Watershed Stewardship Program: Summary of Programs and Research, 2011

Adirondack Watershed Institute

Eric Holmlund, Kathleen Wiley, Eric Paul, Kristen Haynes, William Martin, Kyle Milner, Brian Hartle, Danielle Thompson, Kimberly Forrest, Jaden Aronow, Corrie Mersereau, Emily Russell, Sarah Prince, Seth Crevison, Tim Willson, Katelin Isaacson, Kirsten Goranowski, Stephanie Pena, Greg Cerne, Mike Hall, Erin Corrigan, Andrew Bull, & Matthew Potel

The Watershed Stewardship Program (WSP) is the education and outreach aspect of Paul Smith’s College’s Adirondack Watershed Institute (AWI), located in the Paolozzi-Spaulding Environmental Sciences and Education Center at Paul Smith’s College. The WSP began in 2000 as a local watershed-focused effort to interpret the environment, perform environmental service work, monitor ecological conditions and prevent the introduction of aquatic invasive species (AIS) into the St. Regis Lake chain, which is adjacent to Paul Smith’s College. That summer, eight stewards performed a variety of functions, from greeting visitors at a boat ramp and performing boat inspections to stewarding the summit of St. Regis Mountain, monitoring banded loons, surveying wetland vegetation, and maintaining public access trails and campsites. As word of the success of the program spread, together with the increasing threat of AIS introduction, other lake associations and regional funding sources became interested in the model. The WSP expanded each year thereafter, gradually serving more and more lakes across the Adirondack Park. The designation of specific lakes as sites for WSP stewards has varied as a function of the availability of local, state and federal funds. Throughout the twelve years of the program’s existence, WSP staff has collaborated closely with The Nature Conservancy, the Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the Lake Champlain Basin Program, the Lake George Association, numerous property owner associations, and scientists at Paul Smith’s College to guide the evolution of a program that serves the needs of local human and biotic communities. As a result, the WSP now serves as a model across the state for AIS spread prevention and outreach.