Save The River’s River Day was a great success, with more than 120 friends and families gathering to celebrate the River and the many volunteers who tirelessly support our River protection programs. Volunteers contributed more than 1,800 hours of service to Save The River last year, adding significant capacity to our River protection programs!

2009 Volunteer of the Year Awards

Save The River honored four long-time volunteers with our first ever Volunteer of the Year Awards at the River Day celebrations. The 2009 Volunteer of the Year award recipients were:
Susie Wood, Chippewa Bay and Hammond, NY – For many years, Susie has managed the layout and design of Save The River’s quarterly newsletter and annual calendar among other design projects. Her effort has helped us increase awareness of River issues with our members and has turned the annual calendar into a key fundraiser in support of Save The River’s programs.

2009 Volunteer of the Year Award Recipients (From left, Jennifer Caddick - Save The River Executive Director, Rick Spencer, Susie Wood, Jean Hoehn - accepting on behalf of Rob Hoehn, and Tucker MacLean)

Rob Hoehn, Round Island and Seattle, WA – Rob has been Save The River’s long-time database guru. Rob helped construct the original database that tracked Save The River’s members and recently volunteered to assist in the migration to our new database. His efforts have helped to establish and maintain the strong membership Save The River has developed over the years.

Tucker MacLean, Wolfe Island and Philadelphia, PA – Tucker was critical in Save The River’s transfer to a new membership database this winter. Tucker assisted Save The River staff in selecting a new database to better track membership and donations to the organization. Tucker also volunteered his time to train staff on how to use the new system as well as migrate all of Save The River’s data from the old system to the new system. His efforts have improved our capacity to track not only our members more effectively, but our volunteers as well.

Rick Spencer, Grindstone Island - Rick has been a volunteer with Save The River since the organization was formed in the late 1970s. As an employee of the National Wildlife Federation, Rick help Save The River battle Seaway expansion through coalition building at the national level. His efforts helped to thwart expansion of the Seaway and protect the River. Rick was also a founding member of Save The River and has been an active volunteer for over 30 years, contributing many hours of expertise on River policy issues.

Learn more about the Volunteer of the Year Awards in our press release and learn more about volunteer opportunities on our Volunteer page.

Many thanks to our River Day event sponsors!

Caskinette’s Lofink Ford Mercury

Camelbak

Community Bank

Freighter’s

Did you miss the party? Check out photos from the event….

During the end of July, many Riverkeeper Volunteers were reporting dead small mouth bass around the River. There were no large die-offs to speak of, but there was definitely evidence that something was going on.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation reported that the bass were dying as a result of spawning stress. Spawning stress can often reduce a fish’s ability to combat disease or parasites and can result in death of several individuals of the population as a result.

To read the full statement from the New York Department of Environmental Conservation click here.

What do I do if I find dead fish? Call Save The River, 315-686-2010 and we’ll report the issue to the appropriate agency.

How do I become a Riverkeeper Volunteer? Visit our Riverkeeper Monitoring page to find out and read our blog from our volunteers.

Special thanks to our Riverkeeper Volunteers who are keeping an eye on our River.

Special thanks to all of the new Riverkeeper Volunteers that joined us this summer. Saturday, July 11th was our largest session yet training 35 volunteers! Thank you for the great turn out.

Below are some resources for Riverkeeper Monitoring Volunteers including printable report forms and some additional links that you may find helpful.

Riverkeeper Montoring Report Forms (printable version)

New York State Health Advisories for eating freshwater fish

Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River Fishing Regulations

Many thanks to the more than 180 runners and walkers who participated in Save The River’s annual 5K Fun Run/Walk in Clayton. We had the biggest turnout ever this year and runners raised several thousand dollars for Save The River’s advocacy, education and research programming.

Congratulations to this year’s first and second place race winners: Nick Guarino, age 20 from Bergen, NY came in first place with a time of 15:47 and Joshua Guarino, age 20 also from Bergen, NY who came in second place with a time of 16:02 qualifying for the category of Top Male (20-29).

Awards were given to top males and females in each age category. The full list of results and individual times is available here. (Please note that the times listed on the results list are accurate – the large race clock was running fast at the race. The individual times listed here were taken from a separate handheld clock.)

Many thanks to our event sponsors!

Caskinette’s Lofink Ford Mercury in Carthage

Community Bank

Camelbak

Freighter’s

Save The River has received the test results from Week 4 (July 27) of the Beach Watch monitoring program. One of the beaches, Wilson Beach in Cape Vincent “failed” this week. All other beaches sampled “passed.”

Week 4 Results (7-27-09)

Wilson Beach: FAIL
Potter’s Beach: PASS
Frink Park: PASS
Round Island: PASS
Lake of the Isles: PASS
Scenic View Park: PASS

Why did Wilson Beach “fail” this week?
Due to high bacteria levels in prior years at Wilson Beach in Cape Vincent, six water quality samples are taken every week. On July 27, all six Wilson Beach water samples had bacteria levels that were well above swimming water quality standards allowed by New York State Health Department.

The NY State Health Department has set a limit of 61 colonies of Enterococci bacteria per 100 milliliters of sample water for water quality at swimming beaches. All six sites sampled at Wilson’s Beach failed this week and had bacteria levels ranging from 220 to 1,600 colonies of Enterococci per 100 milliliters of water, respectively. Enterococci is a bacteria closely linked with human health impacts, such as rashes and gastrointestinal illness.

Save The River is very concerned with these results. We will continue to closely monitor the Wilson Beach site in Cape Vincent to determine potential sources of pollution and solutions to mitigate unsafe bacteria levels.

Will beaches be closed?
Save The River runs this program on a volunteer basis and the results cannot necessarily be used to conclusively say that a location is unsafe for swimming. Instead, we test these sites to determine whether there is cause for concern at a specific location and whether further testing is needed. If high bacteria levels are found, we confer with state agencies to develop a more conclusive sampling plan.

What about the other beaches sampled last week?
Although the results cannot be used to conclusively say that a location is safe for swimming, none of the results at the other five beaches sampled indicate cause for concern.

Where are the bacteria coming from?
There are many potential sources of bacteria in swimming areas, including improper sewage disposal, agricultural runoff, bird and animal waste and various other environmental factors.

What are the possible health effects?
High levels of bacteria can cause health problems such as rashes and gastrointestinal illness, and are most dangerous for the very young, the very old and anyone with a compromised immune system. In order to reduce the risk of bacteria related illness, employ the following simple safety measures: never swallow swimming water and wash your hands after swimming and before eating.

For more details on the 2009 sampling locations and dates, read an overview of the 2009 Beach Watch program.

And, for more information on understanding the weekly results, read the Beach Watch fact sheet.

If you have any questions, concerns or would like more information on our Beach Watch program, please stop by the office or call us at (315) 686-2010.