BIOLOGICAL FIELD STATION
R EPORTER
Spring/Summer 2001
Septic Systems Within 500 Feet
of Otsego Lake
In this Issue
• Septic Systems
are the top priority in the Lake
Management Plan. An approach to dealing with septic
systems, generally referred to
as onsite wastewater treatment
systems, consists of three main
parts: (1) an inventory of existing systems, (2) an assessment
of system performance, and (3)
an on-going management program for periodic inspections
and permits for construction and
operation. A GIS analysis has
been done incorporating data
from a 1995 survey, which included 50% of the existing sys-
• Stream Buffers
• NO WAKE Buoys
• BFS Summer Research
Team
• Can Milfoil Be Controlled
with Moths?
• Updates
Otsego Lake NO WAKE Buoys
Following the enactment of a
200´ no-wake zone local law
by each municipality surrounding the lake, a permit to place
buoys along the shoreline has
been approved by NYS Parks
and Recreation. A total of 16
buoys were purchased through
a DEC management plan
implementation grant and were
placed by the Biological Field
Station volunteer divers. Signs
will be located at the major boat
launch sites to inform boaters of
the new buoys and the
requirement they delineate.
❂
Located in Cooperstown and founded in 1968, the Biological Field Station is a unique facility serving the
Upper Susquehanna Watershed, Otsego County and the
immediate Cooperstown area. It is primarily a teaching
and research center for undergraduate and graduate
tems. Including soils, slopes,
and proximity to the lake, areas
of high risk for system problems were identified. Future
work includes obtaining additional survey data, doing a technical assessment of the highrisk areas, checking the performance of systems, and reviewing alternative management
practices. This work will be
overseen by Win McIntyre,
Otsego Lake Watershed Manager. The BFS intends to investigate phosphorus migration
from near-lake systems.
❂
Stream Buffers for Otsego Lake
Tributaries
A grant for $5,000 was
obtained from the Otsego
County Conservation
Association to be used as an
added incentive for the
USDA’s Conservation
Reserve Program (CRP).
The goal is to enroll 100
acres of wooded streamside
buffers into the CRP. The
target area includes the
tributary streams in the
northern part of the Otsego
Continued on page 2
students from across New York, the United States, and
Canada. Directed by Dr. Willard Harman and staffed with
talented, experienced professionals, the Biological Field
Station is presently the focal point for information about
issues affecting Lake Otsego and the Susquehanna River.
Do we have your correct address?
2001 BFS Summer Research Team
This recycled
paper is made
from 100% postconsumer fibers.
Each ton that is
produced saves, in
addition to a few
trees: 3.3 cubic
yards of landfill
space, 7,100
gallons of fresh
water and 4,100
kilowatt hours of
energy.
Sarah Groff and Holly Mehan
Dave Donnelly and Doug Hamilton
Faculty and Staff: Matt Albright - Water Quality Monitoring,
Bill Butts - Entomology/Ornithology, Doug Hamilton - Logistics, Bill Harman - Aquatic Ecology, Tom Horvath, Len
Sohacki -Limnology.
Post - Graduate Research: Dave Warner - Impacts of Otsego
Lake Alewife Fishery, Jeane Bennett O’Dea - New York State
Power Authority ROW vegetation analysis.
Graduate Students: Mark Cornwell - Trophic changes associated with re-establishing walleye in Otsego, Melinda LaBarre Project not yet determined, Paul Lord - Aquatic Macrophyte
Herbivory, Mike Stensland - Project not yet determined, Wesley
Tibbits - Telemetric study of Otsego Lake cold water fishery,
Laurie Trotta - Peck’s Lake Fishery.
