The Oneida Lake Education Initiative and the Cornell University Biological Field Station have successfully completed the development of an education program using the worldwide web (www.oneidalakeinfo.org) and a teacher-training program (traveling trunk and in-service training) to disseminate scientifically based information to enhance the understanding of Oneida Lake and its watershed. This effort has resulted in a website and a teacher training initiative conducted with three Oneida Lake waterfront school districts located in Madison, Onondaga, and Oswego counties. The project has impacted over 2,000 students and continues to enhance environmental awareness of students in the Oneida Lake region.

“The Management Strategy for Oneida Lake and Its Watershed” was completed in October 2004 and included a comprehensive list of recommendations for the priority issues for water resources throughout the five-county Oneida Lake watershed. The issues, which concerned providing long-term protection and improvement of Oneida Lake and its tributaries, included flooding and water level management, failing septic systems, erosion and sedimentation, boating, declining fisheries, cormorants, water chestnut and other exotic species, and salt application and storage. The theme common to each of these issues was the need for education.

The Cornell University Biological Field Station, New York Sea Grant, Central New York Regional Planning and Development Board, and Cornell University Cooperative Extension of Onondaga County formed a unique partnership to implement education programs for the benefit of the Oneida Lake watershed community. The program, called the Oneida Lake Education Initiative, melded the worldwide web (www.oneidalakeinfo.org), technology (web cam), scientific knowledge of Oneida Lake and its watershed, and educational outreach (traveling trunk) into an Oneida Lake waterfront education program.

This project has impacted over 2,000 students in Madison, Onondaga, and Oswego counties of New York state and continues to enhance environmental awareness of students in the Oneida Lake region. "If you build it they will come" has become the hallmark statement of this project as the participating school systems (Chittenango, Cicero-North Syra"use, and Central Square) have "xhibited tremendous energy and enthusiasm for this education effort.