Archive: Around Town

Ashley BenningOn October 12, the third Sunset Dinner on Cayuga was enjoyed by all in the beautiful dining hall at Wells College on Cayuga Lake’s east shore in the picturesque village of Aurora.  'Sunset' is a dinner-dance fundraiser for the Cayuga Lake Watershed Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating about and protecting Cayuga Lake and its creeks, lands and communities. Many old and new friends of the Network came to enjoy the evening of delicious food, local wines, silent auction, music, dancing, and award presentations.

Two awards were presented during the evening, one to a well-established leader in protecting the Cayuga Lake watershed, and one to an emerging watershed leader.

The David A. Morehouse Award

The David A. Morehouse Award was established by the Network a decade ago to honor the memory of David Morehouse, long-time Cayuga county resident and protector of the lake. Claire and Randy Morehouse reminisced fondly about their late husband and father’s stubborn insistence and drive to to protect our beautiful lake.


The 2013 Morehouse Award recipient is Steve Penningroth and the Community Science Institute that he founded and leads (see photo, above). This Ithaca-based nonprofit offers water quality monitoring training, data collection and lab analysis for local residents concerned about water issues in their creeks and along the lake.

Supported by a certified water quality laboratory, Penningroth and CSI have established long-running data collection efforts along seven Cayuga Lake creeks and the lakeshore. In addition to this Great Lakes Basin focus, CSI is instructing Upper Susquehanna River residents in establishing a pre-fracking water quality data base in headwaters streams, and are also carrying out pre-fracking residential water well testing across New York State.

Steve’s visionary approach and inclusive style have been effective in creating a clean-water army of well-informed, technically competent volunteers. The decade-long data collection project provides invaluable information for many water-related challenges in the Cayuga Lake watershed and surrounding areas.

The Emerging Watershed Leader Award

New this year, the Emerging Watershed Leader Award has been created by the Network to honor a young person who shows great promise in the future management and protection of our incomparable Cayuga Lake and creeks. A sustainable future for our lake requires that young people start working toward it now, and get ready to take (or grab!) the reins from us older folks.

The inaugural 2013 Emerging Watershed Leader Award was presented to Ashley Benning (in photo), a 2013 graduate of Wells College with a degree in environmental science. For several years, Ashley has been a student intern and staff person for the Network and has what it takes to lead the way forward.

Ashley combines a scholarly scientific mind with graphic design and communication skills, and has helped edit and write newsletter articles, maintain membership data, organize and run events, develop the Watershed Network's Facebook page, and has contributed greatly to the new website, not least in the creation of a special resources page about the lake and watershed for kids.

v9i41