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Author Topic: Welcome Seneca River / Erie Canal Neighbors to the Discussion  (Read 15 times)

Doug K

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Welcome Seneca River / Erie Canal Neighbors to the Discussion
« on: June 25, 2023, 01:20:06 pm »
We, my wife Sandy & I, used to live along an unsafe Earthen Canal Embankment in Monroe County... and we traded that for full-time living along the Upper Seneca River.

We had to get used to having NYS as a neighbor, as they owned the Erie Canal that was behind that unsafe embankment dam and the Empire Trail that ran along the canal main channel.

And now we moved to a new home, new retirement lifestyle but we still have to deal with a few NYS agencies who share the same space along the Seneca River. That includes the Seneca River sections that were changed in the 1920s to enlarge the Erie Canal to a more commercial sized waterway. and also the sections of the Seneca River that have been abandoned, bypassed when the Erie Canal made the "big cut" along what is now the Northern Montezuma Preserve.

We have the New York Power Authority as neighbors, they own and operate the NYS Canal Corporation and also are the CHAMPIONS of the Reimagine the Canals Program that is slowly turning the Erie Canal Corridor, from Waterway to trail, into a more recreational centered destination for New Yorkers and everyone from around the world. NYPA is a main energy company and is serious about safety along the Canal System and also insuring they do the right thing environmentally, they have several active programs dealing with invasive species issues along the NYS Canal System.

REIMAGINE THE CANALS - https://ecna.us/reimagine/


- NYPA / NYS Canal Corporation Invasive Species Programs -

Earthen Embankment Management - https://www.nyscanalintegrity.org/

General Invasive Species Programs - https://www.canals.ny.gov/community/environmental/Invasive_Species.html


Just about every agency that releases water from the western Finger Lakes, is now a neighbor. Cottage associations upstream flood us with every major rainfall. And there are a few smaller power generation companies that have strategic releases of water, that threaten to put our dock underwater everytime we see an inch or two of rain. We are starting to see the pattern though and can get our boat moved around as needed now as each lake empties their overflow down to the Seneca-Erie Canal here in Central NY.

We also have the New York State DEC (multiple Regions), along with the Dept of Fish & Wildlife, under the DEC Bureau of Wildlife. These folks try to manage the issues in the waters, along the waters, and with visitors to the waters and surrounding lands. Our Neighbor to the west is the Howland Island preserve, where a DEC Field office is located.

And of course, Mother Nature is our neighbor. Water flows downhill, and we were told to expect "some flooding" and as 'new kids on the block' we took a wait & see attitude. Didn't quite expect 7 FEET of CHANGE in the Seneca River "tide" but NYPA and the NYS Canal Folks are starting to work on that by getting communication working to prevent the flooding issues many of us see.

And let's NOT forget the other part of living in the middle of nature... fish to catch in the river our great neighbors and tasty too. And we have seen more kinds of wildlife here than we have ever seen in our lives. It's like living in an ever-changing wild kingdom. Ducks, Eagles, 1000s of Birds... and Fishers, Beavers, Otters, and Muskrats vie for food along the shoreline with the Minks and Blue Herons.

Every season is better than the last, we are in our first summer, after a nice Autumn and busy Winter.



And hopefully many of you reading this FIRST POST of our new ECNA Board will use this Forum as part of an open discussion with ALL of these agencies. We have the ear of the New York State agencies, hopefully we can start to discuss issues seen downstream from agencies and associations on Keuka & Canandaigua Lakes, and on Seneca & Cayuga Lakes as well.

Maybe we can start to find out why Oneida Lake has to have it's water level regulated to NINE INCHES overall while the Seneca River basin is allowed to change to SEVEN FEET from min to max levels.

Please follow the guidelines of the ECNA Forum, we suggest you sign-up as a Member so you can view the other Forum Boards we have that are not open to guests & the general public. And lets start the conversations up about issues we see and how we can find the right state or federal agencies to help our particular Erie Canal Neighborhood out.

The Seneca River - Erie Canal section of the Erie Canal National Heritage Corridor is one of the most unique there is... 







MORE LINKS:

https://eriecanalway.org/application/files/4716/6611/7638/6_WTGuide2E_Cayuga-Seneca_p214-240.pdf

https://www.gofingerlakes.org/locations/cayuga-seneca-canal-trail/
« Last Edit: June 25, 2023, 01:29:11 pm by Doug K »
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Neighbor greg

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Re: Welcome Seneca River / Erie Canal Neighbors to the Discussion
« Reply #1 on: June 26, 2023, 02:13:55 pm »
Thank you an excellent statement of the situation
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Doug K

  • ECNA Co-Founder
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Re: Welcome Seneca River / Erie Canal Neighbors to the Discussion
« Reply #2 on: June 26, 2023, 04:16:13 pm »
Greg, we use a term here... perzactly!

It appears that a new monitoring station was added/installed on the Seneca River by Mosquito Point, another in the USGS wide array of water level sensors for the Seneca River Corridor. But it doesn't have any set min or max levels yet, I was told by NYSCC that the aim is 372' but is allowed to rise to 379' in certain situations. That's 7 feet overall and it appears that most Finger Lakes upstream, who dump water into our bavkyards have about 20% of that... these min & max levels allowed are separated by 10 - 20".

So the question is simple, and we all need to ask the 'powers to be' :

Can these minimum & maximum water levels, used for water releases, be changed so that upstream water sources could hold a bit more water, to slow the releases over a few days, so the whole system can recover?

Seneca River is designated as a Floodway, but doesn't need to be if the water is managed properly.. don't you think?

Let's get the Seneca - Erie Neighbors organized now, so we can work some solutions from these opportunities for improvement.  The ECNA does have the ear of NYPA & the NYS Canal Corporation, and a link to these posts have been sent to CEOs in both organizations.

The NYS DEC has also been sent links to the posts about Water Chestnut issues... that's a big issue and only getting bigger with time and inactivity by ALL parties who could fix the issue, or at least try to...

Read this post:

https://ecna.createaforum.com/seneca-river-erie-canal-community-discussion/time-to-get-serious-about-invasive-water-chestnuts-around-howland-island-seneca-/

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