Who Was Bob Brower, And Why is the Symposium called the Bob Brower Scientific Symposium?

Bob Brower was a leader in science and environmental research in our region. When he was hired by Cayuga County in 1971, he provided support to the “Environmental Management Council” charged with protecting land and water from toxic chemicals dumped on land and then seeping into wells, streams, and lakes from factories in Cayuga County.   Wells polluted by toxic chemicals leached into underground water could be found a quarter of a mile away from the factories.  “Environmental Impact Statements” have been required by Federal Law since 1969.

Computers were just starting to be used for land management.  Bob wrote a grant for “Comprehensive Employment Training” to train 6 students to translate all county maps into “digitized data”.  Maps of every kind: road, residential, soil type, industry, wetlands, rivers, tributaries, farmland, etc. were all digitized for “key punch” operation, and later for desk top computer data.  In 1989 Governor Mario Cuomo proposed several sites in NYS for disposal of low-level radioactive waste.  One site was 1600 acres in Cayuga County in Sterling, NY.  Cayuga County needed only two weeks to assemble the information needed to exclude radioactive waste from storage in that area because the maps showed the amount of farmland and wetlands, roads, residential use, and commercial acreage that were present, and proved that more that 90% of the area was not suitable for dumping radioactive waste.  Another county, lacking the digitized mapping capacity of Cayuga County, needed 2 years and over a million dollars to assemble the data. Ultimately Bob convinced the Cayuga County Legislature to purchase the land that now includes the Sterling Nature Center!

The next few years allowed satellite technology to provide accurate “real time” data.  Bob increasingly realized that Cayuga County’s capacity to use satellite data to assist in making local decisions about land use and development was too difficult to access.  In 1995 he contacted NASA with a proposal to teach “Geographic Information Systems” (GIS) technology throughout the northeast.  The “Regional Application Center of the Northeast” (RACNE) was formed at Cayuga Community College.  After 27 years working for the Cayuga County Planning Department, Bob became the first director of a NASA sponsored institute for the application of “geospatial” technology.  

In 1988 Bob was one of the founding members of “OWLA” (Owasco Watershed Lake Association). In 1972, after hurricane Agnes, many of the Finger Lakes developed problems with a lake weed called milfoil.   Run-off from rain carried fertilizer and soil into the water causing dense weed growth. In addition, the “flats” at the southern end of Owasco Lake had been used as a dump.  A very effective citizen group was organized to clean up the flats, and soon the citizen group’s focus extended to overall protection of Owasco Lake.  

OWLA members realized that all the Finger Lakes faced similar challenges.  Greg Muno, a Citizen Staff writer wrote in 1997, “Bob realized that tackling the problem was not a one-person, or even one-county job.  Cayuga Lake borders 3 counties, and the tributaries that drain into it cover a huge area. Even Owasco Lake, a smaller lake contained entirely in Cayuga County, has a drainage area that dips all the way into Tompkins County.”  “The essential ingredient, at that time I thought the only ingredient to healthy lakes, is healthy land use,” Brower said, “but land use is a local issue and there are literally hundreds of local municipal entities in the Finger Lakes”.  Greg Muno’s article continued, “In 1992 Brower founded the Water Resources Board, a 24-county alliance with a budget of $1.5 million dedicated to water quality issues”.

In OWLA’s long history of testing and monitoring run-off of soil and fertilizer, high bacterial counts from the fish farm in Groton, invasive species such as the zebra-muscle, cyanobacteria and microcystin, water-soluble phosphorus, the need for ditch remediation, the need for buffers around tributaries, adjusting to DEC testing protocols, getting into the water to collect samples, installation of testing buoys, reporting testing results, spraying hemlock trees…. all of these activities, over the years, have been reported to the public at OWLA events.   Bob Brower proposed an event to report to the public in the summer at “Lake Day” and again in the winter at “March to Lake Day”!  
Bob was a “mild mannered”, witty, excellent writer, who personally adored working with deep respect for his colleagues and was endlessly kind and devoted to his family and friends.  His enjoyment of family, friends and colleagues characterized all his relationships,  and still inspires us today.  When Bob passed away in June of 2018 the OWLA Board of Directors decided to honor Bob’s long service by naming the event the “Bob Brower Annual Scientific Symposium”.  

The annual Symposium will be held on Saturday, March 8, 2025 from 9 am to 12 noon at the Auburn Public Theater and online via Zoom.  Visit the OWLA web site, www.owla.org for more details and to register. It is in plain English!  All are welcome!!!

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