Undergraduate Students: Bekka Brodie - NYS Power Authority right-of-way at Greenwoods Conservancy, Sorin Dahl - Biol
399, Independent Study, Dave Donnelly - Breeding bird census;
Upland sites, Joyce Green - PFCT at Greenwoods Conservancy,
Sarah Groff - Cooperstown Lake and Valley Garden Club at
Goodyear Swamp Sanctuary, Brian McDonnell - RC McWatters
Internship in the Aquatic Sciences, Mairi Miller - Madison
County Lake Macrophytes, Gordy Morgan - BFS internship,
Caitlin Parker - Rufus J Thayer Otsego Lake Research,
Continued on page 3
Can Milfoil be Controlled with Moths?
Graduate student Paul Lord
and undergraduates Mairi
Miller and Sarah Groff are
working with a Cornell
University Ponds team
headed up by Robert “Bob”
Johnson (BFS visiting
researcher 1999 & 2000).
Their goal is to determine
whether the introduction of
aquatic moths (Acentria
ephemerella) into an Eurasian
water-milfoil (Myriophyllum
spicatum) dominated lake can
control milfoil growth. The
lake being used in this study
is Lebanon Reservoir.
Twenty thousand moth larvae
have been introduced into
Lebanon. It was picked after
a survey of nine Madison
County lakes performed by
Paul last summer. This work
follows Bob’s previous
research documenting the
reemergence of waterweed
(Elodea canadensis) as the
dominant plant in Cayuga
Lake following the natural
introduction of the moth into
that lake. BFS monitoring
occurs every two weeks.
Stem analysis involves nearly
all of our BFS interns.
❂
Stream Buffers for
Otsego Lake
Tributaries, cont.
from p. 1
Lake watershed. Landowners who sign up for the
program will receive an
additional incentive payment
of $50/acre. This will be
added to the already generous CRP incentives and
reimbursements provided by
the USDA.
❂
2001 BFS Summer Research Teeam, cont.
ships. Kevyn Hill - Village of Cooperstown
upper Susquehanna Internship.
Mairi Miller
Kimberly Wojnar - RC McWatters Internship in the
Aquatic Sciences.
High School : Dave Albright, Holly Meehan, Katie
Wayman - FHV Mecklenburg Conservation Intern-
Volunteers: Marilyn
DeGaspar - Office,
Kathy Ernst - Graphics, Jeff Back - Diver,
Lee Ferrara - Diver,
Andrew Lachut Diver, Mary-Elizabeth
Miller - Diver, Dale
Webster - Diver, Brian
Benjamin - Diver tender, Pilar Conde Diver tender, Dave Sorin Dahl, Mairi Miller, and Joyce Green
Reynolds - Fisheries/diver tender, Earle Peterson - Greenwoods
Conservancy, Dan Rosen - Public Interpretation.
❂
Updates, cont.
most prestigious honor,
this spring.
● Dave Reynolds (BFS
´00, ´01) a graduating
senior from Oneonta who
has regularly volunteered
helping with BFS
electrofishing, diving and
other fish related research
projects, was nominated
for the Jan Kee Ang
Award this spring.
● Debbie Marr (BFS ´85)
is now Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences, teaching ecology
at Indiana University South Bend.
● Emera Bridger (BFS ´96)
at Wells College, class of
2001, was named to the
Who’s Who Among
American Universities and
Colleges.
● Holly Meehan (BFS ´00,
´01) a CV-Springfield
student, has made the
Principals’s List, is
Scholar-Athlete Team
Award: Soccer, High
School Outstanding
Student, Varsity Soccer
MIP, Who’s Who Among
High School Students and
received a National
Scholar-Athlete Day
Award.
● Dave Warner (BFS, MA
´99) now at Cornell
University, presented a
paper by Matt Albright,
Bill Harman and himself
at the June meetings of the
International Association
of Great Lakes Researchers on the impacts of
alewife on the Otsego
Lake pelagic community.
News from Oneonta
● The Biology Department
is among the Top Ten
departments at the College
regarding numbers of
incoming freshman and
transfer student majors,
fall 2000.
