Jamestown Community College students and faculty celebrate Arbor Day, 14th Year as Tree Campus USA, and Certified Wildlife Habitat designation (May 4, 2023)

Jamestown Community College celebrated its 14th year as a Tree Campus USA by planting seven trees on its campus for Arbor Day.

Tree Campus USA is a national program that was created in 2008 to honor colleges and universities for effective campus forest management, and engaging staff and students in conservation goals. JCC received its first designation in 2009 and was the first community college in New York to achieve this designation from the National Arbor Day Foundation.

JCC Biology professor and Environmental Science Coordinator Janis Bowman was presented with the Joan P. Shevory Citizen Forester Award at the tree planting. Jamestown Parks Manager Dan Stone presented the award in recognition of Bowman’s work to get JCC designated as a Tree Campus and the work involved with keeping that designation.

Tree Campuses must plant at least one tree annually for Arbor Day; as well as create and update a tree management plan, maintain a tree committee, and a designated budget for trees and their maintenance. Student involvement through service learning projects or internships is also required.

JCC also has been designated by the National Wildlife Federation as a Certified Wildlife Habitat. Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy Board President Becky Nystrom said the CWC has been working over the last year and a half to encourage people to create more sustainable habitats for wildlife in Chautauqua County, “It requires a certain amount of fresh water, and cover and nesting sites; and not using a lot of pesticides; and doing things more sustainably, planting more native plants to encourage all of the wildlife that depends on them.”

JCC Biology professor and Environmental Science Coordinator Janis Bowman receives the Joan P. Shevory Citizen Forester Award (May 4, 2023)

Nystrom said Chautauqua County has met nearly half of the requirements needed in order for the entire county to be certified as a National Wildlife Habitat.

County Executive PJ Wendel, Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist, Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy’s Carol Markham, Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy’s Twan Leenders

The Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy has kicked off an effort to certify Chautauqua County as a National Wildlife Federation Community Habitat.

Officials, including Chautauqua County Executive PJ Wendel, Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist, as well as representatives from the Roger Tory Peterson Institute, Chautauqua-Conewango Consortium, Jamestown Public Market, and Master Gardeners gathered at an event Thursday in the South Basin area of the Jamestown Riverwalk.

CWC Ecological Restoration Manager Twan Leenders said the restoration area of the south bank of the Chadakoin River by the Board of Public Utilities is now part of the certified habitats, “Which has native plants on it. It has habitats for wildlife in it. We’re not using harmful chemicals on it. It provides all kinds of resources for native plants and animals, and those are really the criteria needed to certify an area, your backyard, a park, as an accredited wildlife habitat.”

CWC Board President Becky Nystrom said there are 98 gardens of the 400 needed are already certified in Chautauqua County.

Leenders said anyone can certify their yard by filling out an online questionnaire. He said this is also how the National Wildlife Habitat Federation tracks how many habitats are in a county, “But it could be any scale, it could be a preserve. Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy’s preserves certainly qualify. The city has already agreed to work with us for city parks. The county, various community partners, corporate, non-profit.. Really, it’s a very easy process but it’s really a way to collaboratively get them into the mindset that if we manage any kind of property that we manage in a way that we provide resources, a place to live, and food for native wildlife we can make this whole area greener, and better, and healthier.”

The certification checklist and link to certify for your property can be found at nwf.org/certify.

State Senator George Borrello said his involvement with the CWC went back to when he helped create the Lake Erie Management Commission as a County Legislator. He said the mission now with the Chautauqua Lake watershed is to ensure that we’re treating the disease and not just managing the symptoms, “The symptoms are what is in the water but the disease that needs to be cured is in the watershed around it. I appreciate that early education, it helped me as a County Legislator, as the chairman of the Lake Erie Management Commission, as County Executive and it continues to this day as a State Senator and that is the work the Conservancy has done for so many folks like myself.”

