This is my approximation for how a gerrymander of upstate New York would go. Ann Buerkle is eliminated and Kathy Hochul (!) is made safe.
All districts are +4 or better for their party, except Bill Owens who is in a perfectly neutral district, which fits his Blue Dog tendencies fine.
I'm going to start with the Republican Districts.
Tom Reed: R+10
Reed loses Southern Monroe Co., much of Ontario Co., and tiny Yates Co.
He gains Livingston, Wyoming, Genesee, and much of Orleans and Niagara. Basically, the 29th is combined with the non-Erie 26th.
Richard Hanna or Ann Buerkle: R+5
The 24th and 25th districts are combined. Basically, Hanna's base of Oneida County is combined with much of Buerkle's district.
Hanna keeps: Oneida county, losing Utica, and tiny Herkimer Co.
Buerkle keeps: Some Monroe Co. suburbs, like Irondequoit, Wayne Co, and the most conservative part of Onondaga Co. I'm not sure who would win, but FWIW, Buerkle doesn't live here and Hanna does. Should be fun cat fud!
Nan Hayworth: R+5
The third most conservative district upstate ends up in the Hudson Valley. While Hayworth doesn't live in the district, she represents most of it and lives nearby enough that it's not carpetbagging.
She keeps Putnam Co and the southern half of Dutchess Co., as well as northern Rockland Co. , some of Orange, and the northern part of Westchester.
She loses some other suburban/exurban areas and instead expands into Rockland Co, picking up some heavily Orthodox Jewish areas and adds most of Dutchess Co. and a slice of Columbia Co. She should be safe here.
Chris Gibson: R+4
To keep both Gibson and Hinchey (or his successor, once he retires) safe, an absurd gerrymander must be created. Gibson could easily face a primary challenge in this district; he barely represents any of it, but to help him along, he lives in it.
He keeps: his home portion of Columbia County, Greene County, and Delaware County.
He adds: NYC exurbs in Orange and Sullivan, along with upstate's Tioga, Yates, parts of Broome and Seneca, along with Chenango, Cortland, and part of Otsego. I tried in vain to find a nicer way to draw this, but keeping Ithaca with Ulster makes it really difficult to do better while keeping all Dems safe.
Now for our seats.
Bill Owens: D+0.
This district remains a U-shape, but the U is much longer on the eastern side, a consequence of keeping Hanna/Buerkle safe. Owens loses conservative Hamilton, Madison and part of Lewis along with GOP-leaning Oswego. He picks up GOP-leaning Saratoga and Warren, the rest of blue Essex, and swingy Washington, for a slight gain.
Brian Higgins: D+4
Higgins' district, which has been moving Republican, gets safer for him. He can probably hold it up until about R+4 or so, judging by his Blue Doggishness and the fates of similar Rust Belt Reps in districts like PA-3.
But, to help him along, he takes on quite a bit more of Buffalo, along with some suburban territory. He loses a bit of rural territory in E. Erie.
Louise Slaughter: D+5
Slaughter's district actually doesn't look very gerrymandered, which is nice. However, she barely keeps any of her old territory. She does live here, but I would suspect a retirement here or in the near future. This district takes a slice of Inner City Rochester, blue suburb Brighton, and some GOP-leaning territory in Monroe Co. where Slaughter lives. It then treks across some very rural areas and small towns: Canandigua, Auburn, Geneva, Waterloo, and Seneca Falls being the most notable, before taking in most of Onondago Co, including all of Syracuse. A Syracuse Dem, possibly Dan Maffei, could take this seat when she retires.
Paul Tonko: D+5
The Albany area is also trending slightly Republican, so I try and give him a break by extending him to Utica and losing some red rural areas.
He gains: the strip to Utica, most of Fulton Co., E (swingy) Otsego Co., and a bit of Saratoga I didn't want to give to Bill Owens.
He loses: W. Schenectady Co, Schoharie Co, and some of Albany and Rensselaer Co's.
Maurice Hinchey: D+5
Ideally, Hinchey and Gibson could both have swingy districts: one Hudson Valley and one Upstate. However, to make him safe, he must once again have Ithaca and Binghamton.
He adds: the rest of Tompkins Co, N. Delaware, Schoharie, W. Schenectady, S. Albany, most of Rensselaer (all this to keep Tonko in a D+5 as well), much of Columbia, and assorted tiny precincts.
He loses: most of Sullivan, a bit of Orange, and Tioga.
Ew.
Kathy Hochul: D+6
Water contiguity was my friend here, but a land strip could work too. Hochul basically gets a new district. She loses most of Niagara and Orleans and all of Genesee, Livingston, and Wyoming. (sorry GLOW Dems) She keeps a few Buffalo Suburbs and many Rochester Suburbs.
To get her to a safe seat, she then adds about 1/3 of Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Tonawanda, and most of Rochester. This is really Slaughter's old seat, but it's designed for Hochul.
In case you were wondering, Lowey then gets a D+9 in Westchester/Rockland.