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Friday, June 22, 2018
Fourth-of-July-in-the-Chautauqua---Lake-Erie-Region
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Wednesday, June 13, 2018
Tuesday, June 05, 2018
Herbicide Treatment On Chautauqua Lake To Begin June 11
The Post-Journal
Following
the completion of impact statements and requirements from the state
Department of Environmental Conservation, dates of herbicide application
on Chautauqua Lake have been scheduled, the Chautauqua Lake Partnership
announced Saturday.
Ellery
served as the lead agency in hopes of getting herbicide use as an
options for several towns and villages and was required to facilitate a
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement.
"Targeted
use of herbicides now rejoins weed harvesting in the Chautauqua Lake
weed management toolkit as in other parts of New York state and the
country after what has effectively been a 25-year absence," the CLP said
in a statement.
Following
the completion of the SEIS, the state DEC issued permits for herbicide
use on 191 acres of the lake, covering eight of the 11 proposed
treatment areas. Locations not approved, according to the partnership,
include near Bemus Point, between the ferry landing and Interstate 86
bridge; Point Stockholm/Greenhurst; and Stow, between Tom's Point
wetlands and the I-86 bridge.
The CLP said herbicide treatment will take place Monday, June 11, and Tuesday, June 12.
Final
notifications, including areas to be treated and water use
restrictions, will be distributed by letter to property owners around
the lake and downstream and others specified in the permits, through
media notices and sign postings at access points.
In
its statement, the CLP said, "Herbicides were used by the DEC and the
Chautauqua Lake Association in conjunction with CLA weed harvesting to
successfully manage invasive weeds in Chautauqua Lake from the mid to
late 1900s. A DEC-required Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement
supportive of such treatments, the only such requirement in the state,
was completed in 1990.
"Due to "onerous permit conditions and threats of lawsuits by local opponents the CLA ceased treatments in 1992."
A
limited, 70-acre Burtis Bay treatment by the town of Ellicott and
supported by the CLP, was successfully completed in 2002. However, the
partnership said DEC "then required an update to the 1990 SEIS before
further permits would be granted."
The
CLP supported a 30-acre herbicide treatment by Ellery and Bemus Point, a
DEC supervised Data Collection Project, in three areas of Bemus Bay in
June 2017. No weed harvesting was required in the Bay after that
treatment.
"Project
results, including the effectiveness of invasive weed control and the
success of potential impact mitigations, were reported to the DEC for
use in the 2018 SEIS," the CLP said in its statement.
The
Draft SEIS was issued by Ellery on Feb. 8 of this year. Copies of the
Draft SEIS and all Appendices were provided to the DEC, the villages of
Lakewood, Celoron and Bemus Point, and the towns of Busti, Ellicott and
North Harmony, Chautauqua County and 45 other agencies and
organizations. A public hearing was held on March 1 to obtain verbal
comments and written comments were accepted through March 16.
More
than 800 comments from agencies, organizations and individuals were
addressed in the Final SEIS issued by Ellery on April 5. The State
Environmental Quality Review Act process was completed April 17; the
total cost exceeded $250,000.
On
a parallel path to SEIS development and SEQRA completion, nine permit
applications for herbicide treatment along eleven Chautauqua Lake
shoreline communities were submitted to the DEC by the towns of Ellery,
Ellicott, Busti and North Harmony and the village of Celoron on March
16. Letters describing treatment plans were sent to over 2000 shoreline
property owners with only 10 letters of objection returned to the DEC.
The
partnership said permits have been issued and "targeted herbicide
treatments will be completed in the eight permitted treatment areas on
June 11 and June 12 to the extent individual and municipality funding is
available."
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Tuesday, May 22, 2018
PGA event returns to Chautauqua County in July
CLYMER, N.Y. — Community partners announced Monday the return of the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, or LECOM Health Challenge.
The annual event is on the PGA's Web.com
Tour, and will take place at Peek'n Peak Resort in Clymer this summer.
LECOM is now in its third year of a four-year deal.
The event is once again expected to draw
thousands of visitors, and will be broadcast on the Golf Channel.
Golfers from across the nation will take part in what's known as ‘the
path to the PGA,’ vying for a piece of a $600,000 purse, with $108,000
awarded to the winner.
