Consider this as a mascot for the Genesee River's ongoing recovery: the lake sturgeon.

More than a century ago, the beastly fish thrived in the Lower Genesee - sturgeons were known in some circles as "Albany beef" because they were plentiful, tasty, and huge. But overfishing and pollution caused their decline - causing them to almost disappear.

A few years ago, the state DEC, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and SUNY Brockport started stocking the fish in the Genesee River, bringing in more than 1,500 juveniles from thriving populations in another river. Two summers ago, the researchers tagged the fish with GPS devices so that they could monitor movement and measure survival rates.

The initial signs are encouraging: the fish are growing and there are no indications of outright juvenile mortality, says Joe Makarewicz, distinguished professor of environmental science at SUNY Brockport.

"It's good news," he says. "It's real good news."

Sturgeon are slow-growing fish - they often live past 50 years and don't start mating until their second or third decade. Whether they'll ultimately reproduce or if their bodies will show high concentrations of toxic chemicals from river sediments - sturgeons are bottom-dwellers - remains to be seen.

If the sturgeon population succeeds and ultimately reproduces, it will have broader implications for the river. The Genesee River is getting healthier, experts say. And a potentially successful sturgeon reintroduction along with the reappearance of black flies in the spring - an insect that's sensitive to low levels of pollution - are positive indicators.

"It's infinitely better than it was 30 years ago," says Ray Yacuzzo, a special assistant to the commissioner at the DEC tasked with Lake Ontario issues.

What's missing, says Makarewicz, is an understandingof the river's specific long-term trends. Study after study has been done on parts of the river and the streams in its basin, but those reports focused on specific issues or areas, not overall quality. Makarewicz is part of a group working to establish a baseline that will allow the river's water quality to be better tracked in the future - a year's worth of data collection ends this month. The group also plans to mine old reports for data that shows past trends.

The GeneseeRiver owes its water quality improvementto Lake Ontario and longstanding plans and efforts to improve the lake's health and water quality.

The river empties into the lake at the Port of Rochester. But the outlet is also smack in the middle of the Rochester Embayment, a recessed area of the lake that stretches between Parma and Webster.

Tests dating back to the late 1960's showed significant sediment and water contamination in the embayment. The EPA designated it as an area of concern in 1987 and the County Department of Health developed and implemented a remedial plan for the embayment.

Industrial pollution aside, there's another issue in the embayment that's familiar to Rochesterians - beach closings. The Genesee plays its part by delivering nutrients - which feed the plants that become bacterial breeding grounds - or bacteria to the beach areas, which contribute to the closings.

The Genesee River's issues had to be taken into consideration in order to deal with the embayment's problems. The health of the river, however, is inextricably linked to the bodies of water that feed it - including Black, Oatka, Honeoye, Wolf, Conesus, andCanaseraga Creeks. Therefore, improving the embayment's condition meant looking at the whole river basin - all 2,480 square miles of it.

"It takes more than just one entity to solve these very complicated problems," says Brian Slack, senior planner with Genesee/Finger Lakes Regional Planning Council. "That's the core of watershed planning."

The river's importance to the region is established in history. The Senecas wore trails along both banks of the Genesee and Rochester's development was helped along by the dependable, powerful flows of the river, which provided a cheap source of hydropower; to this day, RG&E has hydroelectric projects at High Falls and elsewhere on the river.

The water powered the city's many industries, including the mills that at one time produced the most flour in the country and gave Rochester the nickname, Flour City. The river also provided water for the city's breweries.

The river's banks were home to dry cleaners, furniture factories, and coal gasification plants, among others. But those industries used the river banks, and sometimes the water itself, as dumping grounds. Even rubble from the construction of Midtown Plaza was used as fill along the river.

When all the past sins that have fouled the Genesee are accounted for, it's not a pretty picture.

PCB's and heavy metals rest in the sediment through Rochester's section of the river. Organic chemicals as well as pesticides like DDT do, too, though they've been degrading out, Yacuzzo says.

In the 1970's and 1980's, the county, city, and DEC began studying reports of chemical seeps on the stone face of Lower Falls. Old sampling reports showed that the seeps contained the volatile organic compounds benzene, xylene, and toluene. All are petroleum, coal, or industrial byproducts and benzene is a known carcinogen.

"Who knows what they're from," Yacuzzo says. "We can't really put a finger on them."

But Rochester's not the only city with this problem and the Genesee's not alone in its plight or its recovery. As the nation's cities developed and industry grew, rivers all over the country were widely abused and polluted. It took time and several large disasters but attitudes toward water polluting practices changed dramatically and new laws curbed the blatant and widespread dumping of chemicals into rivers. From the Genesee to the Merrimack and the San Joaquin Rivers, the focus in modern times has been on cleaning up past damage.

With industrial contamination dissipating, that focus has shifted.

"Today, looking at the data that we have in front of us, we know that the sources of those pollutants have changed over the past few decades," Slack says. "It's not really industrial sources - it's more sources that are not as easy to put your finger on."

Those pollutants include nutrients from lawn and farm fertilizers, soil sediment, uncollected pet waste, andvehicle oil leaks. By their nature, the sources of the contaminants - technically referredto as nonpoint source pollution - are broader or harder to pinpoint.

Monroe County made a major step forward in addressing those issues when it formed the Pure Waters system, a combined storm and sanitary sewer network. All the water, including storm runoff, is treated before it's discharged - which removes much of the contamination and nutrients.

Programs like this and the efforts of groups like the Oatka Creek Watershed Committee and the Black Creek Watershed Coalition are a vital part of the long-term health of the Genesee.

Along the shores of Conesus Lake - another water body in the river's basin - farmers have been testing out innovativefertilization practices with the goal of cutting down on the amount of nutrients running off into the water. Those nutrients have been causing problematic algae blooms in the lake.

What the agricultural community hasfound is that it can address the nutrient issue through Cornell Cooperative Extension, soil and water districts, and conservation district programs, says SUNY Brockport's Makarewicz. It's not a complicated fix - farmers test the nutrient levels in the soil and then they strategically apply fertilizers. That practice has cut down on nutrient levels in the lake and there's an added benefit for farmers: cost savings.

"This stuff is all voluntary and the more people that are educated about these types of things - what impacts they have downstream and how they can minimize it - the more successful everybody will be in the future," Makarewicz says.

In Monroe County, there's been a major push to get residents to cut back on or stop the use of lawn fertilizer, which can wash into area streams.

"I would suggest that people test their lawns before they fertilize," says the DEC's Yacuzzo. "They may be paying for a chemical they don't need that is causing part of the problem."

With the economy in the tank, there is some likelihood that state water quality programs will see cutbacks.

Environmental programs are often the first to suffer when governmental agencies need to scale back spending. And in New York, that's been the rule, not the exception.

Take a look at Governor David Paterson's plans to address New York's budget deficit. He wants to take $25 million fromthe State Environmental Protection Fund to help balance this year's budget. As part of his 2009-10 budget proposal, Paterson also wants to cut staff at the DEC - a move that at least one state environmental group says will hurt water-quality monitoring.

Despite all that, Yacuzzo sees possibilities. President-elect Barack Obama has pushed for a stimulus plan that would include significant public works projects and infrastructure investment. It is an opportunity to help further improve historically troubled waters like the Genesee, Yacuzzo says.

"I can't think of a better place to put it than the health of our waters here," Yacuzzo says of the public works investments.