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Cayuga Lake has struggled with harmful algal blooms or HABs in recent years, but in 2021 unseasonably warm temperatures and heavy rainfall may have extended their prevalence late into the year.
The 470-acre parcel includes the largest piece of undeveloped shoreline on Cayuga Lake.
The comments, drafted by the Tompkins County Office of Planning and Sustainability staff, ask the DEC to provide more specifics about implementation.
The draft plan focuses on a broad array of areas that largely focus on limiting the amount of phosphorus running into the lakes
“As we have gone through the last year of understanding about systematic racism and historic trauma, it’s time for us to address these historic harms within New York State and within Haudenosaunee territory.”
“It’s a beautiful day, we’re not stuck in the house, you know, driving each other bonkers.”
The company and DEC disagree with Hang’s claims
Army Corps of Engineers surveys the lake, looking for noxious weed.
The most recent HABs were in the northern part of Cayuga Lake.
The county wants anyone who might drink untreated water or who swims in the lake to be aware of the discharge.
Activists plan to take to Cayuga Lake early this morning to protest seismic tests by Cargill. The company has salt mines below the lake.
Cayuga County Health Department officials went door-to-door in part of Genoa on Thursday to warn people to not swim in Cayuga Lake near their property until Friday.
The owners want to convert it into a 100 megawatt data center. Their proposal includes a seventy-five acre solar farm, and they will apply to the state for a 125 megawatt renewable energy allocation.
“We are really, really thrilled,” said Mary Anne Kowalski, Seneca Lake resident. “I think the fact that is impressing me most is that we’ve got bipartisan support on this bill.”
Significantly more harmful algal blooms were reported on Cayuga Lake this year than in 2017. A local non-profit reports the 2018 blooms were more likely to contain toxins harmful humans and small mammals, like cats and dogs.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo is proposing an investment of $65 million into fighting algal blooms that have created an increasing number of problems across the state in recent years. The Cuomo administration will target 12 priority lakes in four different regions that are vulnerable to harmful algal blooms. They are all different, and lessons learned form studying each lake would be applied to other similar lakes going forward. Greg Boyer of SUNY ESF in Syracuse has been studying algal blooms for years. He says this approach works because not all algal blooms are created equally. “It’s not going to be one size fits all,” Boyer said.
In September, a class from Wells College was on Cayuga Lake, near Aurora, when someone noticed a non-native weed in the water. It was hydrilla, an invasive plant that can cause big problems.
Hillary Lambert, with the Cayuga Lake Watershed, is trying to figure out how widespread the hydrilla is before the lake gets even colder and freezes. “If we let hydrilla take control over several years time, it could make large areas of the shoreline impassable every summer,” she explained. Hydrilla grows quickly in the water. Once it reaches the surface, it creates a dense mat and crowds out other plants.
This video was scripted, voiced, and edited by Abreham B., class of 2014 graduate, at Greater Ithaca Activities Center (GIAC) in Ithaca, NY. Youth Voice students explore environmental science topics of personal interest while learning production skills from WSKG’s youth media curriculum.
Cayuga Lake is taking a hit by human waste
Produced by: Abreham B., Ithaca High School, Class of 2014
Video & photography by: Nancy Coddington & Solvejg Wastvedt
In recent years, human waste is having a negative effect on Cayuga Lake. Microplastics are one specific cause of problems. The ecology of the lake is being effected and some water animals, such as zebra muscles, are digesting these microplastics. Bill Foster is the Program Director for Cayuga Lake Floating Classroom. “When we take young people out on the lake,” says Foster, “we teach them about the ecology of the lake and how this system works that they depend upon for drinking water.”
This video was scripted, voiced, and edited by Ihotu Onah, class of 2014 graduate, at Greater Ithaca Activities Center (GIAC) in Ithaca, NY. Youth Voice students explore environmental science topics of personal interest while learning production skills from WSKG’s youth media curriculum.
Mobile Research Center on Cayuga Lake
Produced by: Ihotu Onah, Ithaca High School, Class of 2014
Video & photography by: Nancy Coddington & Solvejg Wastvedt
A great way to catch some nautical rays, the boat itself doubles as a mobile research center. The program offers public eco-cruises, group charters, and field experiences for school-age children. Their goal: Get everyone out on Cayuga Lake and learning! Bill Foster is the Program Director for Cayuga Lake Floating Classroom.
This video was scripted, voiced, and edited by Ismail Abdur-razzaaq, Grade 9 student at Greater Ithaca Activities Center (GIAC) in Ithaca, NY. Youth Voice students explore environmental science topics of personal interest while learning production skills from WSKG’s youth media curriculum. Tracking Invasive Hydrilla in Cayuga Lake
Produced by: Ismail Abdur-razzaaq, Grade 9
Video & photography by: Nancy Coddington & Solvejg Wastvedt
Bill Foster is the Program Director for Cayuga Lake Floating Classroom. The program has engaged the Ithaca community around the future of water resources since 2003. But, in 2011, one observant student intern created another important role for the Floating Classroom: monitoring the spread of Hydrilla verticillata, a fast-growing invasive species.
This video was scripted, voiced, and edited by Ijeyilowoicho Onah, Grade 10 student at Greater Ithaca Activities Center (GIAC) in Ithaca, NY. Youth Voice students explore environmental science topics of personal interest while learning production skills from WSKG’s youth media curriculum. Cayuga: Our Community’s Lake
Produced by: Ijeyilowoicho Onah, Grade 10
Video & photography by: Nancy Coddington & Solvejg Wastvedt
Bill Foster is the Program Director for Cayuga Lake Floating Classroom. Foster and his staff teach young people about the ecology of the lake and how this ecosystem they depend on for drinking water works. “When they come out and learn, they’re also making observations that become data,” says Foster.