Responding to thousands of businesses and residences that lost power in northern New York after the great Jan. 8 ice storm, Cornell Cooperative Extension and other Cornell programs are helping distribute information and resources to help people get through the crisis.
One particular group in need of aid has been North Country dairy farmers.
"Our concern has been to get folks the resources they need when they need them," said Cathy Martin, director of NY FarmNet, which is run by Cornell.
The ice storm struck St. Lawrence, Clinton, Lewis, Jefferson, Franklin and Essex counties in New York. In St. Lawrence alone, there are about 700 dairy farms. The cows on these farms must be milked daily or they can develop mastitis and die. Most large farms milk cows with electric milking machines, but they've been unable to do that since the region lost power due to the storm.
Within days of the storm, FarmNet and Cornell Cooperative Extension were instrumental in orchestrating an effort to bring generators to the region for use at these farms. The Cornell programs also set up staging areas in the counties to distribute the generators to the farms that needed them.
By the middle of last week, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had taken over the generator distribution effort. But Cornell has continued to help by putting out the call for more generators, and, Martin reported, many farmers are sharing generators with their neighbors.
"The stress right now on these farms is tremendous," Martin said. "We are getting the resources in place to deal with the aftermath. Without electricity, farmers were forced to dump milk, and many farmers lost cows. Because of this storm, many farmers may get a reduced milk check next month, and some farmers may not get a check at all."
NY FarmNet is talking with the milk cooperatives to learn about their plans to help in the crisis, and the Cornell program is gathering information from agricultural creditors, such as Farm Service, Farm Credit and Niagara Mohawk.
Also, faculty in the Department of Animal Science on campus, including Associate Professor Larry Chase, have helped supply information on feeding and milking of cows, and other agriculture faculty are putting together information that will be helpful for understanding and dealing with the long-term effects of the ice storm.
Without electricity, keeping heat and safe food for humans also has been a problem in the storm's aftermath.
Don Petit, extension representative for that part of the state, has been keeping key CCE administration staff and faculty in Ithaca informed of the situations and needs in those counties, said Soneeta Grogan, program leader for nutrition, health and safety. And Grogan and Jo Swanson, program leader for children, youth and family well-being, and Ed Harwood, program leader for agriculture and food systems sustainability, also have been busy sharing relevant information with county extension staff by telephone, e-mail and fax.
Grogan and Swanson have informed extension staff in the affected areas and throughout New York about World Wide Web sites with educational materials on how to deal with the effects of disaster, including coping with stress. And Harwood set up a listserv that is being used to supply information to extension educators in the affected counties, as well as being involved with the efforts to locate generators for transport up north.
Christina Stark, extension associate in the Division of Nutritional Sciences, has worked with other faculty members, including Donna Scott, senior extension associate in food science; Charlotte Coffman, senior extension associate in textiles and apparel; and Ann Lemley, professor and department chair in textiles and apparel, helping to gather and distribute information and field questions on issues such as food safety and clean water. Mark Pierce, an extension associate in design and environmental analysis, assembled a fact sheet for extension staff so they can alert residents to the dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning from using non-standard types of heating units inside dwellings.
Trustee Ezra Cornell got a firsthand look at the ice storm disaster and the heroic aid efforts when he drove up to the North Country Jan. 11 to deliver a generator and supplies to family members living in Keene, in the heart of the High Peaks area.
"The scene was tragic," he said. "On the drive, when I got off the Northway, debris was piled on the sides of the roads, and many trees obviously would fall down soon because they were so damaged. An electric wire came down right in front of me. In some spots, there was no problem, but in others it looked as though a tornado had gone through. There were hillsides with stands of pine that looked like toothpicks, with all their branches stripped."
Cornell praised the efforts of extension staff who worked day and night to provide aid and comfort to the people in the disaster area. He said that extension educators, such as Anita Deming of Essex County, called all the farmers in their areas to check on their needs.
"They were effectively organizing broader-based communication," Cornell said, "working not only with dairy farmers, but also with maple farmers, which is another big industry in that area. The role Cornell plays doesn't end in trying to assist with the immediate emergency but will continue with the long-term recovery."
And he doesn't doubt that the area will recover.
"We expect that Cooperative Extension, the Agriculture College, Nutritional Sciences and the Veterinary College will keep the focus on the North Country for as long as it takes. There's a wonderful community up there," Cornell said. "There aren't a lot of people, but they do pull together."
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