"There's something about certain golf courses
that seem to produce dramatic finishes, and so far we are two for two
here at the Peek. I mean it's been incredible,” said Bo DeHuff, PGA Tour
director.
The event runs July 2-8, with the first round of competition teeing off on July 5.
PGA event returns to Chautauqua County in July
By Mark Goshgarian
|
May 21, 2018 @6:55 PM
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Friday, April 27, 2018
Funding for CLP herbicide treatment up in the air
Being in the middle of a budget, legislators are saying it is not that simple.
Jim Cirbus, CLP board president, requested $500,000 when he
spoke to county legislators Wednesday evening in Mayville. The funds
would be used for herbicide treatments for the removal of invasive weeds
in the lake. The process would be permitted and supervised by the state
Department of Environmental Conservation and carried out by
participating towns and villages surrounding the lake.
Cirbus said the funding is needed by early May. However,
since the money was not part of the 2018 budget, an emergency payment
would need to be made.
“The CLP and its many supporters
want the county to give back some of this property tax revenue to
Chautauqua Lake and fund partnership projects similar to the millions
funded to other lake organizations over the past years,” Cirbus said Wednesday. “Specifically, your municipalities desperately need funding for 2018 herbicide treatments at this time.”
Cirbus asked several legislators, including Pierre Chagnon,
R-Bemus Point; Lisa Vanstrom, R-Jamestown; Jay Gould, R-Ashville;
Legislature Chairman PJ Wendel, R-Lakewood; and David Himelein,
R-Findley Lake, to sponsor the resolution.
“Now it’s the county’s turn again
to ‘take the baton’ back and fund their lakeside municipalities so that
together we may all successfully cross the finish line,” Cirbus said.
Vanstrom said the legislators were named because of the
geographic region they represent. While she said she supports the CLP’s
work, the budget situation is tough at this point.
“We’re in the middle of a budget cycle,” she said. “I
do believe we need to use all the tools available to us in the lake,
and herbicides are probably underused. However, we already voted on this
budget and there is no money in the budget for it.”
She said the county took a hit this year due to the $3.8
million that had to be paid out for juvenile detention that came as a
surprise.
“That was a shocker,” Vanstrom said.
Wendel said the timing of the request is problematic. He
said the CLP is doing good work, but the funding situation is a
difficult one.
“It’s not just an easy draft legislation and hand it over,” Wendel said. “There’s
more to it. At this part of the cycle, it’s hard to wrap our heads
around anything. Yes, I support it, but it’s a difficult time for our
budget.”
The CLP, an all-volunteer nonprofit consisting of about 425
members, has updated a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement first
written by the county in 1990. That was part of a Macrophyte Management
Strategy, a study which concluded herbicides were acceptable for
widespread use in Chautauqua Lake, Cirbus said.
“We appreciate the efforts of
previous and current county legislators and executives to return
herbicides to Chautauqua Lake’s weed management toolkit after their
successful use for over 35 years,” Cirbus said.
The town of Ellery, acting as a lead agency, completed a
State Environmental Quality Review as part of the state’s requirements.
As a result, herbicide treatment is available in 11 communities,
including the towns of Ellery, Ellicott, Busti and North Harmony, as
well as villages of Bemus Point and Celoron.
Cirbus said nine permits for herbicide use have been
submitted to the DEC. He said the CLP anticipates the permits to be
issued in early May, necessitating the emergency funding by the
legislature.
“Treatment contracts are being
prepared, herbicides are being procured and logistics are being planned
for May treatments, which are necessary for optimal weed management and
also for minimized impacts,” Cirbus said.
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Thursday, April 12, 2018
Spring in the Chautauqua Lake Erie Region
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Tuesday, April 10, 2018
Chautauqua Lake, a Great Lake Seeking a Greater Future
|
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Ellery Takes ‘A Huge Step’ Toward Lake Treatment
Jim
Wehrfritz, Chautauqua Lake Partnership vice president, said the final
Chautauqua Lake Herbicide Treatment Supplemental Environmental Impact
Statement was accepted last week at a Town of Ellery Board meeting. The
town of Ellery took up the lead on the project, with sponsorship from
the Chautauqua Lake Partnership.
The SEIS is a document that addresses the impacts related to herbicide use in Chautauqua Lake.
Wehrfritz said the draft of the SEIS for herbicide use was issued on Feb. 8 with a public comment period starting on March 1. The written comment deadline, which was extended, ended on March 16.
