Lake-effect snow season is just around the corner, and accurate and timely forecasts are important for local schools and transportation agencies. On Monday, September 24, 2018 at 7 pm, experts from SUNY Oswego’s meteorology department will present “Lake-Effect Research at SUNY Oswego and How We Use it to Prepare Others” at the Sandy Creek Town Hall, 1992 Harwood Drive.

Attendees will hear results from the Ontario Winter Lake-effect Systems (OWLeS) project and how SUNY Oswego forecasts storms for the NYS Department of Transportation and local schools. Students Matthew Seymour and Nicholas Rodick, as well as Professor Scott Steiger, will give an hour-long presentation and answer questions.

Matt and Nick are co-forecast leaders of the Lake-Effect Storm Prediction and Research Center (LESPaRC). Matt is a senior meteorology major at SUNY Oswego, and his research interests include lake-effect snow and severe convective storms. He is best known for his weather photography and providing year-round forecasts to a social media audience in Central New York. Nick is a junior in meteorology at SUNY Oswego, and his research interests are tornado formation over complex terrain and lake-effect snow storms. Nick is known for storm chasing in the U.S. Great Plains and Upstate NY.

Professor Steiger is an Associate Professor of Meteorology at SUNY Oswego, and his research interests are lake-effect storms and severe thunderstorms. He leads the college’s annual storm observation and forecasting program, in which he brings students out to the U.S. Great Plains to observe and study thunderstorms firsthand.

This presentation is being organized by the NYS Tug Hill Commission. Please RSVP to (315) 785-2380 or gwen@tughill.org by September 20.

Commissioner Leona Chereshnoski was honored by Senator Patty Ritchie on Wednesday, July 25 as part of the Senator’s annual “Women of Distinction” ceremony in Alexandria Bay. Leona, the
longest serving current Tug Hill Commission board member, was initially appointed to the board in November 1983. A resident of Lorraine, with long-term family ties to Osceola, she has a long
history of civic and community involvement, including: Treasurer, NYS Old Tyme Fiddlers’ Association; Secretary, Osceola Snowmobile Club; NYS Library Association; Jefferson Lewis Library Association; and election observer for the Town of Lorraine. She is also the librarian, Osceola Public Library; the owner of Old Lard’s Barn Bed and Breakfast, and is a retired librarian from the South Jefferson Central School.

She and her husband, Ray, raised their three children Sherry, Pete, and Jackie in Lorraine, where Ray operated a logging business and served terms as town justice and highway superintendent.
After raising her children, Leona went to college at age 47 and finished her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in five and a half years, while working full-time at the South Jefferson Central School as librarian and taking care of her family. Leona’s mother Alice Clemens, a renowned fiddle player, was honored as a Tug Hill Sage in 1993, and her husband Ray received the same honor in 2006. Leona and her family were highlighted in the Venerable Folks of Tug Hill exhibit in 2016.

Congratulations Leona!!

The town of West Turin prevailed in a lawsuit brought by a landowner aggrieved by the town’s minimum maintenance road law.  In the matter of Jerry Weikel v. Town of West Turin and Richard Failing decided by the Appellate Division Fourth Department on June 29th, the appeals court found that the plaintiff’s challenge to the law was untimely, and was brought well after the expiration of the statute of limitations.  The matter does not, however, settle the general validity of the minimum maintenance road concept and this was not addressed by the appeals court.  The decision can be viewed at:

http://www.nycourts.gov/courts/ad4/Clerk/Decisions/2018/06-29-18/PDF/0644.pdf

The plaintiff had purchased property along the Bower Road in the Town of West Turin, obtained a certificate of occupancy for a seasonal dwelling 2008, and then requested the town to plow the road in 2014.  The town had refused to plow the road, citing their minimum maintenance road law adopted in 1997 which designated the road maintenance regime as unplowed.

As the appeals court did not address the fundamental substance of the town’s minimum maintenance law, State legislative authority to enact such laws is still being sought.  There are ten Tug Hill towns with minimum maintenance roads, and seven others have been awaiting adoption pending this decision.  There are about 158 miles of minimum maintenance roads designated on Tug Hill, with 50 miles bordering State land on one side and 33 miles bordering State land on both sides.  Bordering State land makes road upgrades for plowing problematic, especially in forest preserve counties such as Lewis and Oneida.  It is estimated that the average cost of such upgrades and necessary maintenance equipment to make such roads plowable would be about $100,000 per mile.

The commission’s annual newsletter and annual report, Headwaters, has been released. This year’s publication highlights new commission members, a large land conservation project in the Salmon River Watershed, activity in our Councils of Governments, and much more. You can also find it on our website at www.tughill.org/publications/headwaters/.

The commission recently updated its GIS Resources for Local Governments technical paper, to provide updated information on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for municipal officials. The paper has information about map viewers, considerations about staffing, data and applications, and links to other resources.

The paper is available for download at http://www.tughill.org/publications/technical-issue-papers/, or hard copies can be request by calling the commission office toll-free at 888-785-2380.

As part of a continual review of the commission’s technical and issue papers, commission staff recently revamped a 2003 issue paper titled “Winter Logging, Winter Recreation and Town Roads.” The new paper, “Town Roads and Tug Hill’s Working Landscape,” acknowledges that roads under town jurisdiction constitute much of the transportation infrastructure on Tug Hill, particularly the more remote and forested areas. Besides providing access for residents and businesses, town roads also provide critical access to logging operations, farming operations, and recreational areas. Towns work hard to manage these roads for the variety of uses they serve, and it can be complicated to juggle the requirements of multiple uses. The paper provides some guidance to frequently asked questions regarding the multiple use of town roads. The paper is available at http://www.tughill.org/publications/technical-issue-papers/.

The Tug Hill Commission board met Monday, December 11 and set the 2018 meeting schedule, located here.

 

Commission staff just completed a new issue paper entitled “Justice Courts Consolidation Solutions,” to provide information to Tug Hill towns and villages that may be dealing with issues related to their justice courts.  Over the past several years the commission has helped several communities identify ways to work together to share or consolidated services or otherwise collaborate with their neighbors as a way to conserve resources.  The various options available can help comunities save money, increase efficiency or deal with difficulties in filling a justice vacancy.  The paper can be found at http://www.tughill.org/publications/white-papers/.