Here are more pictures of our wonderful Trees for Tribs volunteers! Thanks to everyone who participated!
More Pictures!
A Great Start!
The kick off of the NYS DEC Trees for Tribs project along the Oatka fishery got off to a splendid start thanks to the wonderful hard work of 36+ volunteers and the great planning of Pete Lent of the OCWC, Steve Leupold, Melissa Marszalek of Genesee Country Village & Museum and DEC Foresters Gary Koplun and Mark Gooding.
We had beautiful weather for the event, and the volunteers got the 271 trees and shrubs planted, protected and watered in a matter of a few hours!
Pete was back to water the plantings yesterday, and things look pretty good! If you would like to help with the watering and monitoring of the plantings, contact Pete or Melissa. It’s a great excuse to hang out in a really pretty area of the Creek!
Contact Pete at lent@frontiernet.net
Contact Melissa at nature_center@gcv.org
Also, stay tuned for more pictures, and more information on future phases of the project!
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Help Wanted! Trees for Tribs May 2nd Tree Planting!!
Help Wanted!
Trees for Tribs (tributaries)
At
Genesee Country Village and Museum
Help plant trees along Oatka Creek
May 2, 2015
The Emerald Ash Borers are destroying Ash trees that border Oatka Creek. We have a program to replace the dying Ash with 200 native trees and shrubs that will provide shade and erosion control along our blue ribbon trout stream.
When: May 2nd 9:00 am – ?
Where: Genesee Village and Museum Property on Flint Hill Road, Mumford NY – Parking is on North Side of Flint Hill Rd. Across from Main Entrance to Village & Museum – Follow Signs
What to bring: if you have tools – shovel, tree planting bar, buckets for watering trees, rake, – make sure you label your name on tools
Filled water bottle, lunch and snack
What to wear: work gloves, boots, dress for the weather
To volunteer for the project, please contact: Peter Lent, Chair Oatka Creek Watershed Committee – lent@frontiernet.net
This project is sponsored by the Department of Environmental Conservation, Genesee Country Village and Museum, Oatka Creek Watershed Committee.
No CommentsOatka Creek Park Clean-Up April 25th
Come join with the Oatka Creek Watershed Committee to “Pick Up the Parks” on Saturday morning, April 25th, from 9am ’till noon. We will again be sponsoring the clean-up in Oatka Creek Park in Scottsville.
After the clean up: Noon – 2pm, there will be a Thank You picnic in the Olmsted Lodge at Highland Park!
This is the 6th annual “Pick up the Parks” sponsored by Monroe County. For more information and registration forms, visit : Pick up the Parks or contact Maureen at MALeupold@genesee.edu .
No CommentsFrom our Friends at Genesee Soil and Water Conservation
Hello from Soil & Water, and HAPPY SPRING!
We are sending out our Spring Newsletter which is loaded with information on several invasive species, tillage methods, DEC updates, as well as our Fish Order Form (first fish delivery of 2015 will be the end of May). You can still order trees and shrubs, but we are sold out of many varieties so please call first to check. For those of you who have already ordered, the tree pick up dates are Friday May 1, and Saturday May 2nd at the Genesee Co. Fairgrounds.
Our CONGRATULATIONS to POST DAIRY FARM for being selected as Genesee County’s CONSERVATION FARM OF THE YEAR! You can read about their family dairy and farming operation on the front page of the newsletter…ENJOY!
Your Friends in Conservation,
~Genesee Co. SWCD Staff
ECO-fest Recycling Update 2015
From Saturday’s 10th Annual Cool Kids ECO-Fest the following items were collected for reuse or recycling!
