CAZENOVIA — On Saturday, Nov. 5, the Cazenovia Lake Watershed Council (CLWC) sponsored its annual Lake Summit at the Cazenovia Public Library.

The CLWC is a cooperative organization made up of two members of the Cazenovia Town Board, two Village of Cazenovia Trustees, and one representative of the Cazenovia Lake Association (CLA) — a group of residents, homeowners, business owners, and elected officials that works to protect the environmental and recreational sustainability of the lake.

This year’s summit included reports from the CLWC, the CLA, Cazenovia College, the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF), and the Village of Cazenovia.

Eurasian Watermilfoil management

CLWC President & CLA Vice President Sam Woods presented on Cazenovia’s ongoing Eurasian watermilfoil management efforts and the results of an August 2022 rake toss study.

The lake was last treated for milfoil in June 2021. With financial assistance from the CLA, the town treated 190 acres with the newly approved herbicide ProcellaCOR EC.

Woods reported that this year’s rake toss showed that the milfoil has been well-controlled since the most recent herbicide application.

“They usually toss this rake out about 300 times in different spots all around the lake, and it’s the same spots every year,” said Woods. “And then they meticulously count the weeds that they got when they tossed that rake. They then come up with the number of different species and [the] amount of milfoil.”

The 2022 rake toss showed 114 sites with milfoil. The rake toss performed soon after the 2021 ProcellaCOR treatment showed only 25 sites with milfoil.

Woods pointed out that the 2019 rake toss, which was performed just after the lake was treated with the herbicide Renovate, showed 115 milfoil occurrences.

“We are really getting very, very, very good control,” he said. “We’ve never been as low as 25 [sites with milfoil] after a treatment year.”

Woods noted that, as expected, the sites where milfoil was present this year are primarily in areas that were not treated with ProcellaCOR.

He also highlighted that the number of native species in the lake does not appear to be changing because of the herbicide.

“That’s very important not only for us but for the state,” he said. “[We] can show the state that ProcellaCOR is really pretty specific for milfoil and it’s not damaging other things.”

Based on the rake toss results and consultation with SOLitude Lake Management, which applied the herbicide, and Upstate Freshwater Institute, which conducted the rake toss, the CLA has decided against treating the lake in 2023. Instead, the goal is to treat it every three years, with the next application in 2024.

Cazenovia College updates

On behalf of Dr. Thad Yorks, professor of biology and environmental biology at Cazenovia College, CLA President Dave Miller provided an update on the college/town’s ongoing European frog-bit (EFB) control efforts.

EFB grows small lily pad-like leaves about the size of quarters and produces white flowers with three petals and yellow centers.

Once established, the plant can form very dense floating mats that impede the movement of boats, swimmers, and even large fish and diving ducks. The dense mats also create poor growth conditions in the water column that can threaten the survival of native species.

For the past several summers, teams of Cazenovia College-employed crewmembers and community volunteers have worked to hand-pull and discard as many of the invasive plants as possible.

Through their efforts, the lake has been cleared of EFB and the plant has been confined to the wetlands north of the lake.

“It’s going to be an ongoing issue,” said Miller. “It’s so far into the wetlands that there is no way it’s all going to ever be taken out. It’s not going to happen.”

The plan is to continue controlling the EFB next summer at a cost of $2,000.

“The town has been paying for it, so hopefully the town can find the two grand to do that,” said Miller. “It’s not a lot of money for protecting the lake. If we let it go, it would just take over the shoreline.”

Miller also reported that the college and the CLA have partnered to purchase an electrofishing boat for surveying the lake.

An electrofishing boat uses an electric field to temporarily stun fish, which can then be collected with long-handled dip nets for identification. Data collected from electrofishing can be used to determine the abundance, density, species composition, and health of fish populations.

According to Miller, the goals of the purchase are to modernize Cazenovia’s fish tracking abilities, provide better long-term data on fish populations, and enhance the college’s environmental biology and biology programs, which both benefit the lake.

“Thad’s students [will be able to survey] multiple spots on the lake in a very quick period of time, so it gives us a much better idea of the fish populations [and] it doesn’t hurt the fish,” said Miller.

Funding has been secured through a grant from New York State as well as a donation from the CLA. The boat is currently in production and is expected to be completed in time for spring.

