Onondaga Lake Watershed Partnership (olwp) Meeting Notes and Action Items March 11, 2016 Syracuse Center of Excellence, Room 203 Attendees

Seth Ausubel, USEPA (tc)

Kathleen Bertuch, CNY Regional Planning & Development Board

Aimee Clinkhammer, NEIWPCC

Dave Coburn, Resident

Christopher Dere, USEPA (tc)

Khris Dodson, SU Environmental Finance Center

Jeff Freedman, Community Participation Working Group

Travis Glazier, Onondaga County

Holly Granat, Onondaga County

Paul Harris, Atlantic States Legal Foundation

Hugh Kimball, Community Participation Working Group/Onondaga County Council on Environment Health

Renee Kittleman, Onondaga Audubon

Rich Kowalski, Resident

Rebecca Klossner, Syracuse City Planning Division

Martha Loew, Sierra Club

Alma Lowry. Representative for the Onondaga Nation, Law Office of Joseph Heath

Kenneth Lynch, NYSDEC

Rachel May, Syracuse University

Craig Milburn, Brown & Sanford Consulting/Honeywell

Robert Nyumah, Catholic Charities

Reggie Parker, NYSDEC

Madison Quinn, Onondaga County, Department of Water Environment Protection

JoAnne Race, Syracuse University

Hanna Ring, Citizens Campaign for the Environment

Neil Ringler, SUNY ESF

Barbara Rivette, Resident

Molly Reed, NY Rural Water Association

Charles Silver, NYS Office of the Attorney General

Lindsey Speer, Representative for the Onondaga Nation, Law Office of Joseph Heath

Curtis Waterman, Haudenosaunee Environmental Task Force

Stephanie Webb, NYSDEC

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  Phil Arnold and Sandy Bigtree welcomed OLWP to the Skanonh Center and provided an overview of their programming.
  
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  Phil encouraged OLWP member to walk through the exhibit after the meeting and provide feedback
  

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  There were some minor editorial comments on previous meeting notes. Aimee will make corrections and post to website.
  

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  March 15: CPWG Meeting
  
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  March 23: Sierra Club Meeting: Onondaga Lake Cleanup Update
  
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  March 30: Renewal of a Jewel-Onondaga Lake: Effective collaboration Among Students, Scientists, Agencies and Private Enterprises
  
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  April 16: Party for the Planet
  
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  April 19: CPWG Meeting
  
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  April 27: Sierra Club: Mudboils-Their History and Future
  

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  Natural Resources Damage Assessment and Restoration http://www.fws.gov/northeast/nyfo/ec/onondaga.htm
  

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  4/8/16 Environmental Education Local Grants (USEPA)
  

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  The Communications Group met and began work on speakers, topics and locations for the speaker series.
  
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  Aimee and Paul Harris met to discuss fish advisory outreach. USEPA will work to translate the Atlantic States fish advisory brochure.
  

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  The communications group proposes one of the following schedules:
  
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    Mudboils (May) – Fishing (June/July) – Lake cap (September) – Land use (November)
    
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    Mudboils (May) – Lake Cap (June/July) – Fishing (August) – Land use (October)
    
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  An alternative schedule was suggested: mudboil presentation to be postponed because the panel may not complete their report by then. Fishing or Lake cap could be first in the May-June timeframe.
  

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  Would fishing presentation focus on advisory or recreation? Or both?
  
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    Communications group to also look at broader fish advisory outreach strategies (signage, brochures, “catch and release” etc)
    

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  Draft report from the panel was circulated to the mudboil working group.
  
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  A conference call with the panel and working group and Onondaga Nation has been scheduled.
  
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  When the report is finalized NYSDEC will send to the Partnership.
  

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  Onondaga County’s new docks at the amphitheater and lake outlet were recently announced.
  
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    Why wasn’t it brought up at OLWP for discussion prior?
    
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    County Legislature is a public process and the County has heard many comments from the public over the years (ex FOCUS study).
    
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    There was a suggestion to incorporate a land use planning process or strategy to better inform the County on future work around the lake and in the watershed.
    

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  NYSDEC Onondaga Lake listerv is now at over 7,000 subscribers. If you have not joined yet, and would like to receive email notifications about Onondaga Lake (and other DEC topics) sign up at: https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/NYSDEC/subscriber/new
  

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  Robert Nyumah works in Refugee Resettlement at Catholic Charities. He discussed his experience working with new Americans and widespread/regular consumption of Onondaga Lake fish that are under fish consumption advisories. He is also working with NYSDOH on their biomonitoring study.
  
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  The communications group will discuss many items brought up including:
  
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    Alternatives to Onondaga Lake fish
    
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      Other lakes?
      
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      Other sources of nutrition
      
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    Communication strategies including signage, brochures, languages, etc
    
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    Messaging and target audiences
    

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  The next OLWP meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, April 27^th at a location TBD.