Grants will help to further study Great Lakes, Finger Lakes

NEW YORK STATE--The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and Syracuse-based Great Lakes Research Consortium (GLRC) announced $121,741 in grant awards for five research projects that will help restore and protect the health of New York's Great Lakes and surrounding communities.
"Our rapidly changing climate, coupled with increased threats from invasive species, nutrient pollution, and emerging contaminants, are challenging the health of Great Lakes ecosystems," DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos said. "The research grants announced today will help New York state delve deeper into the science of these problems and broaden our ability to address these and future challenges."
Five projects are receiving 2021 Great Lakes Research Consortium (GLRC) grants including Hobart and William Smith Colleges which will examine several Finger Lakes in the study.
The colleges will receive $25,000 to lead an international team of researchers that will measure shifts in algal abundance, composition, and nutrients over the past century. HWS Associate Professor of Geoscience Tara Curtin, Ph.D., will work with HWS Finger Lakes Institute Post-Doctoral Research Scientist Michael Brown, Ph.D., to lead the project team that includes researchers with Cornell University; Syracuse University; and the University of Regina, Saskatchewan. The team will evaluate the records of Canandaigua Lake, Cayuga Lake, Owasco Lake, and Seneca Lake, which have all experienced toxic HAB events since 2017. The team will use sediment cores to develop a long-term record of HABs and the associated environmental drivers as a data-based tool for developing mitigation strategies. New York's Ontario County Water Resources Council is providing additional funding for this work.
In addition, the Seneca Watershed Intermunicipal Organization will be granted $23,000 to collaborate and evaluate optimizing the design of phosphorus sorption technology (removal) for deployment in agricultural settings in the Great Lakes region. In collaboration with the Finger Lakes Institute, the Yates, Seneca, and Ontario County Soil and Water Conservation Districts, and Seneca Farms Biochar in Odessa, Seneca Watershed Steward Ian Smith will lead this project to inform the design of field-scale systems that would be USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service-approved best management practices for mitigating phosphorus and HABs.
Other projects include funding to Clarkson University, Binghamton University and SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry.
"The Great Lakes Research Consortium is pleased to support a wide range of projects from across New York state to address important issues including invasive species, harmful algal blooms, changing water levels in Lake Ontario, the identification of new and emerging contaminants, and the use of phosphorus sorption technology," said Great Lakes Research Consortium Director Gregory L. Boyer, Ph.D. "These small grant awards support first-of-their-kind and basic foundational research that is essential if we are to properly manage and conserve New York's critical freshwater resources."
This grant program is funded by New York's Environmental Protection Fund. The Great Lakes Research Consortium is an organization of 18 colleges and universities in New York state, plus nine affiliate campuses in Ontario, Canada, dedicated to collaborative Great Lakes research and science education. Learn more at www.esf.edu/glrc.