CLA’s five-year plan

Miller next discussed CLA’s five-year plan to undertake six key projects related to the health of the lake.

According to Miller, the organization will continue to support ESF’s use of Cazenovia Lake as a subject for its research on Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) and water quality.

The CLA has completed three years of sampling as part of its long-term sampling project, and its HAB sampling is ongoing.

The sampling program involves sampling three times per year at three lake locations, sampling two times per year at the six highest inflow tributaries, and sampling potential HABs as they occur.

Upstate Freshwater Institute performs the chemical analysis, Cornell does the zooplankton analysis, and Cooper Labs does the invertebrate analysis.

The goals of the program are to detect changes in water quality over time, monitor the lake ecosystem, and alert entities of areas to avoid in the event of a HAB.

Miller also reported that the CLA’s ProcellaCOR milfoil treatment project has been completed, and its community outreach and sewer investigation are ongoing.

Regarding the CLA’s goal of reducing silt inflows into the lake, Miller said the organization is working to improve a culvert at the intersection of Rt. 92 and Rt. 20 and is making progress on addressing dam backflow issues at the south end of the lake.

According to Miller, the CLA is collaborating with the New York State Canal Corporation, the town, the village, the Cazenovia Preservation Foundation (CPF), the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and outside consultants to stop the backflow.

He explained that there are two dams downstream of the lake outlet. The lake dam or upper dam is located near Carpenter’s Pond. Mill Street dam (lower dam or creek dam), which was built to serve the Erie Canal system, is a little further downstream. Both are owned and operated by the Canal Corporation.

Just east (downstream) of the lake dam, Chittenango Creek meets the water flowing out of the lake to form a single channel.

Miller explained that when the water level between the dams is high, any significant precipitation/snow melt can cause the water to flow the wrong way; instead of moving downstream, water backflows over the lake dam and into the lake, carrying with it significant amounts of sediment and pollutants.

“When we look at the beach, the Brewster Inn, and properties over there, they are constantly losing water depth because of the amount of silt that’s inflowing,” Miller said. “This was happening four or five times a year.”

Miller stated that as a short-term solution to the issue, the Canal Corporation kept the water between the dams low over the summer to allow for rapid drainage in a storm event. They also installed boards in front of the Mill St. dam sluice gates to retain a base level of water in the creek between the dams.

He also announced that the CLA and CPF conducted a cleanup between the dams on July 28 and that he has observed significant vegetation growth along the banks of the creek.

The ultimate solution to the backflow issue, Miller explained, will be to restore the stream between the dams to its natural, pre-Erie Canal state and appearance.

CLA contracted with Ramboll engineering company to conduct a limited feasibility study primarily focused on examining the partial or full removal of Mill Street dam and determining whether the removal would have any flooding impacts downstream.

According to Miller, the study proved that the removal would eliminate backflow events. It also identified a couple of areas where improvements will need to be made to avoid downstream problems, and it determined that a stream restoration will improve fish/wildlife habitats.

The village has applied for a grant to take the next step of completing additional design work and permitting for the Mill Street dam removal and the subsequent stream restoration. The village should hear if it has been awarded the grant by the end of the year.

SUNY ESF research

Anne McElwee, a Ph.D. candidate in the ESF Department of Chemistry, reported the findings of recent research on algal blooms in Cazenovia Lake.

“Residents have reported multiple blooms over several years, some of which have been found to be toxic upon further testing,” McElwee said.

She noted that when the blooms reported from 2013 to 2021 are mapped, they do not appear to be concentrated in a specific area.

According to McElwee, her research with Dr. Greg Boyer, professor in the ESF Department of Chemistry, is aimed at addressing two key questions.

“[The first is,] why are blooms occurring?” she said. “Where are they getting nutrients from? Are they coming from surface runoff — from external sources — or are they coming from the sediments in the bottom of the lake — internal loading or internal sources? Another question is, where are the blooms occurring? Are there specific sites that are more likely to have blooms, and could that potentially lead us to sources of nutrients?”

To investigate the potential internal loading of nutrients, ESF installed a buoy in the deepest part of the lake to measure temperature, dissolved oxygen, and depth.

To examine where blooms are occurring, the researchers installed instrument probes called sondes on three docks — two on the east side of the lake and one on the west side — to measure chlorophyll and phycocyanin, a blue-green algae pigment.