“All of this is being done in the name of the town of Ellery,” Wehrfritz said. “They’re very courageous. They’ve provided the leadership for the whole lake.”
Wehrfritz said the process took an effort of about $250,000 in a six-month timeframe. He said there were about 1,500 volunteer hours put into the project. The reason the process was undertaken, he said, was because the original SEIS was completed in 1990 and the DEC said no more permits for applying herbicides would be granted until the SEIS was updated. In 1986, the DEC and the Chautauqua Lake Association signed an agreement which required a supplement for Chautauqua Lake to the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, which is a different scenario than any other lake in the state.
Wehrfritz said last year, the Chautauqua Lake Parternship received a special permit called a data collection project from the DEC, which is different than other permits that were received in previous years. However, he said the DEC would not issue any more special permits such as the data collection project permits until the SEIS was updated.
The Macrophyte Management Strategy said it is acceptable to use herbicides in 50 percent of the lake, Wehrfritz said. He said part of the scope of the MMS was to update the SEIS, but that was “pulled” from the scope in 2016. In that case, the owness to update the SEIS was on the entity seeking a permit.
“The town approval of this was a huge step,” Werhfritz said.
He said the next step is the issuing of funds by involved agencies, which should be done in the next few weeks. Following the issuance of findings will come the approval of permits which will then be followed by herbicide treatments.
Wehrfritz said nine herbicide permit applications were submitted to DEC by four towns including Ellery, Ellicott, Busti and North Harmony and one village, Celoron, on March 16.
Wehrfritz said the CLP is grateful for $95,000 that was recently announced by Assemblyman Andy Goodell, R-Jamestown, and state Sen. Cathy Young, R-Olean. He said it is the first significant funding the partnership has seen from the government.
Wehrfritz added that everyone involved in the CLP are volunteers and do not receive salaries.
The SEIS is a document that addresses the impacts related to herbicide use in Chautauqua Lake.
Wehrfritz said the draft of the SEIS for herbicide use was issued on Feb. 8 with a public comment period starting on March 1. The written comment deadline, which was extended, ended on March 16.
“All of this is being done in the name of the town of Ellery,” Wehrfritz said. “They’re very courageous. They’ve provided the leadership for the whole lake.”
Wehrfritz said the process took an effort of about $250,000 in a six-month timeframe. He said there were about 1,500 volunteer hours put into the project. The reason the process was undertaken, he said, was because the original SEIS was completed in 1990 and the DEC said no more permits for applying herbicides would be granted until the SEIS was updated. In 1986, the DEC and the Chautauqua Lake Association signed an agreement which required a supplement for Chautauqua Lake to the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, which is a different scenario than any other lake in the state.
Wehrfritz said last year, the Chautauqua Lake Parternship received a special permit called a data collection project from the DEC, which is different than other permits that were received in previous years. However, he said the DEC would not issue any more special permits such as the data collection project permits until the SEIS was updated.
The Macrophyte Management Strategy said it is acceptable to use herbicides in 50 percent of the lake, Wehrfritz said. He said part of the scope of the MMS was to update the SEIS, but that was “pulled” from the scope in 2016. In that case, the owness to update the SEIS was on the entity seeking a permit.
“The town approval of this was a huge step,” Werhfritz said.
He said the next step is the issuing of funds by involved agencies, which should be done in the next few weeks. Following the issuance of findings will come the approval of permits which will then be followed by herbicide treatments.
Wehrfritz said nine herbicide permit applications were submitted to DEC by four towns including Ellery, Ellicott, Busti and North Harmony and one village, Celoron, on March 16.
Wehrfritz said the CLP is grateful for $95,000 that was recently announced by Assemblyman Andy Goodell, R-Jamestown, and state Sen. Cathy Young, R-Olean. He said it is the first significant funding the partnership has seen from the government.
Wehrfritz added that everyone involved in the CLP are volunteers and do not receive salaries.
For More Information On Chautauqua Lake Real Estate and Living Visit: www.chautauqualakehomes.com
Sunday, April 01, 2018
It’s The Official Start Of Fishing Season
As the weather begins to turn for the better, so does the fishing. Early spring brings ice-off and crappie fishing, jumping trout in local streams, catch-and-release bass fishing, and the distant sounds of mature gobblers waking up all in earshot throughout Chautauqua County woodlots.
