native and introduced, while the conference on the southern end highlighted the sources and role of phosphorus in the lake.

This spring, the Network will leverage the rise in awareness and bring people onto the water for a lakewide cleanup. Lambert hopes to involve people in as many of the lake’s 34 major sub-watersheds as possible by working with scouts, churches, schools, and community groups.

The traveling show, conferences, and cleanups are part of an overall strategy to increase awareness among basin residents. Lambert and the Network want residents to realize that there are methods available to protect the lakes; but they have to be used. For Lambert, the single most important factor influencing effective protection of any waterbody is the enforcement of existing laws and regulations. Unfortunately, this can also be the single most difficult factor to achieve. Through its outreach and advocacy, however, the Cayuga Lake Watershed Network is making great strides towards reaching that goal.

At the heart of the Network’s work is the understanding of interconnection, shared responsibility, and awareness. “We are linked together in the Great Lakes Basin,” Lambert explains, “and we all need to work together to protect our most valuable, irreplaceable resource: clean water.”

Fast Facts

Name: The Cayuga Lake Watershed Network

Member Since: September, 2009

Location: Aurora, New York

Mission: The Cayuga Lake Watershed Network identifies key threats to Cayuga Lake and its watershed, and it advocates for solutions that support a healthy environment and vibrant communities.
Reason for joining Great Lakes United: We are all linked together in the Great Lakes Basin and we all need to work together to protect our most valuable, irreplaceable resource: clean water.

Website: //www.cayugalake.org/

Contact:
Hilary Lambert
315-364-2992
steward@cayugalake.org

© 2010 Great Lakes News.