AUBURN -- Nearly two years after the idea was first suggested and one year after the proposal got some state funding, Owasco Lake has a watershed inspector.

City resident and Cayuga County native Jessica Miles spent most of her first Monday on the job making phone calls and signing paperwork. The coming days and weeks will take her outside the office at the county Soil and Water Conservation District and into the field -- or lake, rather.

"The first thing for me is to get informed about the many things I might encounter," the 22-year-old Miles said.

While earning her bachelor's degree in technology with a focus on wildlife management from SUNY Cobleskill, a 15-week internship with the state Department of Environmental Conservation shaped Miles' career path. Working as a delineator testing soil and water to determine wetland boundaries eventually brought her back home.

"My grandparents lived on Owasco Lake for many years," the Port Byron High School graduate said. "To go out and improve something that's been such an integral part of my life means a lot."

Along with the county Soil and Water Conservation District, Water Quality Management Agency, city and town of Owasco, Miles will essentially be writing the job duties as she goes. However, the goal of the job is clear: To improve and protect water quality of the lake.

"I think this is the first step in turning this lake around," said Owasco town board member John Klink, who also sat on the committee of city, town and county representatives that hired Miles. "I think we'll look back 50 year's from now and say, 'This is when we started to turn this around.'"

The full-time watershed inspector will do that in part by inspecting properties in the watershed and educating the public. The job's biggest challenge will be changing attitudes and practices around the weed-laden lake that serves as a water source for more than 45,000 in the county, Miles said.

Read the full report in Tuesday's edition of The Citizen.