For any geographic feature, be it a lake, a stream, a mountain or a waterfall, to have an official name, this name must be listed on the GNIS.  That is the Geographic Names Information System, a data base maintained by the Board on Geographic Names (BGN).  This committee is a division of the US Department of the Interior's United State Geologic Survey (USGS). 

In the fall of 2016, I undertook a process I have referred to as our Waterfall Naming Project.  It needs to be clarified that I am not arbitrarily naming these falls.  I am simply completing a formal process to have the names these falls have been referred to for years officially recognized.  Also, I only include falls that are deemed worthy of inclusion, either because of their size or popularity. 

This process involves getting a letter of support from the waterfall owner(s).  If I have their blessing, I then solicit letters from the local governmental agencies where it is located, including city or town and county.  After completing a formal application and submitting copies of the above letters, I sit back and wait.  Once notified that the names have been accepted I then notify those that provided letters.

The above process is referred to as "by decision" because the BGN makes a decision based on the information provided in the application.  A second process, called "by policy" takes much less time.  Using this method, I have been able to directly contact a representative at the Board by email.  In the email I provide support, in the form of links to on-line info showing historical or other references, from government or historical websites.  If these references are sufficient, the waterfall is entered into the data base, often in as little as 24 hours.  I have to acknowledge Jennifer Runyon of the BGN office for her assistance.  She has taught me some very useful information about this process and has facilitated the applications I have submitted "by policy".  She is also my contact in that office for the formal applications I submit "by decision".

I started small to get a feel for the process.  Letters of support were solicited for three waterfalls in the Watertown, New York area.  One was in the city and the other two in the town.  I was born and raised there and after 39 years in St. Lawrence County, have returned to that area.  Starting here made sense because it was close to where I live in the event I needed to meet personally with someone during the process.

I refer to the first three applications submitted as Phase I of this project.  Phase II included the remainder of the waterfalls in Jefferson County as well as those falls in St. Lawrence and Lewis Counties that were deemed worthy of inclusion.  I lived in St. Lawrence County for 39 years and am quite familiar with this and Lewis County.  There is also an on-line resource available to determine the property owners in these three counties.  This portion of the project is now complete and I have moved on to Phase III.  At this point, I am not certain which counties or waterfalls I will head to next, but eventually, I will cover whatever waterfalls qualify throughout the sixteen counties covered by this website.

The following waterfalls have been added as a result of this project and, in the words of the BGN, "are now official for use on Federal maps and other products."