The Owasco Lake Watershed Management Council and the Owasco Watershed Lake Association Partnership is holding a clean up event as part of Lake Friendly Living Awareness Month on Saturday, May 9, 2026 from 9 am to noon. Click on the photo below for more information.
For more Lake Friendly Living Programs, visit www.flrwa.org/lake-friendly-living.
Heavy residential use along the densely populated Cayuga Lake shoreline is allowing pollutants and excess nutrients to enter the water, contributing to harmful algal blooms that have increased in frequency in recent years.
To minimize this surge, this project proposes to install a low-pressure sewer system along an approximate nine-mile Cayuga Lake shoreline in the towns of Ledyard and Genoa, creating a new Cayuga County sewer district in the process. Wastewater from homes in the district will be transported to the Village of Aurora’s wastewater treatment plant to be safely treated.
The Cayuga Lake Protection Plan:
Public meetings are scheduled for Tuesday, May 5th and Tuesday, June 2nd at 7 p.m. at the Southern Cayuga School Cafeteria, 2384 Route 34B, Aurora.
Eligible property owners can vote on the project Tuesday, June 23rd from 6 am to 9 pm. Town of Ledyard and Genoa polling locations will be announced soon.
For more information, visit their website at https://ccwsa.us/projects/cayuga-lake-protection-plan.
A flyer for this project is available at CCWSA-0001A_Stakeholder_Trifold_Direct_Mailer_P13.
If you have questions, please contact Susan Phillips at sphillips@ccwsa.us .
Kari Terwilliger, Director, Cayuga County Department of Planning and Economic Development
The Cayuga County Department of Planning and Economic Development was awarded a grant from the New York State Department of State under Title 11 of the Environmental Protection Fund to conduct the Countywide Brownfield Opportunity Area (BOA) Pre-Planning Inventory and Analysis Project.
As part of this effort, the Cayuga County Department of Planning & Economic Development invites community members to participate in a Project Kickoff event. This meeting will introduce residents and stakeholders to the Countywide BOA Pre-Planning Inventory and Analysis planning initiative by providing an overview of the project scope and key topics to be addressed. Additionally, they are seeking public input to help identify and prioritize sites around the county that are potentially contaminated and/or underutilized. A public survey will be released immediately following the meeting to gather additional public input and comments. This project represents a vital step forward in identifying priority sites that may be potentially contaminated and/or underutilized across the county for future cleanup and redevelopment.
Both meetings will follow the same format and cover the same materials, so attendees are encouraged to come to the session that is the most convenient for them. Each meeting will begin with a brief presentation and then continue open house-style with interactive displays. The meetings are scheduled for the following dates & locations:
Southern Location
Wednesday, April 22nd from 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Locke Volunteer Fire Department; 1060 State Route 38, Locke, New York 13092
Central Location
Thursday, April 23rd from 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES; 1879 W. Genesee Street Road, Auburn, New York 13021
Anyone with questions please send an email to planning@cayugacounty.gov or call (315) 253-1276.
The Cayuga County WQMA has completed their 2025 Year End Report. This report lists the work done by the WQMA’s Communication and Outreach Working Group, and Invasive Species Working Group. The 2025 WQMA Year End Report is available here.
The Cayuga Lake Watershed Network is hosting the Cayuga Lake Hydrilla Task Force 2026 Public Information session online via zoom on Thursday, January 22, 2026 from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM. The invasive plant, hydrilla verticillata, was first discovered in Cayuga Lake in 2011. The Cayuga Lake Hydrilla Task Force’s managing agencies will give an annual update on efforts that have been taken to implement the action plan for controlling and reducing hydrilla’s impact on the lake and their plans for the upcoming season.
Presenters include:
You can register for this public information session at www.cayugalake.org.
Cayuga Recycles, a program of the Cayuga County Planning Department, in conjunction with the Cayuga County Soil and Water Conservation District and Cornell Cooperative Extension of Cayuga County, is sponsoring the annual “Trade-A-Tree” program in Cayuga County. Bring in your “used” (real) Christmas tree after the holidays, and we will give you a certificate for a tree seedling to be picked up in the spring! Old trees will be chipped into mulch to be used on county projects, rather than taking up space in landfills. A White Spruce seedling will be given out to anyone who redeems their certificate on May 8, 2026, at the Annual Conservation District Spring Tree & Shrub Sale.
Trees must be free of decorations, tinsel, wraps or any other foreign objects. Trees will be accepted at the Natural Resource Center, 7413 County House Road, Auburn, NY during the following hours:
December 26, 2025, from 8 AM – 3:30 PM.
December 29-30, 2025, from 8 AM – 3:30 PM.
December 31, 2025, from 8 AM – 12 PM.
January 2, 2026, from 8 AM – 3:30 PM.
January 5-9, 2026, from 8 AM – 3:30 PM.
January 12-16, 2026, from 8 AM – 3:30 PM.
For more information, please visit our website at https://www.cayugacounty.gov/1820/Trade-a-Tree-Program or call the Cayuga County Soil and Water Conservation District at 315-252-4171 ext. 4, or stop by their office located on County House Road in Sennett. They are available Monday – Friday from 7:30 AM – 4:00 PM.