THE GREEN TALLY:
• 12,000 lbs. of E-Waste hauled out by RC&R
• 328 pairs of sneakers (to be ground-up and converted into running tracks)
• 1,551 paperback books for American Troops
• 41 pairs of glasses for the Lions Club
• 134 ink cartridges going to Imagine It
• 275 articles of clothing, 50 blankets, 100 stuffed animals, and full cart of miscellaneous materials for WNY Coalition of Donated Goods
• 26 worn American flags
• 39 cell phones for YWCA’s Domestic Violence Program
• 3 pieces of furniture for Habitat for Humanity
1 bike for Trailside Bikes
Thanks to everyone who participated!!
1 CommentJoin Us April 11 at the 10th Annual Cool Kids ECOfest
The OCWC will again be at the Genesee Community College ECOfest. And if Mother Nature cooperates, we will again be featuring our live macro-invertebrate display!
From GCC:
“Music and Much More at GCC’s Tenth Annual Cool Kids ECOfest
March 04, 2015
BATAVIA, New York-Genesee Community College marks the tenth anniversary this year of the Cool Kids ECOfest with new and exciting opportunities to celebrate Earth Day at GCC. Join the fun at ECOfest on Saturday, April 11, 2015 from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. This year’s event includes abundant recycling opportunities and a student photography exhibit, Sustainable Still Lifes. In addition, for the first time, an educational event will precede ECOfest on Thursday, April 9, 2015. RIT Associate Environmental Science Professor Karl Korfmacher will come to campus to discuss Bringing Sustainability into Curriculum.
Co-sponsored by GCC’s Student Activities Office, College Village and Brockport-based Generation Cool, Cool Kids ECOfest is a fun-filled, educational event that aims to increase awareness of important environmental issues while celebrating Earth Day. The event is free and open to the public.
A favorite recycling initiative returns to ECOfest this year as electronic waste will be accepted once again after a one year hiatus. Rubber sneakers will also be collected as well as paperback books, bikes and bike parts, worn American flags, cell phones, ink cartridges, and eyeglasses. New this year, will be textile recycling. Any clean clothing or cloth will be accepted for recycling (please no dirty or moldy items). Each recycled item earns a Cool Kids ECO-Raffle ticket increasing the chances to win great, green prizes including the grand prize of a mountain bike.
As in year’s past, more than 40 exhibitors will have booths including exotic wildlife, environmental educators, and make-it take-it activities. At 10 a.m., Buffalo-based musician Susan Rozler will kick things off with her Mama Earth’s Kitchen Band. Susie brings instruments from all over the world as well as homemade recycled ones and gives the audience a chance to play and sing in the band. Her motto is “The earth is our kitchen! We should keep it clean so all of its creatures can stay healthy, now and in the future.”
From noon- 2 p.m. in the Stuart Steiner Theatre Lobby Art Gallery, GCC photography students will enjoy sharing their Sustainable Still Life Photography Exhibit. Students in Joe Ziolkowski’s COM 118 (Introduction to Digital Photography) and COM 103 (Introduction to Black & White Photography) classes are crafting still life photos focusing on the idea of taking care of the earth and the environment. “I cannot tell you how excited my students were after I presented the topic for the assignment and show,” Ziolkowski said. “We’re going to see some very interesting, thought-provoking work.” The photos will be on exhibit from April 1, 2015 through April 29, 2015.
New this year as part of ECOfest will be an educational presentation by Karl Korfmacher, associate professor of Environmental Science at Rochester Institute of Technology. Korfmacher will speak about Bringing Sustainability into Curriculum on Thursday, April 9, 2015 from 12:30 – 2 p.m. in Room T102 of the Conable Technology Building on GCC’s Batavia campus. Korfmacher is director of the Laboratory for Environmental Computing and Decision Making, and an active participant in the Association for Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education’s (AASHE) Sustainability Across Curriculum Leadership Workshop. Presented by GCC’s Sustainability Committee, the talk is free and open to the public. GCC faculty are encouraged to attend.
“We can celebrate Earth Day everyday as individuals, but on April 11th let’s come together and become Green Gangsters!” said Cool Kids’ Steve Appleton. “For ten years, we’ve been making a huge difference in educating young and old about the importance each individual makes for a clean environment! Let’s keep it going.”
