The Otsego Lake Watershed Sustainability Fund announces its first awards cycle, with $15,000 in awards available for projects that focus on the health of Otsego Lake and its watershed. The deadline for applications is April 30, 2024.

Towards the end of 2023, three Otsego Lake organizations joined with the Community Foundation of Otsego County to create a fund to support the long-term health of Otsego Lake and its watershed. The Otsego Lake Watershed Sustainability Fund is advised by the leaders of three lake-centric organizations: the Otsego Lake Association, the Watershed Supervisory Committee (Village of Cooperstown, Towns of Otsego, Middlefield and Springfield), and SUNY-Oneonta’s Biological Field Station. The fund will be managed by the Community Foundation of Otsego County.

According to Jim Howarth, Co-president of Otsego Lake Association, “With the visual arrival of HABs (harmful algae blooms) in 2022, we found that we needed additional resources to address our concerns for the lake. This got us thinking that we have faced such crises before (zebra mussels and quagga clams to name just two) and lacked a fund to underwrite our needs.”

Jeff Katz, Executive Director of the Community Foundation, and Harry Levine, Board President of CFOC, had already been engaged in conversations with residents concerned about HABS, especially Doug and Rhonda Willies, who had devoted much time and resources to the issue. The idea of creating a long-term fund to provide the Otsego Lake Watershed with these missing resources arose from these meetings. The fund has now been created and has started off with key donations from Doug and Rhonda Willies, Chip and Nancy Northrup, and the Community Foundation of Otsego County.

Florian Reyda, Director of the SUNY-Oneonta Biological Field Station, said that he thought the fund “will provide important support for future work and provide an excellent opportunity for a united effort among local organizations to work together to ensure the health of Otsego Lake.”

Bertine McKenna, Chair of the Watershed Supervisory Committee, agreed that the fund will encourage more coordination among organizations interested in the lake. She said, “this new fund could help us fund necessary actions to protect our lake and watershed. Our goal is to ensure we take every step possible to protect this unique and beautiful natural resource. This fund can also provide seed money that will allow local organizations to apply for important grants. We thank the Community Foundation for leading us down this path.”

For more information on the awards process, go to https://cfotsego.org/otsego-lake-watershed-sustainability-fund/

Donors interested in contributing to the fund can go to the website of the Community Foundation (https://cfotsego.org/our-funds/ and click on the “Donate to the Otsego Lake Watershed Sustainability Fund” button. Gifts can be either permanently or non-permanently endowed. All such donations qualify as tax-deductible.

For further information about the fund, contact Jeff Katz at jeff@cfotsego.org or 607-286-3750.