Brrr, it’s cold in the watershed! People often ask us “What do you do in the winter? Do you work?” And the answer is ‘Yes! There’s a lot to do. At least for our 5 year round staff.” Even though the boat is off the water and the majority of our programs are not in action, there really is a lot to do to keep our non-profit running. While our seasonal crew and summer educators are off doing other things, our core, year-round staff is busy running our school-based Trout in the Classroom Program, fundraising, writing grants, and engaged in a hefty amount of community networking, strategic planning and program development. We thought we’d share some highlights!
Here’s Bill Foster, our Executive Director, equally at home in the office, in the classroom, and kayaking on the lake, even last February! Sadly. the majority of our time over the winter months is in fact administrative work. After the boating season is over, we spend a lot of time analyzing how the season went and what we want to adjust for the coming year. We do a lot of number crunching, financial reviewing, budgeting and fundraising. Once the new year rolls around, we’ve got grants to write and lots of organizational and program developments to consider, from the coming season (which always rolls into view too quickly) to 5-10 year strategic plans to dream about with our Board of Directors. There’s always something more to do, but luckily Bill also spends time in the classrooms with the kids in our Trout in the Classroom Program and always finds time for outdoor activities to explore and understand our watershed more deeply.
Astrid Jirka (Yeerka) is our Director of Tourism and Community Initiatives. She’s chosen that position title as an indication of the many aspects of our tourism programs that she helps direct with an eco-tourism focus. While she does in fact oversee tourism operations at DCL – things like managing our reservation system and marketing needs – she also works to ensure that our tourism efforts are sustainable and providing benefits to our community. She recently received her Professional Certificate for the Global Sustainable Tourism Council’s Sustainable Tourism Criteria Program to learn more about how our local efforts and in line with global interests. While you can find her on the boat in the summer, you’ll mostly find her in the office over the winter too, planning and scheming and doing a lot of community networking. It takes a community to protect a watershed, to educate future conservationists, and to design programs that have positive benefits for community members, and that requires lots of conversations and coordinating! She’s also busy finding funding and preparing for the next round of our Cayuga Lake Watershed Internship Program which she oversees.
Mike Willard is our Master Captain and while he’s not behind the helm over the winter, he is actually spending time on the Teal. Every winter the Teal needs maintenance to keep her looking pretty and safe, and to comply with US Coast Guard regulations. Plans have been underway for some time to replace the Teal with a more sustainable watercraft. We’ve been contemplating bringing an electric boat to Cayuga Lake and talking with many people about what that would entail. Green Boats are a relatively new industry and require infrastructure much like electric cars do. We’ve got our eyes on the horizon and Mike has been working with our Boat Committee to see what’s possible. But the big news this year is that we’ve realized that the Teal will only be in service for one more season, which means that Mike is busy shopping for a new replacement boat, while he also takes care of his two little girls at home! If this happens to be your area of expertise please contact us at booking@discovercayugalake.org
Katie Hennessey is our part-time Youth Program Coordinator and you can see why – look at that big smile 🙂 Katie oversees our summer Youth Guide Program which gives local teens an opportunity to work on our boat, and also our school-based Trout in the Classroom Program. Since we work with 20 schools all around the lake, that keeps her pretty busy setting up and maintaining the trout aquariums, coordinating with teachers, and stepping into the classrooms to talk to kids about trout. She’s also an avid long-distance biker and yes, we do also take vacations over the winter. This past fall Katie biked along the coast of Italy. Lucky gal! And she’s dreaming up ways to bring biking programs to the Finger Lakes through the organization she helps run called Teen Treks. If you’re interested in this concept, pleaese be in touch with her at education@discovercayugalake.org
Eric Pritz is a retired history teacher, and principal, and is now our part-time Education Program Coordinator. We are very grateful to have his assistance as we work with various community partners, such as the Community Science Institute, the Paleontological Research Institute, and local teachers to ensure that our Trout in the Classroom and Floating Classroom Programs are relevant to state curriculum standards – and fulfilling our goals of connecting kids to the watershed involving their heads and their hearts. He’s busy this winter imagining all the wonderful things we could be doing and slowly but surely making them happen. Thank you Eric for spending your retirement with us!
Before we know it, spring will be here, and we’ll all be back on the water. We’ll be back with renewed energy and program elements and we look forward to seeing all of our guests, clients and neighbors again. In the meantime, we’re still fundraising because that work never ends. We still have trout tanks in need of sponsors and there are many other ways to fund and support us. Please check this webpage for more information, be in touch at any time, and we hope you’re out there enjoying the watershed even in the winter!