Watershed Stewardship Program: Summary of Programs and Research, 2006

Adirondack Watershed Institute

Eric Holmlund, Julia Polasik, Jon Griffiths, Jennifer Lucas, & Kyle Murray

The Watershed Stewardship Program is a cooperative, community-based effort to conserve natural resources, including water quality, wildlife and soil, through targeted educational efforts at specific locations near Paul Smith's College in New York State’s Adirondack Park. The program represents a convergence and synthesis of ideas and support from members of the Paul Smith's College faculty, New York State land management agencies, including the Department of Environmental Conservation, non-governmental environmental organizations including the Adirondack Watershed Institute, the Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program and the Adirondack Cooperative Loon Program, and shore owner organizations from the St. Regis Lakes, Rainbow Lake, Lower Saranac Lake and Lake Placid.

The WSP wide ranging programs include point-specific environmental interpretation, educational outreach, field-based invasive species monitoring and various data-collecting projects aimed at better understanding human pressures on waterways and local trails. College students and recent graduates are hired to provide an informed, high-energy, friendly presence at local boat launches and trailheads. This report is an annual effort to consolidate and report on all aspects of program activities for the summer of 2005.

Summer 2005 Highlights
The Watershed Stewardship Program provided educational services at northern Adirondack boat launches and the summit of St. Regis Mountain for the sixth consecutive year. This year featured continuation of efforts to monitor and control the exotic invasive plant purple loosestrife, monitor loon pairs on the St. Regis Lakes, assess invasive plant presence on the St. Regis Lakes, and provide educational outreach programs for area children. The most significant change in the program for 2005 was the expansion of program services to two new locations, Lake Kushaqua and Second Pond, made possible by the support and collaboration of the Rainbow Lake Association and the Lower Saranac Lake Association. The WSP did not post stewards at Upper Saranac Lake as it has since 2001 due to a funding shortfall.

The primary thrust of this year’s program was once again to educate people launching watercraft at our four launch locations - St. Regis Lake, Lake Placid, Lake Kushaqua and Second Pond - about the threat of introduced invasive species, primarily Eurasian watermilfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum) and how to minimize exposure of lakes to the threat. Stewards also compiled detailed information about the character of boat launch use, including such information as total boats launched, type of watercraft, and demographic information. Watershed Stewards also conducted a program assessment study for the third and final year. Stewards were stationed at the boat launches, and had other shifts on the water, climbing St. Regis Mountain, paddling kayaks to observe loons, maintaining data bases and meeting weekly to share information.