On Saturday, September 9, at 7 pm, in the South Otselic United Methodist Church, the Otselic Valley Fishing & Heritage Association (OVF&HA) will sponsor a special public program on the Otselic River. (Submitted photo)

OTSELIC – On Saturday, September 9, at 7 pm, in the South Otselic United Methodist Church, the Otselic Valley Fishing & Heritage Association (OVF&HA) will sponsor a special public program on the Otselic River.

This year, OVF&HA has expanded its reach to include communities along the fifty-four-mile route of the Otselic River. This free public program will be the first of three literacy-based programs entitled “The Circle of Reciprocity: Our Gift—the Otselic River.” Host, Michael Foor-Pessin, English teacher at Morrisville State College and Otselic resident will engage participants in a discussion of Robin Wall Kimmerer’s “Braiding Sweet Grass” and Lynda Rutledge’s “West with Giraffes.” Along with our analysis of the books, presenters from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, including Otselic Valley’s own Adam Parry, the Finger Lakes Prism, the supervisor of the Town of Georgetown, and Jessica Farmer from the Oneida Nation will address the ecology of the Otselic River from its headwaters in a fen in the Town of Nelson to its joining with the Tioughnioga River at the Whitney Point Reservoir.

The purpose of this Follett Foundation-sponsored grant program is to generate community-wide discussion with citizens from the nine communities that lie along the Otselic River about our stewardship of and our responsibility to our greatest natural resource. One of the areas of concentration will be a discussion of controlling invasive plants, especially Japanese Knotweed, that affects the riparian areas of the Otselic River.

Informational materials will be available for participants on both terrestrial and riparian invasive plants.

Fifty copies of each book will be provided free of charge on a first come, first served basis. Refreshments will be provided by Fox Trail Farm. Reading the books and participating in the literacy part of the program is not required, especially if your interest lies more in the area of environmental conservation specific to the Otselic River. For additional information, please visit ovfish.org.

– Submitted by the South Otselic United Methodist Church and OVF&HA