| Doc. # 2008-
Issue/Agenda Committee
Cayuga Lake Watershed Network
May 1, 2008
Cayuga Lake Watershed Network Office, Interlaken, NY
Present: Brian Boerman, Roxy Johnston, Doug Haith,
Doug Young, Ruth Richardson, John Mawdsley
1. Ag Waste Solutions Presentation – Doug Young
Ag. Waste was developed by a subset of Cayuga Marketing dairy farmers
to explore further the science of manure handling. Concerned with
environmental impacts to the watershed, public regulations and motivated
to raise the industry standards Willet Dairy provided an initial
investment of $100,000 to begin this groups exploration of waste
management solutions. Doug presented a community digester project/concept
spearheaded by Cayuga Renewable Energy which was formed from a subset
of the Ag. Waste Solutions farmers. The short story on their proposal
is for a number of methane digesters located at large dairy farms
would utilize a pipeline that would transport the biogas to Auburn
where methane gas can be processed to provide several forms of energy.
Cayuga Renewable Energy would own and operate digesters and potentially
accept waste streams from other farms, who in turn would take back
manure by- products for land application. The digester designs are
based on European models (Bigaden (Denmark) which have the potential
to increase methane gas production versus other designs.
2. Watershed Model – Doug Haith
Corrections have been made to the watershed model developed by Doug
et. al.. Changes include the addition of cultural cropping practices,
manure handling practices and erosion controls established with
input from Cornell Cooperative Extension. Corn production considerations
include estimates for contour farming, rotations with hay and no-till
practices. The significant impact in these changes was a reduction
in the Phosphorus and erosion contributions to the watershed from
corn production and farmsteads. There was much discussion of the
output from the model and study of specific sub watersheds and land
use. The issues committee supports this watershed model and would
like Sharon to develop a proposal for public outreach and discussion.
The committee identified 2 models (Doug ‘s and Todd Walters)
and Roxy’s data working together to identify areas of improvement
and ground truth model findings.
Proposed Next meeting: 6/2 5pm @Chemung Trust
– Ithaca, NY
Suggested agenda items: Sharon watershed model
use proposal, Report card for the lake discussion, Todd Walter’s
work and how it fits with our interests? Committee discussion of
water sampling, CAFO operations, suggested direction for committee.
Submitted by, Brian Boerman, Chair
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