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!<\/p>\n
The Watershed Plan is Done!<\/strong><\/p>\n 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.<\/a><\/p>\n This year, the Committee will continue reaching out to municipalities to discuss plan elements and answer questions.<\/p>\n We\u2019re on YouTube<\/strong><\/p>\n Another achievement we are proud of is the completion of the video \u201cOatka Creek Watershed and You\u201d, which as well being an introduction to our Oatka watershed, also focuses on nutrient management efforts by watershed farmers. View it HERE.<\/a> Production was made possible through the generous support of Debbie Dunlevy of Genesee Community College\u2019s Accelerated College Enrollment (ACE) Department. A special shout out to Rob Noble, our excellent narrator!<\/p>\n Saving the Oatka Trout Fishery<\/strong><\/p>\n 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 \u2018Trees for Tribs\u2019 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).<\/p>\n 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.<\/a><\/p>\n 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<\/a><\/p>\n Water Monitoring <\/strong><\/p>\n We also continue to work on several stream monitoring activities. Several OCWC members have been actively participating in the NYS DEC’s WAVE program<\/a>. This program uses volunteers to assess the water quality in rocky bottom streams by looking at bottom-dwelling macroinvertebrates. Training sessions are provided.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Recreation<\/strong><\/p>\n New canoe and kayak access in the Village of Le Roy is almost ready! We’ll post more info on this project soon.<\/p>\n Come Join Us!<\/strong><\/p>\n We will again be participating in the Eco-Fest<\/strong> on April 11th<\/sup> at Genesee Community College. Come visit us and see the bugs that live in the Creek!<\/p>\n Monroe County Parks Department will be holding their 6th<\/sup> annual Pick up the Parks<\/strong> on April 25th<\/sup> from 9AM \u2018till noon. The OCWC will again be sponsoring the clean up in Oatka Creek Park in Scottsville! Sign up and more info HERE.<\/a><\/p>\n The next scheduled OCWC meeting will be on February 23, at 6:30 PM in the Woodward Memorial Library<\/strong> in Le Roy. Our meetings are open to everyone!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7nBTe-8s","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oatka.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oatka.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oatka.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oatka.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oatka.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=524"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/oatka.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":527,"href":"https:\/\/oatka.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524\/revisions\/527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oatka.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oatka.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oatka.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}