State Assemblyman Andy Goodell recognized CWC Executive Director John Jablonski‘s efforts in growing the organization, “To see the Watershed Conservancy go from your living room – a dream, an idea – to having two miles of protected shoreline and over a thousand acres of preserves, it’s an amazing accomplishment. But even more important than the progress that’s been made by the Conservancy is the long term impact the Conservancy will have on the future of Chautauqua County.”

County Executive PJ Wendel said we have to address issues of what is going into Chautauqua Lake, which is what the CWC is doing, and he added that the county’s memorandum of understanding on Chautauqua Lake is a vital part of this, “Because it’s not only what’s in the lake but what’s going into the lake. That’s the key. And we’ve said before that’s the most important piece. We could do whatever we want in the lake, but if we’re not taking care of what’s going into the lake we’re going to continue this problem year after year.”

The new location of the Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy is 71 East Fairmount Avenue.

• AUDIO ALSO AVAILABLE AT SOUNDCLOUD

WRFA’s Jason Sample talk with John Jablonski, executive director of the Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy (CWC), and Becky Nystrom, CWC board president, to learn more details about the CWC and some of its recent education and preservation initiatives focusing on the local watersheds within Chautauqua County.

• MOBILE APP USERS: LISTEN HERE

Originally airing Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019

John Jablonski and Becky Nystrom from the Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy discuss the recently completed Chautauqua Lake Conservation Statement, which offers a general understanding of what the goals for the lake should be, as well as both the long-term and short-term solutions should be in order to achieve those goals. In addition to the CWC, the statement has also been endorsed by several other groups and organizations, illustrating a general consensus on how to proceed with managing the lake in future years.

The Statement was drafted by the Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy with input from other lake stakeholders and outlines a general understanding of what the goals for the lake should be, as well as both the long-term and short-term solutions should be in order to achieve those goals.

CWC executive director John Jablonski tells WRFA that the statement reinforces the notion that most lake groups have worked together in the past and will continue to work together moving forward.

“Most groups have been working very well together for the past 20 years and have had a lot of consensus building that’s going on through the development of the existing programs that are underway around the lake,” Jablonski says. “Another major point was to make sure that some of the misinformation is clarified out there.”

Jablonski adds the misinformation includes the approach to dealing with invasive plant species, which, despite their name, are actually aquatic plants that have been around long enough to become part of the overall lake ecosystem.

“The two main exotic plants in Chautauqua Lake that can be a problem – Eurasian water milfoil and curly leaf pond weed – they’ve been around here for 50 to 80 years already. They spread in mid 1900s. They are throughout the whole lake. They’re naturalized and are part of the system. That shipped sailed a long time ago so there’s really not a concern about them spreading today because they spread already. They grow where the conditions are suitable for them to grow so it’s a matter of trying to address those conditions that promote the growth of those plants.”

For long-term strategies, the document says the lake must be surrounded with healthy, natural landscapes that filter nutrients and pollutants from the water that flows to the lake. This means permanently protecting streams, woodlands and wetlands, planting buffers along shorelines and streambanks, and reforesting portions of the watershed. It adds that new development in the watershed must be offset by restoration of wetlands and forests. The long-term health of the lake also requires improvements in septic, sewer and storm-water management practices. Selective dredging of the lake to reduce the amount of sediment that provides internal nutrient loading also has been suggested as a potential long-term action.

For more short-term management, the document suggests continuing the process of plant harvesting to reduce nuisance lake vegetation that makes lake navigation and recreation difficult. The harvesting also helps to removes organic matter from the lake that can feed future algae blooms. In addition, it suggests the continued effort of stream bank stabilization, which helps to prevent sediment build-up and nutrient runoff into the lake.

The statement also addresses herbicide using, saying it is not entirely opposed to using chemicals to combat weed growth, but states that it should be on a limited basis and only in isolated areas, not large sections of the lake in order to prevent any adverse effects on the environment and wildlife.

