The Rotary Club of Jamestown continued with its speaker series to update the membership about happenings within the county with a presentation by Randall Perry, executive director of the Chautauqua Lake and Watershed Management Alliance.

Perry works on a variety of lake, watershed, and research initiatives in partnership with alliance members and other stakeholders aimed at protecting and enhancing the health and usability of Chautauqua Lake.

Perry began his tenure in late 2020 and worked as the alliance’s project manager since 2016. Before that, he served as an adjunct instructor at the State University at Fredonia teaching geoscience and environmental science courses with a focus on water resources, geochemistry, surficial processes, and environmental assessment.

Prior to that he worked as a geological consultant specializing in environmental and water resources projects. He is a native of Maine and earned his M.S. and B.S. in Earth Sciences from the University of Maine with a focus on environmental geochemistry.

Perry gave the Rotary members an overview of his organization and the various stakeholders including, but not limited to, government, tourism, drinking water, environmental groups, sanitation, and fishery management. His organization is responsible to balance these various groups and sometimes their competing goals. Chautauqua Lake has a long history and has experienced over 200 years of development. While the amount of pollution it is receiving is lessening, with an increased number of sewers replacing septic systems, it will also take a long time to show results, Perry said.