The Seneca County Water Quality Coordinating Committee involved more than 800 students in nine schools in action projects in the watershed lands draining to Cayuga Lake. In cooperation with radio station WSFW in Seneca Falls, the Seneca Falls Rotary Club, the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge, State and county agencies and local officials, the students sampled water quality, developed action plans, stenciled storm drains and gave public presentations. In addition to the letters and certificates, the stewardship groups received posters of a 19th century painting of the Mohawk River Valley and the Erie Canal. The poster is the fourth in an annual series depicting New York's major drainage basins, as part of DEC's watershed information and education campaign. DEC maintains a database of more than 550 watershed stewards and can link them by geographic area or project type.
Stewards also receive outreach materials and information about grants and events.
Work, with the landowner's knowledge and permission, may be done on public or private lands, in the watershed or in the waterbody itself. Groups also may conduct a community education event or research past and present uses of the watershed lands. DEC suggests that groups attempt projects within their own capacity and organizational purposes and involve local and county partners.