“Herbicide use can be suitable when it fits within an invasive species management plan and when other methods of nuisance plant control are not workable,” The statement reads. “It is crucial that any short-term solutions used to address excessive plant and algae growth within the lake are not short sighted; they must be well thought out and performed in conjunction with long-term goals. They cannot endanger the fish, birds, amphibians, animals and insects that rely on the lake and must not pose a risk to human use of the lake’s waters.”

The statement comes as Chautauqua County government officials work to establish a consensus on the best course of action needed in order to tackle the weed issues in the lake, which during the summer months have created problems for visitors and boaters, especially in the southern basin of the lake. In addition, a large deposit of aquatic vegetation gathered in an area of Burtis Bay near Celoron this past fall, leading to a large volume of fish dying in that area due to suffocation.

Besides the CWC, other organizations that have signed onto the Lake Statement include the Chautauqua Lake Association, the Chautauqua Fishing Alliance, Chautauqua Institution, Roger Tory Peterson Institute, and the Conewango Creeek Watershed Association – along with others, although the Chautauqua Lake Partnership – the organization primarily involved with expanding herbicide use in the lake, has not given its endorsement.

More details about the statement can be heard this week when we broadcast our interview with Jablonski, who is joined by CWC director emeritus Becky Nystrom. on our Community Matters program (Thursdays at 5 p.m., Fridays at 2 p.m., and Sundays at noon).

The GreenUp Jamestown initiative is being coordinated by a group of community members and local environmental activists, including James Colby and Becky Nystrom, who want to help make residents in Jamestown more environmentally conscious.

Colby said they’re hoping the events will help bring awareness and insight to both national and local issues.

“That’s one of the purposes of GreenUp Jamestown – to draw attention to local and regional issues,” Colby said. “For example, with Chautauqua Lake we are having issues that are critical. The Great Lakes are being challenged more than they have been. And also because of all the things that are going on with global warming right now. Bot to give individuals insight, which is important, but if people are not aware of what’s going on, they need to be.”

• RELATED: JAMES COLBY AND BECKY NYSTROM DISCUSS GREENUP JAMESTOWN ON COMMUNITY MATTERS

The first event in the Green Up Jamestown series will take place Wednesday night, Feb. 28 at St. Luke’s Church in downtown Jamestown with a presentation by Nystrom, who is not only an environmentalist, but also a Jamestown Community College biology professor.

She’ll deliver a presentation entitled “Earth Stewardship/Creation Care: Seeking Nature’s Truths through Science, Philosophy and Faith.”

“What I’m hoping to do is try to weave the story of live and all the gifts on this planet together – the beauty, the mystery, and the miracle across time and space – weave it all together and try to help answer the question, ‘How do we know the story? How do we know the story of life?'” Nystrom explained during a recent interview on WRFA. “So we’ll be looking at different faith stories, the scientific side, environmental ethics, indigenous wisdom, and recognize that all of those avenues are ways to discover some of these truths.”

Nystrom’s program will take place in the newly remodeled undercroft at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church at 7 p.m. and is free and open to the public.

Meanwhile the next scheduled program will be next Wednesday, March 7 at St. Luke’s, with Colby delivering a presentation entitled “Visionary Earth Stewards and Environmental Triumphs: Now, What Can We Do in Our Homes, Communities and Planet?”

That event is also free and open to the public.

To learn more about the Green-Up Jamestown initiative and to get details on all upcoming events, visit GreenUpJamestown.com.

The three organizations have collaborated to develop a survey for the presence or absence of HWA, educating the public about the pest while slowing its actual spread throughout the area.

The public is invited to join the survey efforts and will receive on-site training that provides details about hemlock trees, the threat of HWA, and the protocols used to survey for the insect.

More information– including dates and locations for upcoming surveys – can be obtained from Elyse Henshaw at ehenshaw@rtpi.org, Becky Nystrom at beckynystrom@mail.sunyjcc.edu, or CWC at info@chautauquawatershed.org.