● Oneonta: A “College of
Character”. The Center
for the Study of Values in
College Students Development recently named
the College to its list of
“Colleges of Character”.
Seventeen colleges and
universities nationwide
were recognized for
demonstrating “a sustained and comprehensive
concern” for character
development in their
students. We are the only
SUNY institution on the
list. Also represented are
Brown, Princeton and the
US Naval and Air Force
academies.
❂
Updates
Happenings
● We are now working at
the Thayer Farm;
cleaning up, getting ready
to repair the road, barn
roofs and paint. The
residence is being
prepared for use. It
appears to need all new
wiring, roof and water
supply. Lack of monitory
resources will prevent us
from developing any
program infrastructure
this year.
● Rachel Toth, a graduating senior from Oneonta,
worked with us during
the spring semester
refining the summer 2000
fish data collected by
Mike Gray.
● New York and Delaware
have signed a memorandum of understanding
with the Chesapeake
Bay Program which
binds the States to work
toward achieving new,
state-specific nutrient and
sediment reduction goals
within the Bay’s watershed. In both states the
Susquehanna River Basin
is the only drainage
entering the Chesapeake
Bay. This action is not to
be confused with, yet is
not mutually exclusive
from, the Susquehanna
River Basin
Commission’s regulatory
powers that have been in
the news recently.
● 80,000 walleye will again
be stocked in Otsego
Lake this summer to take
advantage of our abundant alewife forage base.
Graduate student Mark
Cornwell will continue
monitoring for impacts
that may follow their
establishment.
(607) 547-8778
Fax: (607) 547-5114
E-mail: [email protected]
BFS Web Page: www.oneonta.edu/~biofld/
● Four intensive field
offerings will be presented this summer at the
BFS: Biol 184, An
Introduction to Aquatic
Biology; Biol 384,
Aquatic Biology; Biol
684, Topics in Aquatic
Biology and Biol 685,
Topics in Limnology
● Bill Butts, BFS professor
emeritus, has published a
note in the Journal of the
American Mosquito
Association, “Beaver
ponds in upstate New
York as a source of
anthropophilic mosquitos”.
● Bill Harman has
published “Diminishing
species richness of
mollusks in Oneida Lake,
New York State, USA” in
The Nautilus, the journal
of the American Malacological Assn. The
contribution is a report on
changes in the molluscan
community there since
1915.
Alumni
● Scott Craig, SUNY
Oneonta (BFS ´99) was
selected to Oneonta’s
Best and Brightest (Fall
2000). He received the
SUNY Chancellor’s
Award for Student
Excellence this spring.
● Joyce Green (BFS ´00,
´01) a graduate of SUNY
Oneonta, received the Jan
Kee Ang Award, the
Biology Department’s
Continued on page 3
The work of the Biological Field Station is strengthened and
enhanced by private financial support from individuals, foundations, businesses, corporations and civic organizations. In fact,
these contributions are necessary for the continued success of the
Biological Field Station and all of the services provided to the
community. For more information, call or write:
Dr. Willard Harman, Prof.& Dir.
5838 St. Hwy. 80
Cooperstown, NY 13326
● There is now $800,000 in
the endowment for the
Rufus J. Thayer Otsego
Lake Research Chair.
We need about $200,000
more before we can
consider filling that
position.
As an acadenic program within the State University College at Oneonta, the
Biological Field Station receives fund raising services through the College at
Oneonta Foundation, a non-profit charitable organization. All gifts and grants
for the BFS are tax deductible. They are managed by the Foundation and used
expressly for the purposes for which they were given. Estate planning gifts
such as bequests and trusts are also sought and appreciated. More information
is available by contacting:
The Biological Field Station is a
facility of the State University
of New York College at Oneonta.
Printed on recycled paper
The College at Oneonta Foundation
308 Netzer Administration Building
SUNY College at Oneonta
Oneonta, NY 13820
(607) 436-2535
Fax: (607) 436-2686