The mayor of Sodus Point educates people about the recent stormwater system upgrades, including this pump station, and other protective measures such as green infrastructure, a sand dune, and flood wall. Credit: Mary Austerman/NYSG
Contact:
Mary Austerman, NYSG Great Lakes Coastal Community Specialist, E: mp357@cornell.edu, P: (315) 234-1160
This initiative provides environmental, economic, and community benefits in Wayne County and serves as a model for regional collaboration.
Newark, NY, May 27, 2025 - Wayne County’s Lake Ontario shoreline faces urgent challenges including from erosion, flooding, and fluctuating water levels, all increased under climate change and endangering infrastructure, ecosystems, and local economies. These issues highlight the need for coordinated, proactive solutions to secure long-term resilience and economic vitality.
Coordinated by New York Sea Grant, the Wayne County Shoreline Steering Committee unites municipal leaders, economic development professionals, and environmental stakeholders to strategically plan ways for continued enhancement of coastal resilience.
The group has engaged with national efforts such as the Great Lakes Cities Initiative and the Association of State Floodplain Managers (ASFPM) to provide technical assistance related to data creation and access and tool development. This work is a foundational part of the envisioned New York Great Lakes Coastal Resilience Network, with pilot expansion planned for Jefferson and St. Lawrence counties in 2025.
Key accomplishments by the committee include flood resilience and shoreline stabilization in Sodus Point and across the bays. Stakeholder workshops, public events and one-on-one consultations have reached hundreds of participants, fostering skills in resilience planning and project implementation. This initiative enhances local economies and ecosystems and sets the stage for regional collaboration to address shared challenges.
The Wayne County Shoreline Steering Committee demonstrates how strategic locally-driven efforts can deliver significant environmental and economic outcomes while inspiring broader regional resilience initiatives.
Project Partners*:
• Village of Sodus Point
• Wayne County Soil and Water Conservation District
* Initiated the Wayne County Shoreline Steering Committee with NYSG; the Committee has members too numerous to mention here.
More Info: New York Sea Grant
Established in 1966, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s National Sea Grant College Program promotes the informed stewardship of coastal resources in 34 joint federal/state university-based programs in every U.S. coastal state (marine and Great Lakes) and Puerto Rico. The Sea Grant model has also inspired similar projects in the Pacific region, Korea and Indonesia.
Since 1971, New York Sea Grant (NYSG) has represented a statewide network of integrated research, education and extension services promoting coastal community economic vitality, environmental sustainability and citizen awareness and understanding about the State’s marine and Great Lakes resources.
NYSG historically leverages on average a 3 to 6-fold return on each invested federal dollar, annually. We benefit from this, as these resources are invested in Sea Grant staff and their work in communities right here in New York.
Through NYSG’s efforts, the combined talents of university scientists and extension specialists help develop and transfer science-based information to many coastal user groups—businesses and industries, federal, state and local government decision-makers and agency managers, educators, the media and the interested public.
New York Sea Grant, one of the largest of the state Sea Grant programs, is a cooperative program of the State University of New York (SUNY) and Cornell University. The program maintains Great Lakes offices at Cornell University, SUNY Buffalo, Rochester Institute of Technology, SUNY Oswego, the Wayne County Cooperative Extension office in Newark, and in Watertown. In the State's marine waters, NYSG has offices at Stony Brook University and with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Nassau County on Long Island, in Queens, at Brooklyn College, with Cornell Cooperative Extension in NYC, in Bronx, with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County in Kingston, and with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Westchester County in Elmsford.
For updates on Sea Grant activities: www.nyseagrant.org, follow us on social media (Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, Bluesky, LinkedIn, and YouTube). NYSG offers a free e-list sign up via www.nyseagrant.org/nycoastlines for its flagship publication, NY Coastlines/Currents, which it publishes 2-3 times a year.