The Chautauqua County Planning Department and the Citizens Advisory Committee to the Chautauqua Lake Diagnostic and Feasibility Program have completed the diagnostic and the feasibility portions of the program. The feasibility portion of the program resulted in a document, "The Management of Chautauqua Lake and Its Watershed," that examines a number of lake and watershed issues by looking at the background of those issues, identifying problems associated with them that need to be addressed and making a series of recommendations to be implemented by local municipalities adjacent to the lake and in the watershed and by County government.

This executive summary provides a vastly simplified statement of the recommendations made in "The Management of Chautauqua Lake and Its Watershed." It is intended to familiarize its readers with the issues of the more detailed study and highlight its most important recommendations.

In many ways, the most pressing need identified in "The Management of Chautuauqua Lake and Its Watershed" is the identification or creation of an entity that can implement the recommendations of the study and implement an overall management strategy. Accordingly, the study recommends the identification and establishment of an administrative infrastructure with the necessary authority to implement lake management initiatives. In order to establish such an administrative body, capable of promulgating and enforcing regulations, and possibly levying taxes to support its efforts, action by the State legislature probably will be necessary.

Action to create a lake management district or authority requires the full support of the local communities around the lake and in the watershed. This support will require an educational effort that reaches both local elected officials and their constituents. In the interim, an advisory board, comprised of members of the existing CAC, representatives of the local communities, and representatives of County government, working through the Local Waterfront Revitalization Program and other avenues, should encourage local communities, County government and other entities to enact as many of the recommendations in the study as possible. Through a vigorous educational process this advisory board also should prepare for the creation of an administrative structure capable of enacting a management plan independently.

The last two summers (1999 and 2000) have produced bumper crops of aquatic vegetation. The causes for this growth being heavier than in recent years may include increased amounts of sunlight, greater water clarity, milder winters, and slightly lower water levels. Several strategies are recommended for the management of this vegetation, including the in-lake management (harvesting and possibly herbicide use) as outlined in the 1990 Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement to the New York State Aquatic Vegetation Control Program (1990 SEIS/Plan). It is felt that the 1990 SEIS/plan adequately reflects current technology in terms of herbicide use and harvesting, but if new herbicides are developed that may be cost-effective and safe, then the 1990 SEIS/plan should be modified by new studies and reviews. There also is increasing evidence that removal of unwanted aquatic vegetation through harvesting may remove nutrients from the lake and over time have a beneficial effect on their over-abundance.

Besides the in-lake methods of controlling aquatic vegetation, watershed-wide initiatives should include low-cost best management practices (BMP’s). Low-cost BMP’s include encouraging car washing on grassed areas rather than on paved driveways, encouraging lawn-care that avoids unnecessary use of herbicides and fertilizers, requiring and enforcing run-off control at construction sites, and maintaining greenbelts along stream corridors.

More costly BMP’s, such as requiring farms to implement whole farm management planning, may not be cost-effective but should be encouraged, especially when State or federal funding can be used to help implement the process. Care should be exercised in implementing expensive BMP’s, especially when these put pressure on dairy farming in the watershed. The loss of dairy farming in the watershed could mean the loss of valuable open space.

Successful implementation of BMP’s requires a vigorous educational effort, which should be an integral part of the advisory board’s work through the LWRP and other avenues. Educational programs also need to include attention to the general quality of the lake, the role that vegetation plays in that quality, and the development of realistic expectations regarding lake vegetation.

Further research into the lake’s vegetation and the organisms that may affect it also is necessary, including routine monitoring or the abundance, location, and composition of the lake’s rooted and algal vegetation. The effectiveness of aquatic herbivores for controlling vegetation, such as aquatic moths and weevils, also should be studied further. Continuing work towards understanding sedimentation and nutrient loading also should be pursued.

