Cayuga Lake Watershed Network

Program area #1: Watershed education, engagement, and advocacythe Cayuga Lake Watershed Network ("Network") educates, engages, and advocates for the health of Cayuga Lake and its Watershed by offering services throughout the year towards those goals free and open to the public. Public programs and resources we develop include two free community conferences annually issues of concern across the Watershed; on demand seminars and meetings based on topics of concern; 2-4 newsletters each year with detailed articles and information about events and volunteer opportunities; a website with regularly updated information at www.cayugalake.org; active facebook and instagram accounts; and an email listserv of nearly 1000 people with 3+ e-news updates per month.

Lake friendly living & Watershed living in a changing climatewe are a founding member of the Lake friendly living (lfl) coalition of the finger lakes, created to advise and encourage Watershed residents to take action to reduce their impact on the Watershed. We produce and disseminate written and digital information about lfl principles. We developed 3 booklets 1) Lake friendly living, 2) Watershed living in a changing climate, and 3) lakeside living in changing climate. We run the Cayuga Lake friendly living champion program, where individuals take the lfl pledge to publicly show their support. We also run a speaker series and workshops on lfl principles.

Lake & tributary water quality northern tributaries water quality monitoring: through our northern tributaries monitoring program, we work with water quality monitoring groups of trained volunteers and a certified water analysis lab to monitor the water quality of northern Cayuga Lake tributaries for runoff pollution. Sampling for nutrients is conducted throughout the year and coupled with a microbial source tracking study which we have contracted through suny-esf. These data are being used to develop better water quality protection strategies in our local counties and at the state level via the nys dept. Of environmental conservation. .harmful algal blooms: we provide public outreach on the rising problem of toxic harmful algal blooms (habs), which threaten public health through contact exposure and drinking water contamination. Using communication campaigns, we inform the public about habs and their risks, how to avoid them, and how to report them. We run the cooperative Cayuga Lake habs monitoring program with two other organizations to coordinate volunteer sampling of habs with the goal that the data collected will be used by regional health and environmental agencies to reduce this new and dangerous challenge to good water quality. We produce a weekly summer habs newsletter to keep the public up to date on the current habs conditions on the Lake. . Invasive hydrilla: in early 2021, nys dec launched a new hydrilla action plan initiative for Cayuga Lake. The Network continues in its role as the central hydrilla public education and communications node, working with the Lake's southern end hydrilla task force; the lansing and aurora hydrilla task force; and with other municipalities around the Lake. We work with the us army corps of engineers office in buffalo, the finger lakes institute, tompkins county soil and water conservation district, and the finger lakes prism to disseminate up to date information about hydrilla ecosystem/water quality impacts and management in Cayuga Lake.