(At left) A low-head dam during high flow in Onondaga County, NY. (At right) An earthen “ghost dam” in Cortland County, NY. Credit: Roy Widrig/NYSG
Contact:
Roy Widrig, NYSG Great Lakes Coastal Processes and Hazards Specialist, E: rlw294@cornell.edu, P: (315) 234-1916
NYSG is partnering with state and federal agencies to advance safety awareness around New York’s dams
Oswego, NY, May 27, 2025 - Recent significant flooding events from extreme rainfall have overtopped or destroyed unmapped dams (“ghost” dams) in the Northeast. New York Sea Grant (NYSG) undertook an evaluation of the extent of these dams in the Black River Watershed and evaluated the amount and accessibility of outreach material related to dam safety.
NYSG and the New York State Water Resources Institute (WRI) were awarded a Cooperating Technical Partners grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in 2022 to evaluate the state of dam safety outreach and education in New York and to map the extent of ghost dams in the Black River Watershed. Phase I of this work was completed in partnership with the WRI, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and FEMA in 2024.
Resources were collected from governmental, not-for-profit organizations, academic and media agencies and recorded to a central repository, with case studies of dam failures, restorations, and removals combined into an ArcGIS Story Map for public use. Inventory of ghost dams within the Black River Watershed was completed by WRI. The Story Map, final report, and ghost dam inventory were used to assess the need for and creation of additional dam safety outreach material for New York State residents to be completed in Phase II of this project, continuing the Cooperating Technical Partners partnership between NYSG and FEMA. The Story Map of this effort is publicly accessible at https://arcg.is/9OPzi0.
Project Partners/Funders:
• New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
• New York State Water Resources Institute at Cornell University
• Funding: Federal Emergency Management Agency Cooperating Technical Partners Program
More Info: New York Sea Grant
Established in 1966, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s National Sea Grant College Program promotes the informed stewardship of coastal resources in 34 joint federal/state university-based programs in every U.S. coastal state (marine and Great Lakes) and Puerto Rico. The Sea Grant model has also inspired similar projects in the Pacific region, Korea and Indonesia.
Since 1971, New York Sea Grant (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.
NYSG historically leverages on average a 3 to 6-fold return on each invested federal dollar, annually. We benefit from this, as these resources are invested in Sea Grant staff and their work in communities right here in New York.
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.
New York Sea Grant, one of the largest of the state Sea Grant programs, is a cooperative program of the State University of New York (SUNY) and Cornell University. 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, follow us on social media (Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, Bluesky, LinkedIn, and YouTube). NYSG offers a free e-list sign up via www.nyseagrant.org/nycoastlines for its flagship publication, NY Coastlines/Currents, which it publishes 2-3 times a year.