Lake Friendly Living Strategies

Lake Friendly Living Strategies

This great resource was shared by a environmental club for girls who wanted us to know that we all must pay attention to learning about our lakes, ponds and streams, Thank YOU!

Tully Lake residents and Onondaga Earth Corps, plant tree and shrub buffers along the shoreline to diminish storm run-off. This Shorescaping Project drew attention to problems turf lawns- the number one cash crop in the USA, present to our waterbodies, creating nutrient rich sediments and pollutants that negatively impact our lakes.

Comprehensive data-driven management plans help our individual Kettle Lake Associations in their development of realistic and much needed implementation plans for lake improvement.

 

 State of the Lake Report and Comprehensive Management Plans for Song Lake, Crooked Lake Tully Lake, Stradder Caves, 2019. This report was prepared after three years of study and with the partnership funding from SUNY – Oneonta, New York State Federation of Lake Associations, Cortland-Onondaga Federation of Lake Associations and each or the participating lakes. It provides important information on management for Crooked Lake, Tully Lake and Song Lake.

Click forbelow the full report

State of the Lake Report and Comprehensive Management Plans for Song Lake, Crooked Lake Tully  Lake

Invasive Species are one of many issues threatening our lakes today. There are several organizations and agencies to assist with identification and control. The following are helpful sources:

Harmful Algal Blooms are becoming a dominant feature in many NY Lakes.

  • To learn more about proper identification and notification go to the NYS DEC Website

  • Click on the link to Read My Poor Little Lake by Scott Kishbaugh and Karen Stainbrook, a great article from the New York State Conservationist, April 2014, about Chauttauqua Lake and harmful algal blooms.

Lake Management Planning

As beneficiaries of the National Fish and Wildlife Fund $50,000 Chesapeake Bay Technical Capacity Grant, in collaboration with Syracuse University’s Environmental Finance Center (EFC-SU), Princeton Hydro and Cortland County Soil & Water, we examined potential harmful stormwater  impacts on our kettle lakes and positive remediation for each concern found during lake research.  We hosted two information sessions in Homer and Tully in November sharing the findings for each lake and possible action steps to address these concerns. An example of one solution shared among several lakes was increasing riparian growth along shorelines to decrease erosion and stream run-off. A link to each of these WATERSHED IMPLIMENTATION PLANS (WIPs) is available here:

Other resources include:

Cortland‐Onondaga Federation of Kettle Lake Associations Best Management Plan Framework (pdf)

Hydrogeology of the Tully Lakes Area in Southern Onondaga and Northern Cortland Counties, New York  by the U.S. Geological Survey

NYSFOLA and NYS DEC have collaborated on producing the definitive guide for creating a small lake management plan. Buy your copy on  Amazon.com or download the  order form.