Jefferson County Soil and Water Conservation District

06/11/2026

We kicked June off with attending & presenting at a couple of local conferences and hosting our annual Rain Barrel & Garden Workshop! 💦🌳🛢

Sam Anderson, Forester, presented on 'Tree Planting Pilot Programs with The Nature Conservancy' at the 16th Annual Black River Watershed Conference & Sarah Trick, Environmental Resource Specialist, presented at the 9th Annual Indian River Lakes Conservancy Water Quality Conference on 'Your Lake and Septic Pollution.'

Thank you NYS Tug Hill Commission and Indian River Lakes Conservancy for having us! These conferences are a great way to get local community members, leaders, and stakeholder groups together to teach, learn, and collaborate!

Yesterday evening, George Birth, Environmental Resource Specialist, led our 4th Annual Rain Barrel & Garden Workshop at the Flower Memorial Library in Watertown. Participants learned about the importance of rain gardens and rain barrels, and 45 rain barrels were provided to participants to capture rainwater for years to come! Thank you Flower Memorial Library for hosting, it was a great turnout!! Funding for the materials were provided by Finger Lakes - Lake Ontario Watershed Protection Alliance

SNEAK PEEK: We just finished up with 120 acres of tree planting 🌳🌱🌲Stay tuned for some very cool drone footage - COMING SOON! 😁

06/08/2026

REMINDER ‼️The Rain Barrel & Garden Workshop is on Wednesday, June 10th at 6:00 PM at the Roswell P. Flower Memorial Library in Watertown, NY 💦🛢

Due to high interest and limited space, this event is by REGISTRATION ONLY. We have reached out to those that made the registration list to confirm their attendance. PLEASE let us know if you are no longer able to attend so we can open your spot to someone else!

You can confirm or deny your attendance by calling our office at 315-782-2749 or messaging us here on Facebook. Thank you and we look forward to seeing you then!

FOR THOSE ON THE WAITLIST -- We will call you if a spot becomes available.

If you believe you have registered but did not receive a call/text from us, please call our office!

05/20/2026

04/30/2026

It was another great year teaming up with Indian River Central School to plant trees with their students to create a riparian forest buffer! Sam, District Forester, worked with Indian River High School's Biology teacher, Lindsey Steblen, and Andrea Inserra, Indian River Lakes Conservancy, to lead 3 classes to properly plant, stake, and tube 75 tree seedlings last week. Students planted Quaking Aspen, Swamp White Oak, and Red Maple seedlings to create an effective buffer. 🌳🌱🍁

The buffer will help reduce runoff and erosion as well as provide shade for the stream. The shade will increase the oxygen available for fish in the stream. This project is in conjunction with Trout in the Classroom 🐟 www.troutintheclassroom.org

A special thanks goes out to Mike Kiechle for providing use of the land! This was the perfect way to celebrate Earth Week! 🌏🌳

Funding provided by Finger Lakes - Lake Ontario Watershed Protection Alliance

04/30/2026

Sandy Creeks 9E Watershed Plan Update: Monitoring, modeling, and scenarios are complete!

Upstate Freshwater Institute (UFI) has calibrated the GWLF-E watershed model to the Sandy Creeks watershed using the real-world results of our 2023 water sampling efforts and evaluated the community-selected scenarios, including:

- Increased precipitation
- Reduced manure spreading
- Increased development (solar farms, housing, etc.)
- Conversion of fallow agricultural land to forests
- Water quality impacts if septic systems in watersheds leading to the Sandy Pond subwatershed were sewered

Join us to:
- See how these scenarios could impact future water quality
- Review draft goals and recommendations
- Share your feedback and help shape the final plan

Our goal is for the completed Sandy Creeks 9E Plan to reflect community values and guide future water quality protection efforts. This plan will help municipalities, organizations, and landowners focus resources where they’ll have the greatest impact and strengthen future grant applications.

Be informed. Weigh in. Help shape the future of your watershed.

We hope to see you there!

04/22/2026

REGISTRATION IS FULL FOR THE RAIN BARREL & GARDEN WORKSHOP ON WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10, 2026!!

If you registered and find out that you're no longer able to attend, please call our office to let us know so we can open your spot for someone else 🙂

Thank you to all of those interested, and we look forward to seeing you then!! 💦🛢

04/22/2026

HAPPY EARTH DAY 2026! 🌏🌳😎

In celebration of Earth Week, SWCD staff have been staying busy educating the youth of Jefferson County! It's YEAR 5 for SW CARES!!

SW CARES stands for Storm Water Carbon Awareness Reforestation Education for Students. Last week, Sarah (Watershed Coordinator) and Sam (District Forester) visited Knickerbocker, Sherman St., Black River, and Brownville-Glenn Park Elementary schools to teach students about the carbon cycle, climate change, stormwater, and riparian forest buffers.

After an interactive presentation, students dove deeper, learning about sources and solutions to point and non-point pollution using Jefferson County SWCD's handmade watershed model.

Sam also taught them how to plant tree seedlings, and students were sent home with their very own spruce and red maple trees!! 🍁🌲

Thank you to the schools/teachers for allowing us to continue this educational outreach! Funding for this program was provided by Finger Lakes - Lake Ontario Watershed Protection Alliance

04/20/2026

POST UPDATE 4/22/26: We are so excited to see how many of you are interested in joining us for this workshop!! Due to such a high interest and limited space, we have changed this event to be by REGISTRATION ONLY, with registration limited to 45 participants. THANK YOU! 😁

Last summer surely demonstrated the importance of capturing rainfall!! 🌧💦

You are invited to join us for a Rain Barrel & Garden Workshop at Roswell P. Flower Memorial Library in Watertown on June 10, 2026, 6:00-7:00 PM. Please call our office at 315-782-2749 to register.

You'll also learn about stormwater and the importance of rain gardens/barrels. There is no cost to attend this workshop!

04/17/2026

Thank you to all of our wonderful tree customers for another successful tree sale, promoting conservation in Jefferson County with just under 9,000 tree seedlings/transplants distributed last week! If you missed it this year, we expect to launch the 2027 tree sale in the late fall - stay tuned!

We are happy to continue our partnership with The Nature Conservancy to offer tree planting programs. If you're interested in getting free trees for your property (incentive program information attached to this post), complete the Tree Planting Interest Form here - https://tinyurl.com/3hdmtbu3

Following that, the District Forester will be in touch to gather more information to determine what program may be the best fit, and to discuss potential tree planting timelines!