Ice-off always signals the time to go crappie fishing. That looks to be a bit down the calendar road. We are about two weeks behind schedule in regard to when the ice is generally off the lake. Fishing is always good after ice-off, but it does come with many risks. Between floating debris and barely above-freezing water temperatures, ice-off fishing isn’t for faint of heart.
More years ago than I would care to remember, my childhood friends and I would stand on the shores of Chautauqua Lake at on the edges of the canals catching buckets full of crappie.
As a young man, I would spend hours on the shores of Chautauqua Lake and catch crappie after crappie. As months turn into years, our ideas of a good time, really didn’t involve a fishing rod and smelly worms. Spring meant cars and girls. The fishing rods would gather dust in the closet for a few years.
Like our childhood, many things have changed, but others have stayed the same. The same is true with the spring fishing on Chautauqua Lake. First, the days of taking buckets filled with crappie are gone; there are currently limits. Always make sure to know creel limits before heading to the water. Currently the creel limit for crappie is nine-inch minimum and 25 per day limit. Secondly, a drive up and down the lake’s shoreline will find few kids on bikes with fishing poles strapped across the handle bars.
Many folks believe that calico are native to Chautauqua Lake, but that is not actually true. Calico bass were introduced back in the late 20s and early 30s by the DEC. These first fish actually were pulled out of Sodus Bay on Lake Ontario.
The gift of crappie to Chautauqua Lake almost 100 years ago is one of the best the state has given local anglers.
While the sight of kids fishing from shore isn’t as abundant as years gone by, there is still one thing for sure. There are folks who every year want to be the first boat on the water.
One of things I have learned, and all but guarantee, if you want to get a kid hooked on fishing, take them when the crappie are biting. When you find a school of hungry crappie, there is nothing that will keep a child’s attention than waiting for their bobber to go down. Then watching them fight their catch will be a memory they will keep for a lifetime.
That is all well and good, but a shakedown cruise can be interesting if you haven’t taken the time to get your boat ready for the water.
Some folks work on their boats themselves and have the knowledge to do so, but for the record I am not one of them. With that said, it’s important to understand your limitations before you tackle a marine project. If you don’t feel comfortable with fixing your boat, there are several excellent marinas around the lake.
Here some tips you may want to consider when you take your boat in for repairs.
In today’s economy, a tight budget is expected. Just make this clear before the job begins. The shop may be able to suggest ways to complete the project in stages. Always ask how much similar repairs have cost in the past, and what kinds of problems are possible along the way.
Have the marina write it up or take your chances. Get a written estimate before work begins, and remember that it is based on an approximation of how much the job will cost. With boats, it’s not unusual to have unforeseen problems crop up later, so taking your frustrations out on your repairman won’t help. You can always ask the shop to obtain your authorization before proceeding with unforeseen repairs or when work goes beyond the estimated price. Ask the repairman for evidence of the repair, and ask to get back old or damaged parts. If you’re not comfortable with the first estimate, get a second opinion from another mechanic.
Once you approve the estimate, a work order should be drawn up. Ask for a target completion date and write this into the work order. This is a big one. Most marinas are busy and get even busier as the season goes on, so make sure your timeline is the same as the marina’s.
Keep everyone in the loop. Always be sure the actual mechanic working on your boat has a copy of your work order when the project begins.
Understand that when tackling large jobs, boat repair shops often require payments at various stages of completion. Be sure to verify that each stage has been completed before paying.
Working on boats can be an interesting road to travel. That is why I leave it to the professionals. In my many years on the water, I have never seen a tow truck.
I have learned the over the years to always keep a couple extra props on hand. The bottom structure of Chautauqua Lake will change from a soft bottom to a rock bottom in a blink of an eye. It doesn’t take much to tear up a plastic trolling motor prop. For the price of them, it is always good to carry a spare.
As far as main engine prop, the same goes. While not as easy to change out on the water, your main engine prop is vital to a successful trip, or your safe return to shore as it would be. Changing out a trolling motor prop can be as simple as pulling out the motor shaft and switching out the prop. Main motor props may a bit more difficult and should be done on dry land, but if one takes time to practice the switch, often times it can be done without getting wet.
A quick note, it seems I forgot to include my email address for the youth essay contest. Send essays to crobbins60@gmail.com. Sorry for the mixup.
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