McElwee said the data gathered from the buoy shows that the lake stratified strongly during the summer and that the bottom waters went anoxic (depleted of dissolved oxygen).

“That is important because when that happens you have iron(III), which is reduced to iron(II), and that allows for phosphorus to be released from the sediments, which can serve as a source of nutrients when the lake turns over,” she said.

McElwee then pointed out that, according to the data, the lake-wide Dolichospermum bloom that occurred in late September 2022 coincided with the lake beginning to turn over.

“It looks like the bloom occurred about a day after the water that was 11 meters down started to mix with the rest of the water,” she said.

The researcher also reported that the sondes on the docks did not appear to detect the September bloom.

Village updates and Lakeland Park

Village Trustee Cindy Bell provided an update on the village’s ongoing work reconstructing the historic lake wall at Lakeland Park.

According to Bell, the diving board was removed this past summer to allow for repairs to the swim area wall, but it will be reinstalled next summer.

“From the pier, we’ve worked our way south and we’ve rounded the bend,” said Bell. “. . . As long as they have the weather, they are going to continue to work, and they’re going to go right to where the first phase of that wall rebuild was.”

Bell also shared the Lakeside Park boat launch statistics for 2022, reporting 247 out-of-town users for the season, 441 village and town users, 80 day passes issued, and four boat removals.

Ted Bartlett, chairman of the Village of Cazenovia Historic Preservation/Architectural Review Committee, offered insight into the past and future of Lakeland Park.

Bartlett, who is a senior associate with Crawford & Stearns, Architects and Preservation Planners, began his presentation with an overview of the property’s evolution from a wetland to a private estate to a village-owned public park. He emphasized the fact that because it started out as a swamp, the land had to be built by man.

“What caused its deterioration?” asked Bartlett. “One, basic assumptions that it would be there forever and that it was well built — neither of which was correct. Second, lack of maintenance. And I’m not pointing the finger at the village. The lack of maintenance started with the Ten Eycks and the Carpenter family; things started to deteriorate. The village has owned it since the 30s, and they took care of it, but they didn’t do things like structural repairs and things like that. So, it’s not blaming the village, it’s just what happened.”

Bartlett then presented an overview of the village’s Lakeland Park Master Plan, which was originally commissioned in 2016 and completed in 2017.

“We had two public hearings,” said Bartlett, who has sat on the Lakeland Park Committee since 2010. “The public liked the presentations and the ideas. They wanted it to remain a bucolic — that was their term — and passive park.”

According to Bartlett, the following aspects of the plan have already been completed or are near completion: the Forman St. wall and new gates, the Carpenter’s Barn renovation, the kayak launch, the reconstruction of the canal stone walls and the lake stone walls (2023), the removal of hazardous trees, and the installation of the statue of Cazenovia’s founder, John Lincklaen.

Major items yet to be tackled include parking lot improvements, grading and drainage, perimeter pathways, swim area decking, removal of the existing performance pavilion and creation of a lakeside picnic pavilion, construction of a new multipurpose pavilion, landscaping and tree planting, beach area improvements, pier masonry repairs, lagoon repairs, signage, archaeological interpretation of the Lakeland House mansion site, iron fence repairs, electrical work, architecture/engineering/landscape designs, and public boat docks.

Bartlett also highlighted “surprise” work that is needed, such as rebuilding a collapsed section of wall south of Carpenter’s Barn and repairing the privately owned stone wall on the north side of the park.

“We are reconvening the [Lakeland Park] committee with some new members, and we’ll be starting this spring looking at how we move forward, where we go for grants, [and] and how we put these packages together,” Bartlett said. “. . . There is still a lot of planning and work to undertake to complete the rehabilitation vision of Lakeland Park, but we’re getting there.”

CLA merchandise

Miller wrapped up the summit by announcing the release of CLA merchandise such as water bottles, shirts, hats and bags, which are now available for sale on the organization’s website. All proceeds from the sales go to supporting the work and mission of the CLA.

The CLA and CLWC will no longer hold separate regular meetings. Going forward, the CLA will continue to meet monthly and the CLWC will meet once a year at the Lake Summit. For more information on the CLA, visit cazlake.org or email [email protected].

A recording of the Lake Summit will be posted on the Town of Cazenovia website at towncazenovia.digitaltowpath.org:10079/content