discover cayuga lake

Our staff & crew

Bill Foster, Executive Director and Director of Educational Programs

Bill grew up in Ithaca and earned a BS in Environmental Engineering, Cornell ’87. After 16 years working in water resource management with the US EPA and several not-for-profits, he is now focused on community-driven environmental education.

    Astrid Jirka, Director of Tourism initiatives and community Outreach

    Astrid has diverse experience in eco-tourism, international education, conservation, and the Finger Lakes region hospitality industry. She is a graduate of Cornell University and the School for Int’l Training, majoring in Intercultural and Natural Resource Management – and a yoga instructor too.

      Mike Willard, Master Captain

      Mike loves being on the water! He’s spent the bulk of his career working on boats – in Florida and the Finger Lakes. He’s a captain and a carpenter and the father of two young girls.

        Captain Alan Green

        Alan has captained on various boats in the Finger Lakes for the last 20 years. He’s also a Quartermaster for the US Coast Guard and was the Director of Development at Binghamton University Maritime College. He’s now happily retired and spending as much time as he can on boats!

          Katie Hennessey
          Youth Program Coordinator

          Katie has had a life of adventure leading biking trips for teens and kayaking tours down rocky rivers. She’s also an accomplished writer and has spent time in the Middle East working for non-profit organizations focused on peace and conflict resolution. Discovering a new home in the Finger Lakes, she’s now guiding our educational programs for local students and our Youth Crew.

              Eric Pritz
              Education Program Coordinator

              Eric is a retired history teacher in the Ithaca School District. With Cayuga Lake as part of the Erie Canal Waterway, working with DCL and the Floating Classroom was a natural fit for his classroom curriculum. Now, as DCL Education Coordinator, he’s working with teachers to further integrate classroom curriculum, kicking up rocks in streams for macro invertebrate studies and admiring the life in a drop of water with our students. 

              Narrators & Crew

              Every year we welcome a small handful of local residents to become crew on our boat. They are also the narrators for our eco-cruises and the educators for our Floating Classroom cruises. Full of knowledge about the local area through years of walking the gorges, searching for fossils, studying local history, identifying wildlife and specializing in certain aspects of our region’s unique geology, culture and history, they make our cruises unique and memorable.

                Watershed Interns

                With a wealth of knowledge and interest in fields ranging from the environmental sciences and management to environmental justice and education, our watershed interns spend the summer working with us and partner organizations to gain more expertise in their future careers.

                  Youth Crew

                  Our Youth Crew are local high school student who are learning about the work that we do while also lending a hand in our educational programs by teaching the kids that we work with about our local lake ecology!

                  DISCOVER CAYUGA LAKE

                  OUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS

                  We are a 501(c)3 non-profit organization and are governed by a Board of Directors.
                  We are almost always looking for new board members. Please review this flier and contact us if you are interested!

                  CURRENT BOARD MEMBERS

                  • Chair: Steve Kress (Cornell University, retired; ornithologist)
                  • Paul Flagg (Ship’s captain, Engineer, retired)
                  • Carole Erslev (Dryden Central School District, retired)
                  • Laura Falk (Owner of EFL! Experience the Finger Lakes)
                  • Auguste DuPlan (Cayuga Medical Center Psychologist and avid boater)
                  • Michelle Hallock (Tompkins Financial)
                  • Mack Travis (Developer)
                  Great Experiences with Discover Cayuga Lake

                  Our Mission

                  At Discover Cayuga Lake, our mission is to cultivate informed and equitable relationships between people and the watersheds upon which they depend and we do all this while providing memorable, breathtaking family, friend, and community experiences on the beautiful Cayuga Lake.

                    We’d Love to hear from you!

                    Connect
                    with Us

                    For Cruises & Charters:
                    booking@discovercayugalake.org

                    For Educational Programs:
                    education@discovercayugalake.org

                    HOME DOCK:

                    1000 Allan H. Treman Marina Rd.
                    Ithaca, NY 14850

                    OUR OFFICE:

                    110 N. Tioga St., Suite 303
                    Center for History & Culture
                    Ithaca, NY  14850

                    Discover Cayuga Lake 2023