For further information on all of these events or photos of prior Cool Kids ECOfest contact Donna Rae Sutherland at 585-343-0055 x6616 or email dsutherland@genesee.edu.Or check the Cool Kids! website at http://www.generationcool.biz or on Facebook: Cool Kids!”
No CommentsWhat’s Up, You Say?
2014 saw some major milestones for the OCWC and 2015 is also shaping up to be a very busy year for the Committee and its partners!
The Watershed Plan is Done!
Perhaps the most significant achievement for 2014 was the completion of the Oatka Creek Watershed Plan after many years of work. We especially credit the excellent work of the Genesee/Finger Lakes Regional Planning Council who led the planning project after securing a grant from the New York State Department of State where funding was provided under Title 11 of the Environmental Protection Fund. Great thanks also to the Town of Wheatland for being lead agency in this effort. The draft plan was presented at a public meeting in Pavilion on August 28, 2014 and was sent to the State for final approval in September. The plan can be found HERE.
This year, the Committee will continue reaching out to municipalities to discuss plan elements and answer questions.
We’re on YouTube
Another achievement we are proud of is the completion of the video “Oatka Creek Watershed and You”, which as well being an introduction to our Oatka watershed, also focuses on nutrient management efforts by watershed farmers. View it HERE. Production was made possible through the generous support of Debbie Dunlevy of Genesee Community College’s Accelerated College Enrollment (ACE) Department. A special shout out to Rob Noble, our excellent narrator!
Saving the Oatka Trout Fishery
Starting this spring, we hope to be kicking off a multi-year tree planting program along a targeted 11 mile stretch of the lower Oatka Creek in Genesee & Monroe Counties. This 3 year project is being realized under the New York State DEC ‘Trees for Tribs’ program. Stream corridor plantings will be done in order to proactively protect the now shaded trout area of the Oatka Creek from the inevitable destruction of the now plentiful local ash tree population by the invasive and deadly Emerald Ash Borer (EAB).
The EAB has already been found in Monroe County, and in all likelihood will be moving west into Genesee County in the not too distant future. More information on identification of this destructive pest can be found HERE.
Under the guidance of the DEC, the OCWC is partnering with the Genesee Country Village and Museum for the first phase of the project, where planting will be done on GCV&M property that is in the targeted area. We will be posting more detailed information soon. Volunteers are needed and welcome! If interested contact Pete at lent@frontiernet.net
Water Monitoring
We also continue to work on several stream monitoring activities. Several OCWC members have been actively participating in the NYS DEC’s WAVE program. This program uses volunteers to assess the water quality in rocky bottom streams by looking at bottom-dwelling macroinvertebrates. Training sessions are provided.
The OCWC has also had a school based monitoring program in the works for some time, and we hope to kick it off by having some teacher training sessions this year.
Recreation
New canoe and kayak access in the Village of Le Roy is almost ready! We’ll post more info on this project soon.
Come Join Us!
We will again be participating in the Eco-Fest on April 11th at Genesee Community College. Come visit us and see the bugs that live in the Creek!
Monroe County Parks Department will be holding their 6th annual Pick up the Parks on April 25th from 9AM ‘till noon. The OCWC will again be sponsoring the clean up in Oatka Creek Park in Scottsville! Sign up and more info HERE.
The next scheduled OCWC meeting will be on February 23, at 6:30 PM in the Woodward Memorial Library in Le Roy. Our meetings are open to everyone!
No CommentsCurrent Watershed Committee Activities
Watch here for current Watershed Committee activities.
2 CommentsWelcome to the Updated Oatka Creek Watershed Committee Website
Welcome to our updated website. The new WaterBlog page permits easier updates: check back often to read the latest Oatka Watershed news!
We welcome your comments on our updates as well as any suggestions for improvements.
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