The Great Sodus Embayment Coastal Resource Preservation and Watershed Enhancement Plan (Plan)

Although there has always been a lot of information on Sodus Bay, it had neither been fully integrated nor used to create a long-term, comprehensive, restoration and management.

If a plan was to be developed it needed to recognize the recreational and economic importance of Sodus Bay and present watershed management and restoration recommendations aimed at slowing the Bay’s rate of eutrophication, while enhancing its ecology, water quality, aesthetics and recreational potential.

As such, the project examined in closer detail, the inter-relationships, causal effects, and impacts of such driving factors as internal versus external nutrient loading, hydrologic loading, land use and the impacts of invasive, exotic aquatic weed growth on the quality, aesthetics, ecology and recreational use of the Bay. In conducting this study, the extensive historical water quality and ecological data developed by the SWCD, NYSDEC and SUNY Brockport was fully utilized.

Efforts were also taken to integrate the findings and recommendations of recently completed or on-going Sodus Bay investigations, specifically the Great Sodus Bay Harbor Management Plan (FES Associates, 2005). In this manner, it was possible to reflect on the natural resource attributes of the Bay from the perspective of enhancing the Bay’s water quality and ecology, while at the same time improving upon the recreational and aesthetic enjoyment of the Bay.

The Great Sodus Embayment Coastal Resource Preservation and Watershed Enhancement Plan (Plan) was intended to provide for Sodus Bay’s proper long-term management. The information contained in the plan consolidates, contemporizes, and supplements the Bay’s water quality and watershed database and provides objectively developed, technically sound management recommendations, that can be used by local government, the County, the State and the local stakeholders and the Bay’s users to evaluate, select, prioritize and implement watershed and Bay management options.

To read the full plan click here