Last Revised 3/02/01

Cayuga Lake Watershed Steward

The Cayuga Lake Watershed Steward serves as a facilitator and coordinator for the watershed.  The role of the Watershed Steward may change over time and as the needs for education, communication and leadership change with the watershed.  Specific roles include:

• Provide a highly visible source for citizens to seek information or referrals to the best source for information about the watershed.
• Provide a common presence at many meetings throughout the watershed to facilitate communication between groups.
• Assist and engage citizen participation in the development of the watershed management plan.
• Facilitate collaborations and coalitions within the watershed related to specific issues.
• Help identify emerging issues and problems within the watershed.
• Assist in structuring the Cayuga Lake Watershed Network and other sub-watershed groups and providing leadership for citizen and organizational involvement in watershed issues.
• Actively pursue funding opportunities and foster partnerships to implement the emerging management plan, maximize water quality improvement activities, provide education and outreach to a variety of audiences, address appropriate infrastructure enhancement needs, improve land use practices including agriculture, and conduct much needed research.
• Contribute to the research dialogue by encouraging research that is relevant and useful in the Cayuga Lake Watershed including community-based research, citizen monitoring, agricultural best management practices research, and other practical approaches.   Additionally, work with agency and institutional researchers to determine existing research data that could and should be made available to the public.

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CLW IO 2004