The Lake Ontario Shoreline Resident Information Folders are packed with tools and resources for maintaining a resilient shoreline. Credit: Megan Kocher/NYSG

Contact:

Megan Kocher, NYSG Great Lakes Outreach Coordinator, E: mk2236@cornell.edu, P: (716) 645-3011

NYSG-developed resource folders empower waterfront property owners with tools and information for shoreline management and hazards preparedness

Oswego, NY, March 23, 2023 - Residents along the southern Lake Ontario coast in Wayne County, New York, are faced with the unique challenges that come with owning or residing at lakefront property. Lake Ontario’s naturally dynamic processes pose risks such as flooding and erosion for which shoreline residents need to be prepared. It is crucial that residents have easy access to information that can help them manage these risks and properly care for their portion of the shoreline.

In 2022, New York Sea Grant, in partnership with the Wayne County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD), compiled new and existing resources of use to property owners into “Lake Ontario Shoreline Resident Information Folders.” Filled with expert-reviewed information about topics such as weather and climate, coastal processes, and water levels, these folders are designed to empower residents with information needed to protect and manage a lakefront property in an environmentally-friendly way. On a broader scale, this public outreach helps to build more resilient coastal communities.

At workshops during the summer of 2022, the Wayne County SWCD handed the resource folders to 532 Lake Ontario shoreline residents. Approximately 1,700 folders are planned for distribution to additional Wayne County shoreline residents in 2023.

New York Sea Grant develops resource folders to empower waterfront property owners and provide them with tools and information needed for managing their shoreline.

Partners: Wayne County Soil and Water Conservation District

Funding: New York State Environmental Protection Fund under authority of the New York Ocean and Great Lakes Ecosystem Conservation Act


More Info: New York Sea Grant

New York Sea Grant (NYSG), a cooperative program of Cornell University and the State University of New York (SUNY), is one of 34 university-based programs under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Sea Grant College Program.

Since 1971, NYSG has represented a statewide network of integrated research, education and extension services promoting coastal community economic vitality, environmental sustainability and citizen awareness and understanding about the State’s marine and Great Lakes resources.

Through NYSG’s efforts, the combined talents of university scientists and extension specialists help develop and transfer science-based information to many coastal user groups—businesses and industries, federal, state and local government decision-makers and agency managers, educators, the media and the interested public.

The program maintains Great Lakes offices at Cornell University, SUNY Buffalo, SUNY Oswego and the Wayne County Cooperative Extension office in Newark. In the State's marine waters, NYSG has offices at Stony Brook University in Long Island, Brooklyn College and Cornell Cooperative Extension in NYC and Kingston in the Hudson Valley.

For updates on Sea Grant activities: www.nyseagrant.org has RSS, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube links. NYSG offers a free e-list sign up via www.nyseagrant.org/nycoastlines for its flagship publication, NY Coastlines/Currents, which is published quarterly.