Chautauqua Lake provides drinking water to a number of public water supply systems, including the one serving Chautauqua Institution, and to a number of private users. As such, the management of water and waste in the watershed is critical for health reasons. The sewer systems and well-maintained on-site disposal systems around the lake also reduce nutrients entering the lake that contribute to unwanted vegetation growth.

"The Management of Chautauqua Lake and Its Watershed" considers the extension of public water or sewer systems beyond the areas currently served. Although extending public sewers to include all the lakefront would be an ideal way to control the impacts of residential wastewater on the lake, the proposed management plan recommends caution in extending this infrastructure for a number of reasons. An aggressive enforcement program by the County’s Division of Environmental Health assures that new and existing on-site systems appropriately and adequately treat household wastes where sewer systems do not exist. Expansion of water and sewer systems is very expensive and may encourage development in the watershed, which could in turn accelerate the loss of open space and what remains of the watershed’s rural quality.

Once recommendations are implemented that assure the protection of open space in the watershed and influence growth in ways that enhance and protect the value of the lake as a resource, expansion of infrastructure should be revisited. One of the first expansions to be considered should be the provision of sewer service to the Stow area. In conjunction with this, pumping Stow wastewater to the Center Chautauqua Lake Sewer District collection system on the Bemus Point side of the lake shows some promise.

A program of periodic testing of private well water and a search of records for septic system failures will help assure the quality of drinking water in private systems and indicate where septic systems may be adversely affecting ground-water. If the search of septic system records reveals significant numbers of properties with no sewage system documentation, then a dye-testing program for targeted areas could be considered.

Further studies need to be conducted regarding sewage treatment systems and nutrient and bacterial contributions to the lake. Studies of nutrients entering the lake from sewer treatment facilities should be completed, especially in conjunction with an improved understanding of lake currents. The possibility of currents near the outfall of the South and Center Chautauqua Lake Sewer District treatment plant that may flow in a westerly direction into the lake rather than easterly and down the Chadakoin should be explored. Although it is fairly certain these currents exist, especially under certain weather conditions, they are poorly understood. Also, a discussion about the possibility of decreasing flows down the Chadakoin River during extreme low-water periods on the lake requires a better understanding of sewer treatment plan effluents in the river.

Educational programs regarding the role of wastewater and water supply systems in the watershed, as well as programs encouraging the appropriate maintenance of on-site wastewater disposal systems must be an important component of lake management.

The 1981 management plan for Warner Dam addresses needs for flood control on Chautauqua Lake and downstream on the Chadakoin River. It also addresses the need for adequate recreational water levels on Chautauqua Lake and adequate flows down the Chadakoin River to assure the river’s water quality and its integrity as a natural and recreational resource.

The Warner Dam management plan should continue to be implemented in its current configuration, but the possibility of both increased flows (during high-water episodes on Chautauqua Lake) and decreased flows (during periods of excessively low-water) should be investigated. These studies will be expensive and must include increased understanding of the effluent from both the South and Center Chautauqua Lake Sewer District and the City of Jamestown treatment facilities.

Other activities that can address problems associated with excessively low or high lake levels include appropriate enforcement of set-back requirements, erosion stabilization where problems exist, and a low-water notification system capable of alerting boat owners to imminent navigational problems or boat launching and retrieval problems.

The issue of lake levels must be approached with the understanding that the management of Warner Dam can only influence lake levels, and that precipitation in the watershed and bedrock formations in the Chadakoin River create the most significant affects on lake levels. Educational programs about Warner Dam and its limitations, as well as the other influences on lake levels, are very important.

"The Management of Chautauqua Lake and Its Watershed" also recommends educational efforts regarding the nature of floodplains and their limitations on development, as well as property owner strategies for addressing erosion problems that may be caused by high water.

"The Management of Chautauqua Lake and Its Watershed" treats views and aesthetics, open space, and lake access as three separate issues, but its recommendations regarding these issues overlap so are presented here in summary together.

