Genesee River Wilds President Thomas Rhett with some of the new signage at a river access site in Allegany County. Credit: Genesee RiverWatch

Visitors to the river will notice something new this spring and summer, a series of mile markers and reflective signs to help guide kayakers

NOTE: This effort is related to a 2017-18 Great Lakes small grant funded through New York Sea Grant and the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation. The project was led by the Genesee RiverWatch. More on that and other projects in the series at "NYSDEC and NY Sea Grant Announce $199,575 in Grants for Great Lakes Basin Projects."

— By The Wellsville Daily Reporter
 
Wellsville, NY, April 8, 2021 - It’s nearly kayaking season, and the Genesee River is more accessible than ever before. 

Visitors to the river will notice something new this spring and summer — a series of mile markers and reflective signs to help guide kayakers on their Genesee River adventures. 

The signage was installed late in the 2020 kayaking season. Arrowed takeout signs now alert kayakers of approaching Genesee River Wilds access sites, with markers indicating how many miles remain until the next takeout. 

“This was a great project with Genesee RiverWatch to help make our river safer and more accessible,” said Genesee River Wilds President Thomas Rhett. “By adding mile markers and reflective signs that are visible from the water, people can now confidently see where and when they should be getting off the river.” 

The signage project was undertaken in tandem with the launch of a Genesee River Blueway Map, which is now available to kayakers and canoeists.

The downloadable Overview Map displays current river access locations from Pennsylvania through Allegany County, all the way to Lake Ontario. A web-based Interactive Map gives users detailed information about each access point, including photos of the sites. Be on the lookout for printed copies of the Overview Map at river access points this year. 

Genesee RiverWatch partnered with the Genesee Valley Conservancy and Genesee River Wilds to update the Genesee River Blueway Trail Map, originally developed by Genesee River Wilds and the Genesee Valley Conservancy. The work was funded by a $25,000 grant from New York Sea Grant along with support from the Greater Allegany County Chamber of Commerce.  

Genesee River Wilds is a volunteer-driven, Allegany County-based non-profit that has established access points along the Genesee River Blueway throughout the county. It is dedicated to the restoration of the Genesee River through a blend of recreation and conservation. To learn more, visit geneseeriverwilds.com.


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, University at 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 Elmsford 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. Our program also produces an occasional e-newsletter, "NOAA Sea Grant's Social Media Review," via its blog, www.nyseagrant.org/blog.