Lewis CountyEnvironmental Assessment

By Isaac Joseph

Lewis County is located in Northern part of New York.

Black River Watershed is the main watershed in Lewis County

The Project consists of eight hydroelectric developments along the Beaver River in Lewis County.

The Beaver River Project

The 8 dams provide an average of over 18,000 households power every year.

Water and Soil

A challenge for Lewis County is to balance development needs with the preservation of productive soils for farming and healthy forests and rivers for logging.

Unplanned or poor development can degrade resources resulting in loss of water quality, open spaces, rural character and wildlife habitats.

Majority of Lewis County area is forest land. There is a very high density of trees within the forests.

The forests are abundant with deer, bear, moose, beaver, and a variety of birdlife.

Habitats

Industries

Lewis County has vast agricultural and forestry resources, from the Tug Hill Plateau to the Black River Valley to the Adirondack Foothills.

This is great for farming and forestry industries.

The farming community lacks young farmers interested in taking on the hard life associated with agriculture

Waste

Lewis County has free computer and electronic recycling collection site in the town of Lewis.

Lack of awareness in households regarding reuse and recycling of materials is a challenge in the county.

The county should organize clean community programs, public education, and provide incentives to recycle.

The Adirondack Mountains are found throughout Lewis County.

The Adirondack Mountains are 1 billion years old.  

Around 1600, Mohawk Native American communities lived in Lewis County.

The Mohawks were extremely wealthy traders and they specialized in tool making.

Lewis County is not part of the Marcellus Shale.

People are debating what should happened in the Marcellus Shale because there are large amounts of natural gas trapped in pockets within the shale.

A climate smart community is various groups of people with the help of the government take actions to solve extreme climate changes. This is done by decreasing energy demand, encouraging recycling, supporting green innovation and encouraging renewable.

There is one climate smart community in my county. Town of Diana, Village of Harrisville.

CLIMATE SMART COMMUNITIES

An ENVIROTHON is an annual competition for high school-aged students over five days.

Teams compete for recognition and scholarships by demonstrating their knowledge of environmental science and natural resource management.

The Lewis County Envirothon was held May 7, 2013 at Camp Oswegatchie. Beaver River placed first, and South Lewis placed second and third for the local competition.

ENVIROTHON!

Lewis County Is the fourth least populated county in New York State.

Lewis County has the largest cream cheese manufacturing in the world.

Fun Facts about my County…

Thank YouQuestions?Comments?