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The Onondaga Creek Conceptual Revitalization Plan (OCRP)

The goal of the OCRP project is to develop a community-based revitalization plan for the Onondaga Creek watershed. Over the last year, stakeholders and community members have worked together to develop a vision for the future of Onondaga Creek through a series of community meetings. These ideas are being integrated into a draft revitalization plan for Onondaga Creek created by the Onondaga Creek Working Group. The Working Group will base the plan on firsthand experience, technical documents and community input. It is expected to be completed in Spring 2008. The plan will then be reviewed by the Onondaga Lake Partnership which may choose to incorporate the plan into the overall management plan for Onondaga Lake. After this review, the plan will be available for public review and comment. Copies of the plan will be publicly available at libraries and on the OCRP website.

For more information: www.esf.edu/onondagacreek

 

ABOUT ONONDAGA CREEK

• Approximately 35% of the water in Onondaga Lake comes from Onondaga Creek.

• Onondaga Creek begins 18 miles south of Syracuse, in the hills of Tully.

• The creek flows a total of nine miles through the City of Syracuse.

• Three issues that affect everyone along the length of the creek:
o Impaired water quality
o Altered natural habitat
o Restricted public access to the creek

• History:

o Sewage has been a problem in the creek since the early 1800s.

o Straightening of the creek began in 1855 in order to increase the flow rate and flush out sewage more quickly.

o Flooding became a problem as more people settled in the creek’s floodplain and deforestation occurred upstream. The creek was further channelized to reduce flooding. Creek straightening and channelizing projects continued well into the 1960s.

o Channelization resulted in swift currents with steep sides. The creek was infamous for drownings. A chain link fence was first proposed in 1962 to keep the public away from the “Killer Creek.

• Polluted runoff, sedimentation from landslides and the Tully mudboils, and a lack of public access to the creek, are issues for the creek’s rural headwaters.