Category: Skaneateles Lake

Skaneateles Lake Watershed 9E Plan: 3rd Public Meeting

Posted on by Michele Wunderlich

Photo Caption: Dr. Liz Moran addresses the audience at the May 21st Skaneateles 9E Public meeting.  Author:  Aaron McKeon

The third public meeting for the Skaneateles Lake Watershed Nine Element (9E) Plan was held at The Lodge in Skaneateles Falls on Tuesday, May 21st. Eighty community members turned out to hear the latest information on the plan, which is currently in draft form. Town of Skaneateles Supervisor Chris Legg welcomed the audience and County Legislator Julie Abbott provided some background on the plan’s history and purpose. Dr. Liz Moran from Anchor QEA and Dr. Dave Matthews from the Upstate Freshwater Institute discussed the plan’s scientific findings and Aaron McKeon from the Central New York Regional Planning and Development Board talked about how the science informs the plan’s recommendations, and the strategy for implementing those recommendations.

The Draft 9E Plan is available online at: https://skaneateles9e.cnyrpdb.org/

Your comments on this plan are welcome! Please submit comments to: amckeon@cnyrpdb.org

Comments will be accepted through June 21, 2024.

 

Skaneateles Lake Nine Element Plan Public Meeting

Posted on by Michele Wunderlich

The second public meeting for the Skaneateles Lake Nine Element Plan will be held on Tuesday, January 30th at 6:00 pm.  You can participate in person at the Skaneateles Town Hall located at 24 Jordan Street in Skaneateles or via Zoom.  Registration is required for the Zoom meeting and you can register online at https://bit.ly/48sLgQY.

A Nine Element Watershed Management Plan is a plan that describes a community’s water quality concerns and provides a strategy to address those concerns. Nine Element Plans are developed in partnership with people who live, work, visit, and enjoy the watershed and its water resources, with guidance from state and local agencies.

The Town is completing this plan with support from the Central New York Regional Planning and Development Board (CNY RPDB) and in cooperation with a Watershed Advisory Committee.

The Nine Element Plan will focus on Skaneateles Lake’s long-term future and will identify measures to protect water quality throughout the entire watershed.

This planning process was initiated in 2022, with the first public meeting held in June 2022. At this second public meeting, we will discuss the Plan’s recommendations and how to begin implementing them in 2024.

Public participation is vital to this process! Please plan on attending this meeting to learn more about how climate change, development, and mitigation measures in the watershed are expected to affect the lake’s long-term future.

For more information on the Nine Element Plan, and for a video of the first public meeting, go to: https://skaneateles9e.cnyrpdb.org/get-involved/.

 

Citizens Statewide Lake Assessment Program reports now available

Posted on by Michele Wunderlich

The Citizens Statewide Lake Assessment Program (CSLAP) is a partnership between the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), New York State Federation and Lake Associations (NYSFOLA), and lake residents who help monitor and collect critical lake data. The data collected through the program is used to identify water quality issues, detect seasonal and long term patterns, and inform volunteers and lake residents about water quality conditions in their lake.

 

Cayuga County provides part of their Finger Lakes Lake Ontario Watershed Protection Alliance (FLLOWPA) funding to assist Lake Como and Duck Lake in their CSLAP programs.  The funding for Owasco, Cayuga and Skaneateles Lakes in 2017 was provided by the NYS Environmental Protection Fund-Ocean and Great Lakes Program.  The work is conducted by hardworking volunteers who donate their time to and resources to collect the samples.

 

2017 CSLAP reports for Cayuga County lakes are available on the NYSDEC website at https://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/77882.html.  Lakes that have reports available are Cayuga Lake, Duck Lake, Lake Como, Owasco Lake and Skaneateles Lake.  The Finger Lakes Water Quality Report is also available on that page.

Harmful Algal Blooms Surveillance 2018

Posted on by Michele Wunderlich

As the summer progresses, so does the possibility that harmful algal blooms will impact our County’s waterbodies. To learn more about harmful algal blooms, go here.

Two of our Finger Lakes currently are conducting surveillance for harmful algal blooms. The Owasco Watershed Lake Association, Owasco Watershed Inspection Program and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation are conducting a lake-wide surveillance program for Owasco Lake and information on that program can be found here. The Cayuga Lake Watershed Network, Discover Cayuga Lake and the Community Science Institute are also conducting the HABs Harriers Monitoring Program for Cayuga Lake and information on that program can be found here here.

For other waterbodies in the County, harmful algal blooms can be reported to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation on their website.

Harmful Algal Blooms Regional Summit Held in Syracuse

Posted on by Kim White

As part of his 2018 State of the State announcements,  Governor Cuomo directed the state’s Water Quality Rapid Response Team to convene four regional Harmful Algal Blooms summits. The Central New York Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) Regional Summit was held on March 5th and 6th in Syracuse and concentrated on Cayuga, Owasco and Skaneateles Lakes.  Representatives from the Cayuga County Water Quality Management Agency were in attendance.

This summit also included an evening session on March 6th that was open to the public where background information about harmful algal blooms was provided; as well as talks by experts, a panel discussion and an opportunity for local residents to share recommendations and ideas.  This public session was archived and can be found here.  Once on the site, you will see previously-recorded sessions along the right side, including the one in Syracuse (SUNY ESF).