Watershed Stewardship Program: Summary of Programs and Research, 2010

Adirondack Watershed Institute

Eric Holmlund, Matthew Rankin, Kimberly Forrest, Corrie Mersereau, Lindsey Steblen, Jeffrey San, Celia Evans, & Daniel Kelting

The Watershed Stewardship Program (WSP), the outreach and education element of Paul Smith’s College’s Adirondack Watershed Institute (AWI), was initiated in 2000 in an effort to maintain the integrity of the St. Regis Lakes ecosystem in southern Franklin County. The WSP was initially a local stewardship partnership between the St. Regis Foundation on behalf of property owners on the three St. Regis Lakes and Paul Smith’s College, the largest property owner on Lower St. Regis Lake. The program has greatly expanded over the last eleven summers in response to the ongoing and emergent progress that aquatic invasive species (AIS) have made from the margins of the Adirondack Park to its center. Communities all over the country and within the Adirondack Park have become painfully aware of AIS over the past decade, resulting in ever-increasing resolve, vigilance and activism in increasingly articulated efforts to prevent or delay the spread of a growing number of invasive species. Over the past decade, the WSP has expanded its scope through the support and partnership of local property owner groups, such as the Lake Placid Shore Owners’ Association and the Rainbow Lake Association, among others, and the collaboration and financial support of the Lake Champlain Basin Program, private foundation support and funds directed to Paul Smith’s College by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation in recognition of the good work represented by the Adirondack Park Aquatic Nuisance Species Management Plan. The Adirondack partnership for regional invasive species management (Adirondack PRISM), spearheaded by the Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program (APIPP) has worked tirelessly to help articulate a regional, coordinated approach to AIS management by participating in the drafting and implementation of the ANS Management Plan and by collaborating over the years with the WSP and the AWI, among other regional AIS response partners. Thus the WSP is truly a cooperating partner in a wider regional strategy to combat the negative impacts of AIS.