Have a look at the awesome Ley Creek Watershed work by the Town of DeWitt!

Ley Creek Tree Planting

We’re building a better environment…

Town of DeWitt Watershed Projects

The Town of DeWitt has two watersheds within its borders, the Ley Creek Watershed and the Butternut Creek Watershed. We are actively pursuing mitigation efforts with the Ley Creek Watershed; we’re also building parks, greenspace, and a trail system throughout the Butternut Creek Watershed.

What is a watershed?

A watershed is an area of land that “sheds” water – rainfall – into a specific body of water. The water then flows into successive bodies of water until it ends up in the ocean. The Ley Creek watershed encompasses several areas of DeWitt & East Syracuse, including: the Village of East Syracuse, the Park Hill, Parkwood, Franklin Park, Dunrovin, Collamer, and Genesee Hills neighborhoods. Ley Creek flows into Onondaga Lake which streams into the Seneca River, then into the Oswego River where it flows into Lake Ontario, on into the St. Lawrence Seaway, and finally into the Atlantic Ocean.

Water do watersheds have to do with me?

How water flows across the topography – the land – of an area, directly impacts the effects of standing water and flooding, as well as the overall environment. So, even our local watersheds are integral to the “big picture” of the environment; the flooding and droughts we see all across the country due to climate change can be mitigated to some degree by how we manage our local watersheds.

DeWitt’s Ley Creek watershed is very flat; that means water moves very slowly from our town to Onondaga Lake, which is why we have standing water and flooding issues. Historically, our area was swampland, logged off for agriculture, then later developed for residential and industrial uses. Swamps store large amounts of water in the spring, but dry as the summer progresses. Now, because the land is developed and most of the watershed has been altered, heavy rains are routed through storm drains into our streams which have been hardened and channelized; as a result, the water has nowhere to go and instead floods low lying properties. Flooding is not only dangerous, it pollutes our waterways and can cause significant property damage. Continued…

Please check out the full original article (& stay tuned for progress updates soon!) below or at:

The Town of DeWitt Ley Creek Watershed page

Full Original Article