WELCOME

Onondaga County Soil & Water
Conservation District

6680 Onondaga Lake Parkway
Liverpool, NY 13088

(315) 457-0325
Fax:  (315) 457-0410

HELP WANTED:  We're looking to hire a temporary hydroseeding aide, starting immediately through October.  Call Doug Fisher at (315) 457-0325 to apply.

STAYING AHEAD OF INVASIVES
Third Summer of Hand Pulling
​Water Chestnuts on Prime Waterways

Picture(L-R) Rebecca Rew, Crew Leader; Nicholas Lindovski; Steven Fenn, and Sarah Trick.
The Onondaga County Soil & Water Conservation District is in its third consecutive summer of a water chestnuts hand pulling project on the Seneca River.  The District hired a crew of college students to work a 19-mile stretch of the Seneca River for six weeks.  They are now at the 3 rivers junction where the Seneca, Oneida and Oswego rivers meet. The project is on target and in the first two weeks, the crew pulled about 30 seed bags or 1,200 pounds!
 
Funding for this important project has been provided through an Aquatic Nuisance Species Grant received by the Onondaga County Health Department, Division of Environmental Health under the direction of Dr. Russell Nemecek.  Dr. Nemecek also is supervising a crew that is applying herbicide and has a mechanical harvester for the larger patches of plants on the Seneca River.

Read more on our Invasive Species page.

WHY DO DAIRY FARMS BUILD SATELLITE MANURE STORAGE STRUCTURES?

Manure storage is an important environmental protection practice and more dairy farms across NYS are installing or adding to their storage capacity.  Manure storage allows for improved application timing so that nutrients can be better recycled for crop use.  Farms that are regulated or that receive state or federal cost sharing must design and build manure storage in accordance with strict USDA-NRCS standards.  New regulatory requirements are bringing additional limitations that affect when manure may be applied making adequate manure storage capacity a necessity, and this will also drive an increase in construction of manure storages.  Many farms have built manure storage structures near the barns where the animals are housed for ease in loading. Manure needs to be applied at an agronomic rate to crop land, according to crop need, and this means manure must be transported to most fields operated by the dairy, some near, some far.  Further, traditional bedding sources like straw or sawdust have become very expensive or difficult to find, so many farms provide mattresses or have turned to bedding with sand or recycled manure solids for cows in freestall housing.  This results in manure with a liquid consistency, and often containing 90-95% water.  This watery material is bulky and presents challenges to move around at the optimum spreading time to land that grows crops for the cows.  For these reasons, it often does not make sense to enlarge or add a second manure storage structure at the home location, but to create storage near other blocks of land where manure will be land applied anyway.  These structures are referred to as satellite storage. 
A satellite storage allows farms to pump or transport manure during less busy times and in ways that reduce traffic intensity and odor prevalence.  This is a benefit for the environment, neighbors, and the farm.   This system also allows farms to focus on manure application when the land is ready, as the time-consuming aspect of hauling was taken care of before the growing season starts.  This means more timely manure application and also better results for the farm and the environment, because risks of nutrient loss are lower when timing is better.         


Karl Czymmek and Peter Wright
PRO-DAIRY Program
Cornell University

HOT TOPICS & GOOD INFORMATION

  • Sharing the Road with Slow Moving Vehicles - What you need to know.
         Click here    http://www.safeny.ny.gov/media/SMV-broc4-09.pdf
  • ​​Water Deflectors - Managing Surface Water & Reducing Erosion on Unpaved Roads.
water_diversion.pdf
File Size: 1961 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
  • Blue Green Algae - What you need to know.
         Click here    http://www.ongov.net/health/bluegreenalgae.html
  • What's the Poop on Manure Lagoons?  To watch the interview, click below.​           
http://www.newyorkupstate.com/news/2017/06/whats_the_poop_on_manure_lagoons_see_how_they_work_why_farmers_need_them_video.html

BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETINGS
2018
Meeting schedule: 4th Wednesday of every month
10:00 a.m. at the District office (unless otherwise noted)
     January 24                              July 25
     February 28                            August 22
     March 28                                September 26
     April 25                                  October 24
     May 23                                   November 28
     June 27                                   December 19 (3rd week)

Holiday Schedule 2018
The office will be closed in observance of these days.

January 1                                   New Year's Day
Monday January 15                     Martin Luther King Day
Monday February 19                   Presidents' Day
Monday May 28                         Memorial Day
Wednesday July 4                      Independence Day
Monday September 3                 Labor Day
Monday October 8                     Columbus Day
Monday November 12                 Veterans Day
Thursday November 22              Thanksgiving Day
Friday November 23                   Day after Thanksgiving
Tuesday December 25                Christmas Day
2017 DISTRICT ANNUAL REPORT AVAILABLE
Here
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Learn more about the Onondaga County Water Authority on their website - read their water saving tips.
http://www.ocwa.org/about/watersense-fix-a-leak/

In Case of Emergency

In case of an agricultural spill, and it's after office hours (4:30 p.m.) you can call Mark Burger directly at 315-415-5057.
Our mission is to promote excellence in the wise use of our rural/urban natural resources.
Our vision is to live in a society in which future generations will have natural resources necessary to sustain and enrich their quality of life.