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Northern NY News
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Written by Contributor
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Friday, 30 October 2009 13:49 |
 Oswego, NY -- Great Lakes Small Harbors Coalition Chair Pro-Tem Chuck May is
recruiting Lake Erie, Niagara River, Lake Ontario, and St. Lawrence River
harbors for the grassroots effort that seeks to secure federal funding for
shallow draft and commercial harbors and he is receiving a warm welcome in New
York.
“This regional coalition will help New York’s
recreational and commercial small harbors address management, dredging and
funding needs by recognizing the eight Great
Lakes states and hundreds of shoreline communities as all part of the greater
Great Lakes system,” said
New York Sea Grant Recreation and Tourism
Specialist Dave White.
“This coalition is initially focused on reforming
the federal process that funds the needs of our federally-authorized harbors
that are in critical condition, however, we already have resolutions from many
types of harbors. The work of this coalition will be good for all harbors
throughout the Great Lakes region,” May said.
The Great Lakes Small
Harbors Coalition is an outgrowth of the Michigan Small Harbors Coalition,
established in 2007. That grassroots effort last year secured $6 million in
omnibus federal funding for federally-authorized shallow draft (also called
small) harbors in Michigan. May is now taking the Michigan-based effort Great
Lakes-wide.
Earlier this week at meetings organized by New York Sea
Grant and co-sponsored by Orleans County Planning and Tourism and the Oswego
County Department of Community Planning, Tourism and Promotion, May spoke to
nearly 50 representatives of New York’s waterfront interests, including harbor
masters, elected officials, and representatives of marinas and marine trade
associations, yacht clubs, port authorities and government, environmental, and
tourism agencies.
Read more online at www.nysgextension.org,
click on Great Lakes Small Harbors.
Who wants to know about
the Great Lakes Small Harbors Coalition?
Those attending meetings in
Albion and Oswego to introduce the Great Lakes Small Harbors Coalition included
representatives of marinas, yacht clubs, and such groups as:
· Braddock Bay Community
Development Corporation
· Cayuga County Water and Sewer Authority
· Center for Environmental
Information
· City of Oswego
·
Gateway Trade Center Metroport,
Buffalo
· Great Lakes Commission
·
Great Lakes Seaway Trail
· Lake Ontario Coastal
Initiative
· Monroe County
·
New York State Department of
Environmental Conservation
· New York State Department of State Coastal Zone
Management Program
· Niagara County Fisheries Development Board
· Orleans
County Soil and Water Conservation District
·
Oswego County Soil and Water
Conservation District
· Port Authority of Ogdensburg.
· Port Authority of Oswego
· Sandy
Pond Channel Maintenance Association
·
Sodus Bay Improvement
Association
· The Ontario Dune Coalition
·
Town of Olcott
· Town of
Wilson
· Tug
Hill Commission
· US Army Corps of Engineers
·
US Coast Guard
· USDA Natural Resources
Conservation Service
· Village of Fair Haven
·
Village of Sodus Point
· Western NY Marine Trades
Association.
Orleans County Legislator Gary Kent, and aides to U.S.
Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, New York State Senator George Maziarz, and New
York State Assemblyman Steve Hawley attended the meeting in Albion. Oswego
County District 1 Legislator Margaret Kastler attended the Oswego
meeting.
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Last Updated on Friday, 30 October 2009 13:59 |
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