We’ll be there with our ever popular macroinvertebrate display. You can see what’s happening with the bugs this year, as well as catching up on what the OCWC has been doing lately.
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We will be checking tubes to see if plants are growing or dead and will need a record on how many dead trees are encountered. We will remove tubes/stakes/ plastic weed mats from dead plants and realign and secure tubes and stakes for live plants. We will provide wood pellet bags for plastic weed mat disposal. Tubes and stakes are to be placed in piles and we will pick up & store these for other projects. If you have any questions, please contact Pete at lent@frontiernet.net
This is a GREAT OPPORTUNITY!
Gary Koplun, DEC Region 8 Forester, passed along this info on bargain of all bargains!!!
via OCWC Vice-Chair Maureen L:
TREES! TREES! Get your trees here!
There is a new tree nursery in Newark, Wayne County. They have an oversupply of trees (a huge oversupply 10’s of thousands) this year. They are looking for ways to provide them cheap or donate to worthy causes. It’s a pretty good variety of trees and they’re container trees; mostly 1 gallon pots, from what I saw. The primary objective of the nursery is to grow stock for their mine reclamation projects in Virginia & West Virginia. For whatever reason, the stock they currently have won’t be shipped south. They don’t intend to repot them, so they need to find takers. If you or anyone else you know is interested, give Laura a call.
ERP Environmental Fund, Inc.
621 East Maple Avenue
Newark, New York 14513
Laura Bailey, Greenhouse & Nursery Manager
(315)332-8626 ext 100
lbailey@naturalbridgeva.co
OCWC & Seth Green TU member Rick VenVertloh recently went out and did a preliminary assessment of the sites, and the good news is that he found that many of the standing tubes do have tree growth in them. However, areas right next to the Creek are still under water, so it was not possible to see the condition of plants there. DEC Region 8 Forester Gary Koplun tells us that this last winter season was really tough in low riparian areas and flood plains and we might find some plants crushed from the repeated flooding and freezing causing ice to form on the protective tubes. He recommends pruning any heavily damaged seedlngs right back to the root flare, so bring your hand pruners just in case!
There will be an initial overview of the maintenance activities and then we will get to work. We will be checking tubes to see if plants are growing or dead and will need a record on how many dead trees are encountered. We will remove tubes/stakes/ plastic weed mats from dead plants and realign and secure tubes and stakes for live plants. We will provide wood pellet bags for plastic weed mat disposal. Tubes and stakes are to be placed in piles and we will pick up & store these for other projects. If you have any questions, please contact Pete at lent@frontiernet.net
Last fall found the OCWC very busy working with the Black Creek Watershed Coaliton to plan & host a municipal workshop for county and municipal officials and planning boards. The focus of the workshop was to talk about the findings and recommendations in the two watershed management plans. We had a fairly good turn out, and plan to follow up (again jointly with BCWC) individually with watershed municipalities.
At the start of the year, George Squires retired from the OCWC board after many many years of service to concentrate on his work with BCWC- he was a founding member of both groups, and is on the Executive Board of the Black Creek Watershed Coaliton. We will miss George at our monthly meetings, but look forward to continuing to work with him as we collaborate with our BCWC partners. Thanks for all your hard work over the years on behalf of the OCWC, George!
OCWC has many conservation activities planned for 2018, and to start off, we will be doing a maintenance check on our Trees for Tribs planting sites. The first of which is at Oatka Creek Park on April 14! We will be meeting at the fisherman’s parking lot at 9:00. We’ll keep you apprised of supplies needed for the check- so check back for further information! If you have any additional questions, please contact Pete at lent@frontiernet.net, or leave a message on our Facebook page!
This is the same day as the ‘Pick Up the Park’ at Oatka Creek Park this year, and for a change, Alfred State College Alumni will be hosting the clean up event instead of us. OCWC will still be participating though, as we plan to pick up trash on the north side during our Tree Check.
We will be finishing up this project in the Village by installing the remaining 94 drain medallions. Come join us!
Much thanks goes to Genesee SWCD & LeRoy’s Vic Blood Foundation for sponsoring this project!
OCWC will be joining with the Black Creek Watershed Coalition (BCWC) to host a free workshop for municipalities throughout both watersheds to present findings & recommendations of the two Watershed Management Plans.
The workshop will provide municipal specific information packets to help better assist Black and Oatka Creek watershed municipal boards and departments in accessing the information contained in the plans, and will also give direction on what agencies can be of assistance in reaching goals.
This workshop was made possible with funding from our friends at the Soil and Water Conservation Districts of Genesee, Monroe, and Wyoming counties, as well as the Finger Lakes-Lake Ontario Watershed Protection Alliance (FL-LOWPA).
Registration requested. Questions? You can contact Pete or George!
*Please note: This workshop is geared toward information specific to the Black Creek & Oatka Creek Watershed Municipalities. There is limited admission and preference will be given to municipalities located in the two watersheds as well as representatives from County, state, and local agencies that are specifically listed as partners in the Watershed Management Plans for the two watersheds.
We will be keeping you updated on this program!
No CommentsThanks to the hard work of Josh LaFountain back in March, the Monroe County Soil and Water Conservation District has been selected for funding by the EPA for a project that will provide supplemental planting of about 20,000+ new trees to replace ash trees in EAB affected areas of Monroe County parks & public land and New York State parks throughout Monroe County.
Be sure to check back for updates this project. We’ll keep you posted!
We were so sorry to hear about the death of the wonderful Jack Bradbury. Pete told us the news a few weeks ago: 
“Hello Everyone:
It is with a heavy heart that I notify you of the recent passing of the first Chair of the Oatka Creek Watershed Committee, Jack Bradbury.
His obituary can be viewed at http://www.thedailynewsonline.com/bdn03/john-neal-bradbury-20170821 .
I met Jack several times, most were brief meetings, usually when he and Lana stopped by the Committee’s display booth at the Village of LeRoy’s Oatka Festival. Overtime these meetings became less frequent as Jack battled health concerns. But I did have one opportunity a couple of years ago to spend over an hour with Jack and Lana on the patio outside of their Stone House. I think I was very fortunate to have been able to catch glimpses of Jack’s passion and concern for Oatka Creek as well as for environmental well-being of the community he lived in. He played a very important role in establishing the Committee and his dedication was critical in achieving early milestones for the Committee, including our incorporation as a not for profit organization, our approval for tax exempt status, and in 2003, the first comprehensive report on the Oatka Creek Watershed, the “The State of the Basin Report” by Tim Tatakis. Jack will certainly be missed by the entire Committee. Thank You Jack for showing us the way.
Pete“
We will indeed miss him. He was a primary force behind the creation of the OCWC, and guided us wisely through those early years. He continued to be a source of support after his retirement from active committee work. Our vision statement came from Jack’s words at an early meeting: “To preserve the pristine character and water quality now present in Oatka Creek for future generations” and a photo he took of the creek bank in LeRoy adorns the cover of our “Oatka Guide”.
He will be sorely missed.
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Stop by our booth at the 29th annual LeRoy Oatka Festival, July 15th & 16! We will have our ever popular macro-invertebrate display, and you can see what projects we have been up to lately.
You can find us along the walk in front of the Woodward Memorial Library. Village of LeRoy residents (and others!) who come with pictures of storm drains they have ‘adopted’ and cleaned up, can claim a thank you prize from us!
We look forward to a fun weekend – Hope to see you there!
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