Watershed Stewardship Program: Summary of Programs and Research, 2012

Adirondack Watershed Institute

Eric Holmlund, Kathleen Wiley, Elana Capaldi, Eric Paul, Jennifer Breen, Wesley Bates, Derek Scott, Andrew Bull, Ernest Borchert, Kyle Milner, Emma Horton, Greg Redling, Katie Metz, Michael Bicknell, Stacey Judge, Jeff Sann, Emily Martin, Kearsten Cubit, Timothy Grossman, Matthew James, Claire Baker, Michelle Berrus, Jessica Wenke, William Martin, Stephanie Korzec, & Celia Evans

Paul Smith’s College’s Watershed Stewardship Program (WSP) is the public education and aquatic invasive species (AIS) spread prevention element of the College’s Adirondack Watershed Institute (AWI), which works to improve the quality of ecosystems through environmental research and management of AIS infestations across the Adirondack Park. The WSP mission involves providing on-site stewardship of terrestrial and aquatic natural resources, primarily through public education, field monitoring, and service work. The WSP works closely with state environmental agencies and local advocacy groups, such as lake owner associations and regional environmental organizations, to protect the integrity of native ecosystems from the negative effects of invasive species. Since 2000, when the WSP began posting stewards at Upper St. Regis Lake and St. Regis Mountain, the program has gradually expanded through the central Adirondacks, building relationships with lake associations, state foresters, forest rangers, fisheries staff, and conservation police as the challenge of invasive species becomes an ever greater priority among the science, property owner, and tourism communities of the region.

After a decade of gradually increasing service made possible by a combination of local lake association sponsorship, grants from private foundations and regional NGO’s, and federal support designated through the New York State Office of Invasive Species Coordination, the WSP tripled in scope in 2011 with a large award for stewards in the Lake Ontario watershed from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service through funding designated by the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. Under this award, the WSP posted stewards throughout the western Adirondack Park, from Old Forge to Cranberry Lake. In 2011, the Environmental Protection Agency awarded the WSP with funding to continue and expand the program for the 2012 field season. Together with important grant support from the Lake Champlain Basin Program (LCBP), the WSP has been able to post stewards at important waterways throughout the western and central Adirondacks, complementing the boat ramp steward coverage in the eastern Adirondacks by the Lake George Association (LGA), the LCBP, and the Schroon Lake Association.