A new series of signs has been created and installed to raise awareness of Owasco Lake’s tributaries and their role in the watershed.
As part of its Tributary Adoption and Indentification Project (TAIP), the Owasco Lake Watershed Management Council (OLWMC) has installed signage at nine tributaries in the Town of Locke and the Town and Village of Moravia. Doctor Adam Effler with the council told Finger Lakes News Radio that these signs help keep the community engaged with the work the council does.
“We want the community to have reference points where they feel like they can engage with all the various projects around watershed management and watershed protection “In order to do so, they have to have reference points that are visible, that they can see, and they can understand,” Effler said. “So, it’s really an opportunity to provide for increased engagement with the community through increased visibility of the water courses and the watershed.”
This signage is a continuation of the original Tributary Adoption and Identification Pilot Project which saw signs installed at locations near the northern end of the lake. Effler said it was important to make sure the southern end was properly covered.
“We were targeting the southern region specifically because we feel like there wasn’t visibility there for the water courses for the community to connect with those waterways.”
OLWMC’s strong relationship with Cayuga County was critical to the installation of these signs, Effler added. The county’s planning department helped create the maps that appear on the signs, showing the sub-watershed located within the overall Owasco Lake watershed. The signs themselves were installed by the highway department.
This latest group of signs was installed in November. They feature a map of the tributary within the larger watershed, a QR code, and a phone number to report potential issues at each location to the council.
Effler was recently a guest on FLX Morning. You can listen to that interview below:
FLX MORNING PODCAST – Dr. Adam Effler, Owasco Lake Watershed Management Council
