AUBURN - Covering approximately 208 square miles, the Owasco Lake watershed, has a big impact on the lives of many in the surrounding areas of Cayuga, Tompkins and Onondaga counties.
Sam Tenney / The Citizen
Terry Lattimore, left, speaks at the first meeting of the Agricultural Advisory Committee for the Owasco Lake Watershed Thursday morning at the county Natural Resource Center. Also pictured are Ron Podolak, executive director of the Cayuga County Soil and Water Conservation District, farmer Dirk Young of Twin Birch Dairy, and Jessica Miles, Owasco Lake watershed inspector.
Terry Lattimore, left, speaks at the first meeting of the Agricultural Advisory Committee for the Owasco Lake Watershed Thursday morning at the county Natural Resource Center. Also pictured are Ron Podolak, executive director of the Cayuga County Soil and Water Conservation District, farmer Dirk Young of Twin Birch Dairy, and Jessica Miles, Owasco Lake watershed inspector.
Ron Podolak, executive director of the Cayuga County Soil and Water Conservation District, is well aware of that impact and the concerns associated with water quality, such as nutrient levels and the deterioration of the lake's overall quality.
In an effort to address these concerns, Podolak decided something needed to be done, which inspired him to create the Agricultural Advisory Committee for Owasco Lake.
Podolak said concerns associated with the watershed come from a myriad of sources ranging from new housing developments to chemically treated lawns as well as runoff from farms, but it is difficult to gauge the exact impact of each source attached to the watershed.
“Everything leaves its footprint,” Podolak said. “Everything that feeds into the watershed has an effect. We are all involved with the stewardship of the watershed.”
In Podolak's opinion, the farming community is on the cutting edge of the watershed and is interested in its preservation, protection and improvement. That makes the farming community a great resource to collect information.
He said agriculture is the No. 1 industry in Cayuga County as well as in the Owasco watershed area.
“We approached members of the farming community about doing something like this for the first time ever,” Podolak said. “I was very pleased when I heard, yes, people were interested in getting involved.”
Podolak approached area farmers, from dairy to beef cattle to cash crops.
“We wanted to represent a good cross section of farming in the watershed,” Podolak said. “We also wanted to geographically represent the entire area of the watershed.”
Throughout the Finger Lakes, there are groups and organizations that examine the concerns of their watersheds.
Given that there are so many industries from farms to wineries to tourism, it is
difficult to create one model for all the Finger Lakes to follow, but Podolak said he is taking the example of the Oneida Lake Watershed Agricultural Project as a starting point to create the Owasco advisory committee.
The Oneida project's mission statement is studying the impact of farming on the watershed. The cross section of farmers and geographic areas that Podolak hopes to incorporate into the Owasco committee can offer a wealth of information not only about the watershed, but also about the agricultural community in the area.
“Good stewardship is good farming,” Podolak said. “This is an issue that the ag community takes seriously. This can really open people's eyes to what goes on with the agricultural community around here and it offers members of that community the chance to share information with each other and other members of the community.”
At Thursday morning's inaugural meeting, turnout was minimal, but that was to be expected.
“It is tough at this time of year,” Podolak said. “People are trying to get everything in the ground, it is a busy time.”
Podolak hopes to have a meeting in August that will garner better response.
He would like to establish the committee and adopt a charter as well as set an agenda for issues for the committee to explore.
“As executive director, my job is to steer things,” Podolak said. “We want to hear from the ag people and see what they are interested in and look for ways to get their goals accomplished and look for money and grants to make that possible and to collect information on the farms' impact on the watershed and study how that changes from year to year.”
Once the committee is established, Podolak said he would like to see it take a proactive approach to issues and create a dialogue with other community groups concerned about the watershed.
“We all care about the quality of the water,” Podolak said. “And we all want to see it improve, that is our goal here.”
To learn more
At this time involvement with the committee is limited to members of the farming community in the Owasco Lake Watershed. For more information, contact Ron Podolak at 252-4171.
In an effort to address these concerns, Podolak decided something needed to be done, which inspired him to create the Agricultural Advisory Committee for Owasco Lake.
Podolak said concerns associated with the watershed come from a myriad of sources ranging from new housing developments to chemically treated lawns as well as runoff from farms, but it is difficult to gauge the exact impact of each source attached to the watershed.
“Everything leaves its footprint,” Podolak said. “Everything that feeds into the watershed has an effect. We are all involved with the stewardship of the watershed.”
In Podolak's opinion, the farming community is on the cutting edge of the watershed and is interested in its preservation, protection and improvement. That makes the farming community a great resource to collect information.
He said agriculture is the No. 1 industry in Cayuga County as well as in the Owasco watershed area.
“We approached members of the farming community about doing something like this for the first time ever,” Podolak said. “I was very pleased when I heard, yes, people were interested in getting involved.”
Podolak approached area farmers, from dairy to beef cattle to cash crops.
“We wanted to represent a good cross section of farming in the watershed,” Podolak said. “We also wanted to geographically represent the entire area of the watershed.”
Throughout the Finger Lakes, there are groups and organizations that examine the concerns of their watersheds.
Given that there are so many industries from farms to wineries to tourism, it is
difficult to create one model for all the Finger Lakes to follow, but Podolak said he is taking the example of the Oneida Lake Watershed Agricultural Project as a starting point to create the Owasco advisory committee.
The Oneida project's mission statement is studying the impact of farming on the watershed. The cross section of farmers and geographic areas that Podolak hopes to incorporate into the Owasco committee can offer a wealth of information not only about the watershed, but also about the agricultural community in the area.
“Good stewardship is good farming,” Podolak said. “This is an issue that the ag community takes seriously. This can really open people's eyes to what goes on with the agricultural community around here and it offers members of that community the chance to share information with each other and other members of the community.”
At Thursday morning's inaugural meeting, turnout was minimal, but that was to be expected.
“It is tough at this time of year,” Podolak said. “People are trying to get everything in the ground, it is a busy time.”
Podolak hopes to have a meeting in August that will garner better response.
He would like to establish the committee and adopt a charter as well as set an agenda for issues for the committee to explore.
“As executive director, my job is to steer things,” Podolak said. “We want to hear from the ag people and see what they are interested in and look for ways to get their goals accomplished and look for money and grants to make that possible and to collect information on the farms' impact on the watershed and study how that changes from year to year.”
Once the committee is established, Podolak said he would like to see it take a proactive approach to issues and create a dialogue with other community groups concerned about the watershed.
“We all care about the quality of the water,” Podolak said. “And we all want to see it improve, that is our goal here.”
To learn more
At this time involvement with the committee is limited to members of the farming community in the Owasco Lake Watershed. For more information, contact Ron Podolak at 252-4171.