Contact:

Roy Widrig, NYSG Great Lakes Coastal Processes and Hazards Specialist, E: rlw294@cornell.edu, P: (315) 234-1916

Dunkirk, NY, July 29, 2024 - On Friday, July 26th 2024, a collaborative group of agencies, municipalities and not-for-profits met at the Northern Chautauqua Conservation Club in Dunkirk, New York for a Shoreline Erosion Management Workshop. 

Hosted by Chautauqua County and the City of Dunkirk, the workshop welcomed over 25 shoreline residents and land managers for an education session on Lake Erie’s coastal processes and geology (Roy Widrig, New York Sea Grant), Lake Erie permitting (Lisa Czechowicz and Beth Geldard, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation), Coastal Consistency Review (Tanna LeGere, New York State Department of State), and recent shoreline project in Dunkirk (Cassandra Pinkoski, Chautauqua County Soil & Water Conservation District and Joanna Panasiewicz, Lake Erie Watershed Protection Alliance.)

After the information session, the group toured shoreline projects along the Dunkirk waterfront, including remediation projects at Point Gratiot, Wright Beach Park, Dunkirk Lighthouse, and the living shoreline at Bart’s Cove Marina. 

Presentations

• Lake Erie Permitting: Tips for Submitting Better Applications (pdf)
Lisa M. Czechowicz, DEC Region 9, Regional Permit Administrator

• Coastal Consistency Review (pdf)
Tanna LeGere, NYSDOS, Supervisor, Consistency Review Unit

• Local Projects to Protect Lake Erie (pdf)
Cassandra Pinkoski, Grants Specialist, Chautauqua County Soil & Water Conservation District; Chair, Lake Erie Watershed Protection Alliance

• Great Lakes 101: Lake Erie (pdf)
Roy Widrig, NYSG Great Lakes Coastal Processes and Hazards Specialist


Cassie lecturing at Point Gratiot, Dunkirk, NY, a Lake Erie lakefront park with beach, playground, picnic area, pavilions, ballfields. Credit: NYSG/R. Widrig


Waterfront wetland in Dunkirk, NY. Credit: NYSG/R. Widrig


Point Gratiot, Dunkirk, NY. Credit: NYSG/R. Widrig


(At left) View from the lighthouse, Dunkirk, NY; (At right) A living shoreline at Bart's Cove, Dunkirk, NY. Credit: NYSG/R. Widrig


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, Rochester Institute of Technology, SUNY Oswego, the Wayne County Cooperative Extension office in Newark, and in Watertown. In the State's marine waters, NYSG has offices at Stony Brook University and with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Nassau County on Long Island, in Queens, at Brooklyn College, with Cornell Cooperative Extension in NYC, in Bronx, with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County in Kingston, and with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Westchester County in Elmsford.

For updates on Sea Grant activities: www.nyseagrant.org has Facebook, Twitter/X, 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.