Most times during the summer and fall, you’ll find the Eastern Lake Ontario Dune and Salmon River Stewards educating the public about the value and proper recreational use of the area’s vital environmental resources. This could be at one of the River’s access points or a state park, wildlife management area, nature preserve or natural area along the lakeshore. But, for the first time this past summer, the stewards began regularly documenting their experiences in an interactive blog, www.elodsrstewardprogram.blogspot.com.

Contributing to the blog encouraged the 2009 stewards to look at the resource areas in new ways. Although each blog entry was authored by one steward, all six stewards contributed content each week.

Chief Steward Greg Chapman says, “Thinking about what my weekly blog contributions would be prompted me to actively identify aspects of the area that might be overlooked or misunderstood by some visitors to the region, or that could be interesting to someone who had not previously experienced natural resource areas.”

Chapman and the other stewards blogged about the wildlife species they saw; reported interactions with kayakers, beach walkers, and anglers fishing for such species as freshly-stocked landlocked Atlantic salmon and steelhead; provided information on why the eastern shore of Lake Ontario is critical habitat for migrating and resident birds and what makes the Salmon River Falls Unique Area unique; and noting the impacts and influences their efforts are having on the greater community.

In an entry from June, Dune Steward Liz Wolff continues to prepare for summer usage at the bird sanctuary at Black Pond Wildlife Management Area/El Dorado Nature Preserve. Fellow steward Chapman wrote, “The eastern Lake Ontario shoreline provides important natural habitat for shorebirds that may call it home or are just stopping by on their way to more distant shores. Signs and string fencing have been installed to show the way around, and Liz is busy transplanting beach grass growing in the path to areas where it is more needed.”

“The product that the stewards produced is impressive,” says NYSG’s Dune and River Steward Coordinator Mary Penney. “Using new technology like this blog has proven to be a successful tool for reaching new audiences, and repackaging our already successful program. Stewardship has been a fantastic educational tool for our newfound E-audience as well as the stewards themselves.”

This was the second blog that highlighted a NYSG-managed program in as many years. After producing last summer’s “Shipboard & Shoreline Science on Lake Ontario,” the well-received daily blog for Centers for Oceans Science Education Excellence (COSEE) week-long teacher training, NYSG’s Web Content Manager Paul C. Focazio worked with Penney to create something similar for the Eastern Lake Ontario Dune/Salmon River Steward Program.

Focazio says, “It has been a perfect fit to have the dune and river stewards document their experiences with the public throughout the summer and fall. We’ve offered Web surfers, especially those away from these resources, a first-hand account of, among other things, touring the beaches that provide public access along eastern Lake Ontario and the Salmon River Falls Unique Area.”

Looking back on the experience, Wolff says, “My favorite part of the blog was showing that the stewards are multifaceted individuals. The blog is just one more way for us to reach out and educate the public about the natural resource areas in our own voices.”

And what says the public, the users of this blog? Kavin Bahler, from Williamsville, NY, said, “The Eastern Lake Ontario Dune and Salmon River Steward blog is wonderful. It gives great information that always keeps me coming back for more.” Sarah Howey, from Waverly, NY, added, “This blog is an informative and interesting peek into the efforts of the stewards to educate the public and to protect this unique part of the world.”

Kyle Teufel, from Syracuse, NY, commented, “The blog was a great way to inform someone like myself, who didn’t know much about the River, about life at the River and the River community. I thought it was very cool how the bloggers wrote about the children and the educational programs. It’s great to see that [the stewards and the kids] are able to get outdoors and learn.”

— Paul C. Focazio and Mary Penney