Fall Creek Watershed Committee Minutes
January 10, 2000
Dryden High School

Present: Jim Skaley, Craig Schutt, David Weinstein, Marshall Taylor, Steve Penningroth, Sharon Anderson, Phil Koons, Tom Cavataio, Helen Swank, Tom Chiotti, Scott Cook, Mary Hagarty

Presenters: Tom Chiotti and Scott Cook, NYS DEC.

Introductions

Sharon Anderson opened the meeting and explained a little about the purposes and goals of the Fall Creek Watershed Committee. She made several announcements about upcoming water events and the planned activities of the committee. Sharon then asked each person in the room to introduce themselves and to talk about their particular interests in the watershed and this committee.

Presentation

Tom Chiotti, NYSDEC - Cortland Office, presented a "tour" of Fall Creek from near its headwaters above Lake Como to its mouth below Ithaca Falls. For various sections of the creek, Tom discussed the characteristics of the creek and watershed and gave a bit of history about the studies which DEC have performed. Tom explained the NYS stream classification system and gave a section by section description of the stream classifications and reasons for them being classified in that way. His presentation included Virgil Creek and he identified areas of concern along both Fall and Virgil Creeks.

Scott Cook, NYSDEC - Syracuse, followed Tom with a somewhat broader discussion of NYS DEC programs and water quality monitoring. He talked about toxic spills, aquatic habitat restoration in Cayuga Inlet, the NYS Priority Waterbodies List (PWL), and the DEC's Rotating Intensive Basin Studies (RIBS) program. He also summarized the Finger Lakes Monitoring Program which has three sites on Cayuga Lake that are regularly sampled for turbitiy, temperature, PH, dissolved oxygen, total phosphorus and nitrates. Scott and Tom then helped those attending address the issue of citizen-based monitoring in the watershed, including giving brief descriptions of the Citizens Statewide Lake Assessment Program (CSLAP) and mentioning the Adopt a Stream program and the activities of groups such as Trout Unlimited and the Izack Walton League.

Steve Peningroth then led those attending in a brief discussion of biological monitoring and gave an overview of the upcoming series of workshops (sponsored by the FCWC) on stream monitoring.

Next Meeting

The next meeting was scheduled for Tuesday, February 15, 2000 with Virgil as a target location. Announcements will be mailed in advance of the meeting.

Closing

Sharon and Steve thanked everyone for attending. Several people stayed afterwards discussing the watershed and opportunities for the FCWC to make a difference.