GLIN==> Press Release: Great Lakes Small Harbors Coalition building momentum in NY

PRESS RELEASE: October 30, 2009
Contacts:  
Dave White, New York Sea Grant, 315-312-3042
Chuck May, Great Lakes Small Harbors Coalition, 231-889-5607
Photos: karalynn at gisco.net
Note: See Sidebar 1 below for list of groups represented at the meetings;
see Sidebar 2 online for list of NY¹s federally-authorized harbors
 
Great Lakes Small Harbors Coalition Building Momentum in New York
 
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.
 
³This regional coalition will help New York¹s 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,² said New York Sea Grant Recreation
and Tourism Specialist Dave White.
 
³This 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,² 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 York¹s 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. # # #
 
Sidebar Option 1 (Option 2 online in release at www.nysgextension.org)

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.




-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.great-lakes.net/lists/glin-announce/attachments/20091030/42d88dfc/attachment.html