Don Emhardt, Chautauqua town supervisor, is pictured operating a Mobitrac to clean up floating debris in Vukote Canal in a collaborative project with the town of Busti. Submitted photo

“Collaboration is an absolute key of the alliance, it’s what we are trying to do all the time.”

Those were the words Thursday of Vince Horrigan, interim Chautauqua Lake & Watershed Management Alliance director, when briefing board members and the public on lake maintenance progress during the 2019 season and plans for increased cooperation in 2020.

PAST SUCCESS

The alliance has undertaken 56 projects in the five years since its inception, generating $6.4 million dollars in funding at an average of $1.2 million per year. These projects include a wide range of different methods used to pursue increased recreational usability and improve the ecological health of the lake.

Funding for these projects includes state-issued grants as well as partnerships with local foundations and not-for profit organizations.

Stream bank work and restoration includes efforts to improve Dutch Hollow Creek. The goal of these projects is “to try to keep all of the erosion back in the streams and trying to get it from coming into the lake. This will continue to be an important process as we move forward,” Horrigan said.

Addressing water table runoff issues, like sedimentation and nutrient deposits, are Lakewood’s Chautauqua Avenue Project, the Busti Swales Project and the Grandview Stormwater Management Project. Horrigan was encouraged by cooperation between municipalities on these fronts.

“Lakewood/Busti has really done quite a bit with an engineering and planning grant. Lakewood’s Chautauqua Avenue is going to be a great project up there with the village and the town,” Horrigan said. “The Busti swales to try and keep the bad stuff out of the lake. The village of Celoron, it is incredible what has been done there from the break wall to the amenities building.”

HERBICIDE TREATMENT

Last season, five different municipalities treated 388 acres of the lake with herbicides Aquathol K and Navigate, which improved recreation in the south basin.

“I can tell you that the residents, property owners, the hotel down there, saw a much-improved area in the south basin of the lake,” Horrigan said. This treatment was complemented by lake-wide harvesting by the Chautauqua Lake Association, which gathered 4,337 tons of macrophytes during the regular season and 156 tons during the extended season.

A unified effort in 2018 and 2019 was undertaken during the Burtis Bay Cleanup. This project involved maintenance on a 2,950-foot section of the bay shoreline, with contributions from the CLA, Town of Ellicott, Chautauqua County, Village of Celoron and the Alliance. Looking forward to 2020, six different municipalities have applied for herbicide treatment permits from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. This treatment would utilize the new herbicide ProcellaCOR, which does not come with water use restrictions.

The alliance has secured $605,000 in consolidated foundation grants for this season, which will be used on a variety of maintenance projects. “We use a balanced approach. We looked at the watershed and sources of nutrient loading and the long-term impacts. Projects associated with that, and then of course our in-lake maintenance,” Horrigan said. “We want to improve the short term, but the reality is this is lake maintenance. It’s going to go on every year.”

NEW TOOLS

The Chautauqua Lake & Watershed Management Alliance has developed a rapid response team to deal with any invasive species which threaten the health of the lake, and is relying on a broad base of scientific information to monitor the effectiveness of its programs. This includes phosphorus sensors put in place by the Chautauqua Lake Partnership and Bowling Green State University, Solitude Lake Management’s forthcoming weed survey of Burtis Bay, and new tools.

The group is in the process of field testing the Chautauqua Lake Aquatic Data Mapping Project, a new aquatic data collection initiative which will utilize sonar-based aquatic plant and bathymetry mapping software. In an effort to to better comply with the Memorandum of Agreement on lake maintenance, the Alliance is looking to secure funding for GPS monitoring devices from the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation. These units would be used to track the activity of CLA barges and Mobitracs.

“Three will go on the Mobitracs and six will go on the harvesters and Mobitrac support units,” Horrigan said. “We are hopeful on that grant but it will be up to the Community Foundation board which meets next Wednesday.”

The board passed a resolution to issue $90,000 in grant funding to the CLA, with provisions that GPS locators are put in place in order to comply with the MOA. CLP President Jim Cirbus voiced his concerns about inconsistent enforcement of the MOA during the past year, and stated that the Alliance cannot serve as an independent third-party monitor on these issues. Cirbus said that the CLP has complied with third-party monitoring as mandated by the MOA, but that other organizations have not been scrutinized as closely. With some municipalities struggling to fund herbicide treatment this year, Cirbus questioned the allocation of money for third-party monitoring when there has been no penalty for those not complying.

FUNDING CHANGES

The board approved a reallocation of $5,000 in funding to begin early season nearshore clean-up activities coordinated by Busti and the Town of North Harmony. The excess funds were available due to a lower than expected purchase price for Mobitracs made by the Town of Chautauqua.

The board agreed on the use of $60,000 in funding from the county through the occupancy tax program. This will be split, with $30,000 reserved for herbicide treatment in Burtis Bay if it is needed and approved, and $30,000 for third-party monitoring of herbicide application.

ELECTIONS

For 2020, three of the nine alliance board seats were up for election of three-year terms. PJ Wendel was awarded the county executive seat; Jim Andrews was re-elected to the municipal seat; and David Shepherd was re-elected to the At-Large seat. Alliance board officers elected during the session were Chair Pierre Chagnon, Vice-Chair Ted McCague, Secretary Mike Jabot and Treasurer Andrews. This will be Chagnon’s fourth consecutive 1-year term, which was affirmed by a 2/3 vote by the board.

RESEARCH PANEL

The alliance had planned to host a scientific research panel open to the public on July 18 at 9:30 a.m. at the Village Casino in Bemus Point. This panel would include scientists from Bowling Green State University, The Jefferson Project and SUNY Fredonia with demonstrations and discussion on different lake maintenance methods. In light of Covid-19 restrictions, that meeting may have to be rescheduled or held virtually.

SCIENCE COMMITTEE

The Alliance intents to repurpose its science committee in light of the increased amount of lake maintenance data coming from multiple sources. “With the onset of multiple sources of professional lake survey data, such as the CLAD initiative, phosphorus sensor data collection, new harmful algal bloom studies by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Jefferson Project, the time is right to recharter the scientific and advisory committee into the data analysis and research committee,” Horrigan said.