Between Two Great Lakes

The Buffalo Blueway continues to expand with new sites and connections around Western New York as Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper works with contractors, funders and donors to create or enhance sites along the Buffalo River.What's the Buffalo Blueway? Listen to this show to hear about the conception, a list of sites, and expansion plans in the near future. Learn more and plan your trip along the Blueway at https://buffaloblueway.com/

Today's show has been handed over to Mike Radomski from Outside Chronicles. Mike invited Jeanne Beiter from Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper onto his channel to talk about Waterkeeper, the current Waterfall Challenge Outside Chronicles is hosting, as well as the Niagara River/Lake Erie Watershed. Outside Chronicles is a guide service and outdoor education provider. It has hosted many WNY Hiking Challenges since 2019, and uses proceeds from those hikes to benefit local environmental and conservation causes, such as Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper.     Thanks so much to Mike for letting us share this episode from his  Campfire Q&A series. To watch the video of the talk, click the link in the description.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvYeMm_ykWI

Continuing with our Coastal Resiliency discussions, we moved inland to meet with Allen Fagan, district manager for Wyoming County Soil & Water Conservation District.You might think "why talk about coastal work in Wyoming County?" The county sits at the start of two watersheds in New York. What happens there can impact the waterways downstream. Fagan shares how the department works with landowners in the region to protect groundwater sources while also leading initiatives to shore up shorelines of creeks and supporting plans to enhance aquatic life in those waters.

This edition of Between Two Great Lakes has us meeting with staff from Rich's to talk about why they choose to continue their longtime support and engagement with Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper. We also highlight their responsible business strategy called Generations of Good, as well as how good it is to bird watch by their corporate headquarters along the Niagara River.

The Niagara River/Lake Erie Watershed in New York State contains 1.5 million acres of land and has more than 1.1 million people living in it. Today's show looks at how the region can be protected by working together.The watershed covers 116 municipalities, 5,543 miles of rivers and streams and 1450,000 acres of state and federally listed wetlands. Many people and groups work to protect this watershed, which is a large undertaking. An organization supporting this effort is the Lake Erie Watershed Protection Alliance (LEWPA). The group coordinates efforts between Cattaraugus, Chautauqua and Erie counties to address water quality issues in this region. Learn more about them here: https://www3.erie.gov/environment/lake-erie-watershed-protection-alliance

For our ongoing Coastal Resiliency podcast series, we spoke with Cassandra Pinkoski with the Chautauqua County Soil & Water Conservation District. We met in Dunkirk to learn about shoreline resiliency work along the Lake Erie coastline. Continue learning about how we are building a resilient coastline at https://bnwaterkeeper.org/climate-resiliency/

This the kickoff to our ongoing Coastal Resiliency series. We're talking about how we and our partner organizations are working to create a resilient coastline for Lake Erie and the surrounding communities. This episode highlights how Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper is defining coastal resiliency, what challenges are out there and future steps towards improvement. It's a vast project we hope to make easier for people to understand and know why this is such an important time to look at these issues and what it means for the Western New York community. Continue learning about how we are building a resilient coastline at https://bnwaterkeeper.org/climate-resiliency/ Music on today's show is from Snowbelt. Listen to them here: https://snowbelt.bandcamp.com/

The answer: not big, but this plastic item can be a big problem when looking at its impact on the environment. Today's show looks at how Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper is trying to understand nurdles, how we train volunteers to look for them and how having the information about what's out there helps us in our advocacy efforts. The guest today is Elizabeth Cute, senior program manager at Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper. Be a part of the solution, learn more about plastic pollution here: https://bnwaterkeeper.org/plastic-pollution/ Thanks again to the band Snowbelt. Listen to them on bandcamp: https://snowbelt.bandcamp.com/

Tell everyone you know: New York is a Great Lakes State. Our Legal Director Margaux Valenti stops by to share what this means. And after you listen to this episode, you'll understand the importance of that message and why we are spreading it far and wide. Now all together: New York is a Great Lakes State! Music from Snowbelt, a Buffalo based band.

How did we get those awesome shoreline plantings to take root? Good chance it involved a rock sock. This fun name for a tool used in living shoreline projects has been used in various ways around the country, and we've been able to work with partners to take advantage of it for our own restoration projects. This episode we talk with Charles Oddo, project manager and senior designer at Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper, about living shorelines, healthy ecosystems, and what makes a rock sock. See a video of the rock sock creation and learn more about our volunteer opportunities at https://bnwaterkeeper.org/restorecorps/