Forum addresses health of Lake Ontario, Genesee River
Environmental experts spoke about the health of Lake Ontario, the Genesee River and the area’s huge surrounding watersheds Thursdsay during a 2013 Lake Ontario Ecosystem Forum at the Port of Rochester.
They shared both good and bad news.
Lake Ontario, the smallest of the five Great Lakes, is certainly in some environmental trouble.
But the Genesee River, while still not recommended for swimming or fishing in, is showing signs of returning to health.
Don Zelazny, Great Lakes program coordinator for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and Jeff Wyatt of the University of Rochester and the Seneca Park Zoo presented these different ecological aspects of the waterways.
Zelazny said Lake Ontario’s watershed is the largest of all the Great Lakes, which makes it difficult to manage because the waters flowing into it are so diverse.
He added that fisheries in Lake Ontario are “decimated” and the lake is the “most stressed” of all of the Great Lakes. That’s from the impact of invasive environmental species, overfishing and chemicals.
The good news, said Wyatt, is sturgeon, a fish that is considered an “indicator species” for the health of the Genesee River, is successfully adapting to the river since it was restocked in the last decade.
Dr. Dawn Dittman of the U.S. Geological Society; Tim Howard of the Natural Heritage Program; Kelly St. Clair of the state Department of Health; Charlie Knauf of the Monroe County Department of Health; and Paul Sawyko of the Water Education Collaborative also shared their expertise at the forum.