IWLA Chapter Meetings in January and February

Next Chapter Meeting and Project Watershed Mtg

1)  CNY Chapter Meeting - Tuesday, Jan. 24, 7:00 pm

2)  Project Watershed Meeting - Monday, Feb. 6, 3:30 pm

Grant Opportunity

Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration Grant Program The Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration Program seeks to develop nation-wide-community stewardship of local natural resources, preserving these resources for future generations and enhancing habitat for local wildlife. Projects seek to address water quality issues in priority watersheds, such as erosion due to unstable streambanks, pollution from stormwater runoff, and degraded shorelines caused by development. The program focuses on the stewardship and restoration of coastal, wetland and riparian ecosystems across the country. Its goal is to meet the conservation needs of important species and habitats, providing measurable and meaningful conservation and educational outcomes. The program requires the establishment and/or enhancement of diverse partnerships and an education/outreach component that will help shape and sustain behavior to achieve conservation goals. Funding priorities for this program include: On-the-ground wetland, riparian, in-stream and/or coastal habitat restoration Meaningful education and training activities, either through community outreach, participation and/or integration with K-12 environmental curriculum Measurable ecological, educational and community benefits Partnerships: Five Star projects should engage a diverse group of community partners to achieve ecological and educational outcomes.

see http://www.nfwf.org/fivestar/Pages/home.aspx

G.L.R.I. Project

Final Report on G.L.R.I. Habitat Restoration Projects

IWLA Chapter Mtg and Project Watershed Meeting in Nov

Next Chapter Meeting  and Project Watershed Meeting

1) Project Watershed Meeting - Monday 3:30, Nov 28. 

2) CNY Chapter Meeting - Tuesday, 7:00 pm , Nov 29. 

Chapter Meeting Agenda

Our agenda will be a wrap up of Chapter activities accomplished this past year, and making plans for Chapter projects & activities in the coming year.  As a Chapter, we accomplished a lot in 2016, but there's plenty of challenges for next year with a new administration.  Also to be discussed will be a letter sent County Legislator Plochocki on a proposal for passage of legislation creating an Onondaga Watershed Advisory Council or Board.

Agenda for Project Watershed Board Meeting  November 28 

Ska-Nonh Center, Liverpool

1.     2016 Stream Surveys Summary

2.     Report on Creek Freaks – YARE Workshops in Morrisville and Shackleton Point

      3.   Young Naturalist Program Update and Onondaga Creek Field Trip

      4.   Cornell Cooperative Extension Programs Update

      5.   Completion of Beartrap-Ley Creek GLRI Project

           

      6.   Request from Lake Keuka Chapter for Stream Survey Information   

      7.   Citizen Water Quality Monitoring in New York State

Interim Report on Chloride Levels

Chloride Levels Have Risen in Urban Streams and Rivers in the Northern States

            A 2014 article in the Great Lakes Echo newsletter notes that rivers in wintry cities remain salty year-round.  About 35 billion pounds of salt are applied to wintry roads in the United States every year.  Much of it winds up in rivers and lakes.

            The Community Science Institute, located in Ithaca, has collected volunteer stream data for several decades, and published an article on ‘Road Salt in Local Streams’ in spring of 2015.  The article indicates that the majority of road salt (mostly consisting of sodium, calcium, and magnesium chlorides) enters streams by infiltration to groundwater.  Chloride from road salt is absorbed into groundwater over time, eventually leading to increased chloride levels in streams. 

             An interesting observation in the same article is that the chloride levels stay relatively stable in most streams throughout the year, rather than increasing in the winter and decreasing in summer.  The salt does not simply wash off the road and directly into the stream; it is apparently a slower, longer process.   We have found similar results for chloride measurements taken in various urban/suburban streams in Onondaga County during various late winter through mid-fall surveys.

read more in the  Link to Chloride Report

Creek Freaks and YARE Programs

Link to Creek Freaks

Ley Creek Update

 The South Branch Ley Creek project site with improvement with new rainfall.  We received over 4 inches of rain last week, and it looks like  that was all we needed to fill the in voids between the stone fill.  The stream  is now flowing over the stones like we expected, and fish should be able to make  their way upstream unobstructed.