The development of local funding mechanisms capable of providing matching funds to State and federal grants, for purchasing property outright or for purchasing development rights or conservation easements can provide local communities and not for profit agencies important tools in preserving the watershed’s quality and open spaces, as well as providing for improved public access. Support for organizations devoted to protecting open space through local funding mechanisms and other kinds of support should be encouraged at the local, County and State levels.

Land use regulations enacted by local municipalities also can enhance aesthetics, open space, and lake access. These regulations include height restrictions on buildings and fences, control of signage, site plan review regulating placement and types of buildings and signs, cluster development with associated green spaces, subdivision regulations that provide lake access through undeveloped shoreline, conservation districts, and density controls. The Local Waterfront Revitalization Program provides local municipalities an opportunity to assess their land use regulations in light of enhancing and protecting the quality of the lake and its watershed.

Mechanisms, such as zoning laws that require special use permits in certain districts, exist for assuring the increased and appropriate use of procedures under the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA). SEQRA provides excellent procedures for planning and guiding development in such a way that watershed and lake quality are not adversely affected. Its fullest use should be supported, encouraged, and required. Unfortunately, public perception of SEQRA is that it serves little useful purpose and unnecessarily increases costs and delays to important projects. An educational initiative regarding the value and proper use of SEQRA is critical to successfully guiding growth in a beneficial way in the watershed.

Educational efforts also need to be initiated that convey the importance of open space and the importance of its protection through land use regulations, SEQRA, the purchase of conservation easements, and other strategies.

Inventories on both a local and watershed-wide basis of open space, important aesthetic features and access points should be completed so that the lake’s important assets can be appropriately understood, recognized, and protected. Such inventories will be an important part of each community’s participation in the Chautuaqua Lake LWRP.

Existing publicly owned overviews should be developed, such as those owned by the State on Interstate 86 and by the County in North Harmony. The State’s development of the overview on I-86 is especially welcome.

Farming in the watershed has been responsible for preserving open space and several spectacular views of the lake. Farming in the watershed is under increasing economic pressures, some of which are associated with stricter environmental regulations. Increasing pressures on farming through the initiation of lake management strategies can have the undesired affect of removing farms and their associated environmental and aesthetic benefits from the watershed. Management programs should address this issue.

The viability of farming in the watershed should be encouraged through local land use planning, the fullest possible use of New York State Agricultural District protection, and the implementation of the County’s farmland protection plan.

Access needs for shore fishing can be addressed to some extent by modifying existing management of appropriate sites and through additional property acquisition. Ice fishing access would also benefit from acquisition of shoreline property and from improved parking opportunities. Municipalities should be encouraged and supported in the maintenance and expansion of existing boat launch facilities.

Recreational opportunities abound on Chautauqua Lake, and include fishing, sailing, power boating, swimming, and the general enjoyment of its beauty. Concerns about the recreational use of Chautauqua Lake are focused primarily on safety issues and the conflicts that exist between different recreational uses.

Recommendations that address safety and conflict issues include increasing familiarity of boaters with rules-of-the-road and other boating regulations. Increased educational efforts need to be encouraged and supported in conjunction with expanded licensing requirements.

State and federal licensing requirements should be encouraged so that so that all boaters are treated fairly and so that areas that need to initiate controls are not penalized by loosing tourism dollars. Regulations that should be developed include licensing similar to that required for operating automobiles, limiting the speed of power boats operated by young boaters, increasing the minimum age limits for personal water craft (PWC) users, limiting the use of PWC’s in certain areas (e.g., within 500 feet of shore and near bathing areas) and increased penalties for violations (including revocation of licenses).

Continued support for marine patrols currently operated by the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Department will help assure appropriate and safe recreational use of Chautauqua Lake.

Siltation of the lake by suspended solids carried into the lake by tributary streams and run-off from properties bordering the lake increases problems associated with occasional low-water periods and also increases the amount of nutrients getting into the lake. Siltation problems may be more significant than acknowledged in recent times, especially in problem areas such as creek deltas.

