Monitoring Program

Landcover Project:

The completion of Landcover Project now provides a keystone data source that will be used in water quality modeling, open space protection, further research, restoration, habitat protection, land use decisions and educational programming.  This data set is being used by several entities including but not limited to the Watershed Council and its member municipalities, Finger Lakes Community College, The Nature Conservancy, Finger Lakes Land Trust, Ontario and Yates Counties.  The Towns of Gorham and Canandaigua have directly incorporated this data set into their ongoing open space protection efforts.

This rich mosaic of land cover represents the habitat for a wide array of plants and animals.  Over 55 community types, which included unique and mixed (transitional) classes, were distinguished throughout the field work process.  The list below summarizes this complex mosaic into six broad classes:

Ø      Forest Land                              41%

Ø      Agriculture                                27%

Ø      Old Fields/Shrub lands              16%

Ø      Residential                                8%

Ø      Wetlands                                  5%

Ø      Commercial                              1%

 Significant changes from previous estimates include an increase in the residential and old field/shrub lands categories and decreases in Agricultural lands.  Natural and human dominated communities are constantly in transition either through natural succession or human influence.  The Canandaigua Lake region is one of the few areas of upstate New York that is experiencing substantial growth.  Periodically updating this data set will be critical to keeping the data current and useful. 

Sucker Brook Comprehensive Protection Plan

The water quality monitoring program has documented that Sucker Brook has the one of the highest rates of phosphorus, bacteria and sediment entering the lake.  Over the last three years we have received substantial grant dollars to improve the quality of water entering the lake from Sucker Brook.  The Council has been very successful in obtaining state and federal dollars to improve the quality of the brook.  To date we have approval for approximately $225,000 in grant dollars that will be matched locally with $225,000 to implement a series of projects.    

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The Agricultural Program

Over 90% of the watershed farmers are participating in a voluntary Agricultural Environmental Management program.  The program is farmer-led by a committee of eleven diverse farmers and farmers pay up to 25% of the costs of implementing best management practices.  Several hundred thousand dollars worth of state grant money has been provided to match the farmers’ contributions.  [Click here from for Information]

Capital Improvement Projects

State and Federal funding has and will continue to be pursued to undertake various capital intensive projects such as: extension of sewer lines, improvement of roads to minimize road bank erosion, improved recreational access, salt storage barns, restoration of spawning habitat in Naples Creek along with many others.  Continued inter-municipal and lake organization support will be critical in obtaining these competitive grant dollars.  

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