Spotlight on Otsego County Conservation Association: Celebrating the Second Monitoring Anniversary!

Otsego County Conservation Association is celebrating its second monitoring anniversary! Volunteers in the Cooperstown, New York area have been monitoring nine sites up in the headwaters of the Susquehanna River since September 2017. OCCA represents the first partnership for the CMC in New York. They are proud to be going into their third year of stream monitoring in Otsego County and are excited to bring on some new sites soon. OCCA stream monitors sample water temperature, conductivity, water clarity, dissolved oxygen, pH, nitrate-nitrogen, and orthophosphate. They also started sampling benthic macroinvertebrates this summer at five sites with great success. OCCA has been invited to share their results at local and regional forums and with local soil and water conservation districts and the SUNY Oneonta Biological Field Station. Director Leslie Orzetti is excited to continue their stream monitoring success: “this is truly a collaborative effort with support from several organizations, citizens, and local schools. We are proud to work with ALLARM for this great effort and will continue into the future.” Stay tuned for more from the awesome OCCA volunteers!

Otsego County volunteers monitor benthic macroinvertebrates in Elk Creek near Cooperstown, New York. Photo Credit: Leslie Orzetti 2019