Erosion controls, especially those capable of retaining storm water, are not currently sufficient. Requirements placed on development projects are neither adequate nor adequately enforced. "The Management of Chautauqua Lake and Its Watershed" recommends the creation of a position either in County government or within a newly created management organization devoted exclusively to the enforcement of regulations that address storm water retention and erosion control.

Pilot studies should establish the relation between tributary streams and siltation and any beneficial effects of retention ponds. If retention ponds prove to be important protection against siltation, then their development should be encouraged and supported. If the forces causing siltation are arrested, then dredging projects can be explored to address localized siltation problems. Dredging will not be cost-effective unless the causes of siltation are first understood and then addressed.

Sites where erosion can be expected to be serious during construction projects should be formally identified. These sites would include those with steep slopes and those next to drainage corridors. Special care should then be taken to assure that appropriate erosion controls are in place during soil disturbance in those areas.

Education about the importance of the control of erosion and run-off waters needs to be delivered to property owners, developers, and municipalities. Municipalities can play an important role in sedimentation control through the way they maintain highway ditches or develop and administer local land use regulations capable of directing development away from sites highly vulnerable to erosion.

1. Measure in-lake currents between basins, near outlet, and near-shore vs. mid-lake. Recommended frequency of study: one time.
2. Investigate the food web of the lake as a way to integrate the somewhat disjointed biologic information on the lake and as a way to consider herbivorous organisms such as aquatic weevils or aquatic moths, or the impacts of non-native species, such as zebra mussels and milfoil. This investigation would incorporate an inventory of species composition, abundance, and distribution as they relate to environmental and climatological factors. Recommended frequency of study: on-going.
3. Continue to investigate sources and sinks of adverse chemicals or the like:

1. use a stream-juncture sampling program or a DNA identification study to source bacteria (recommended frequency: one time);
2. further investigate the hydrology and erosion of the lake periphery and its chemical and sediment loading on the lake (recommended frequency: one time);
3. examine nutrient sinks such as phosphorous accumulation in soils or in the lakebed; initiate or encourage DOH or DEC to explore the long-term effects of on-site disposal systems. When are soils saturated with phosphorous or other nutrients? When is the useful life of on-site disposal systems exhausted? (recommended frequency: one time);
4. measure phosphorous in-put and out-put for sewage treatment plants (recommended frequency: on-going);
5. look for the fate of brine components such as lead (recommended frequency: one time);
6. construct a nitrogen budget similar to the phosphorous budget already completed (recommended frequency: one time, but repeated periodically);
7. investigate the fate and transport of new items of concern such as boat fuels or their by-products and nutrient loading from Canada Geese (recommended frequency: one time).

4. Study agricultural issues, for example: a) discarded macrophytes as fertilizer; b) measurement of BMP impacts; or c) vista preservation. Recommended frequency: one time.
5. Continue monitoring programs, such as gauging stations on Maple Springs Creek or Ball Creek, and CSLAP. Local monitoring frequency and locations should be increased, but it will be difficult to improve the existing CSLAP effort on the lake until currents are better understood. Additional local monitoring should include attention to metals, bacteria, and higher frequency of nutrient measurements.

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"The Management of Chautauqua Lake and Its Watershed" was completed in conjunction with its sister document, "Lake Chautauqua—Entering the 21^st Century: State of the Lake Report" (SOL). The SOL addresses the diagnostic portion of the Chautauqua Lake Diagnostic and Feasibility program. The SOL’s "Summary and Recommendations" document summarizes that document and makes recommendations in much the same way that this executive summary presents "The Management of Chautauqua Lake and Its Watershed." The recommendations made in this executive summary complement and in some instances repeat recommendations made in the SOL’s summary. Generally, however, the recommendations in the SOL are more technical in nature. It was felt that keeping the two summaries separate allowed clearer presentation of both technical and management recommendations. The two documents and the full reports they represent should be seen, however, as fully interdependent and complementary.