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Stream Snorkeling Returns this Summer!

Posted on: June 23rd, 2021 by Brent Gotsch
Join AWSMP for stream snor­kel­ing this sum­mer on Fri­day July 9 or July 16.

AWSMP is pleased to announce the return of one of its most pop­u­lar sum­mer activ­i­ties:  stream snor­kel­ing! Dis­cov­er the under­wa­ter world of streams by join­ing us for a fun filled morn­ing of stream snor­kel­ing in the Eso­pus Creek. This free pro­gram was cre­at­ed with fam­i­lies in mind. Par­tic­i­pants must be at least 8 years old and those under the age of 12 must be accom­pa­nied by an adult (the adult does not have to snorkel). This event will be held at the Emer­son Resort and Spa in Mount Trem­per, New York. All equip­ment and sup­plies will be pro­vid­ed. Please bring a tow­el and wear swim clothes and old sneak­ers or closed-toed water shoes (no bare feet please).

This pro­gram is designed for peo­ple that live in the Ashokan Water­shed. The Ashokan Water­shed includes the Towns of Hur­ley, Olive, Wood­stock, and Shan­dak­en in Ulster Coun­ty and the Towns of Lex­ing­ton and Hunter in Greene Coun­ty.

Space is lim­it­ed to 15 par­tic­i­pants so sign up now as this event may fill up quick­ly.

COVID-19 Safe­ty Pre­cau­tions will be fol­lowed, includ­ing wear­ing masks and social dis­tanc­ing where need­ed. Snor­kel­ing equip­ment will be thor­ough­ly dis­in­fect­ed pri­or to the event and after it is com­plet­ed.

Only those that are snor­kel­ing will need to reg­is­ter. If you are reg­is­ter­ing more than one per­son, you will have to reg­is­ter each one sep­a­rate­ly. Once you reg­is­ter you will get a let­ter in the mail with a release form that you will have to fill out and return to AWSMP.

There will be two sep­a­rate ses­sions, with one being held on Fri­day, July 9 and the oth­er being held on Fri­day, July 16. Please click the appro­pri­ate link below to sign up for the date that you wish to attend. Both events will be held from 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

Fri­day July 9 Snor­kel­ing Event Registration

Fri­day July 16 Snor­kel­ing Event Reg­is­tra­tion

If you have any ques­tions please con­tact Brent Gotsch at bwg37@cornell.edu or call him at 845–688-3047 ext. 103. If the event becomes sold out please con­tact Brent and he will add you to a wait­ing list.

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SMIP Grant Funding Available

Posted on: June 22nd, 2021 by Leslie_Zucker

The AWSMP is now accept­ing appli­ca­tions for Stream Man­age­ment Imple­men­ta­tion Pro­gram (SMIP) grant fund­ing. The dead­line for sub­mis­sion of appli­ca­tions is Wednes­day, June 30, 2021.

Eli­gi­ble appli­cants include local, coun­ty, state, or fed­er­al gov­ern­ment agen­cies, 501©(3) orga­ni­za­tions, sec­ondary school dis­tricts, col­leges or uni­ver­si­ties. For-prof­it firms or insti­tu­tions may sub­mit fund­ing appli­ca­tions in the Research, Assess­ment and Mon­i­tor­ing cat­e­go­ry only.

The AWSMP funds stream stew­ard­ship projects in the fol­low­ing cat­e­gories: Plan­ning; Edu­ca­tion; Research, Assess­ment and Mon­i­tor­ing (see pri­or­i­ty research needs); Stream-Relat­ed Pub­lic Infra­struc­ture Improve­ments (see project eli­gi­bil­i­ty guid­ance); Flood Haz­ard Mit­i­ga­tion; and Stream Restoration.

Fund­ing appli­ca­tions for projects rec­om­mend­ed in a Local Flood Analy­sis plan may be sub­mit­ted at any time. 

For more infor­ma­tion and how to apply, vis­it: https://ashokanstreams.org/projects-funding/

The AWSMP will announce the third and final fund­ing round of 2021 in September.

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Join the Warner Creek Virtual Stream Walk

Posted on: June 21st, 2021 by Leslie_Zucker

Res­i­dents of the Warn­er Creek val­ley, Shan­dak­en town offi­cials, and any­one inter­est­ed in learn­ing more are invit­ed to attend a “vir­tu­al” Warn­er Creek Stream Walk held online Fri­day, June 25 from 2–4 p.m. To receive the webi­nar link, reg­is­ter at: tinyurl.com/WarnerCreekVirtualStreamWalk.

Dur­ing the Stream Walk we’ll learn more about the Warn­er Creek val­ley and changes in the stream chan­nel that led to pri­or­i­ti­za­tion of sev­er­al sites for restora­tion work this sum­mer. The Ulster Coun­ty Soil and Water Con­ser­va­tion Dis­trict will dis­cuss how the stream sites are being restored and what to expect in the val­ley before, dur­ing, and after project construction.

The event will offer plen­ty of time for landown­er questions. 

To learn more, con­tact Tim Koch, Stream Edu­ca­tor at AWSMP by email tk545@cornell.edu or phone (845) 688‑3047.

Photo of stream program staff conducting field survey of Warner Creek
Staff of the Ulster Coun­ty Soil and Water Con­ser­va­tion Dis­trict sur­vey an unsta­ble sec­tion of Warn­er Creek in 2019.
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AWSMP Office Open to Public

Posted on: May 26th, 2021 by Leslie_Zucker

The AWSMP office is now open to the pub­lic Wednes­day through Fri­day from 9 am‑4 pm begin­ning May 26. The office is locat­ed at 3146 State Route 28 in Shokan across from the Cit­go gas sta­tion. The main office is in the ‘A‑frame’ for­mer mod­el home. The brown cab­in next door is where to find the Catskill Streams Buffer Ini­tia­tive.

The pro­gram office plans to reopen more ful­ly after we com­plete hir­ing of sev­er­al new staff. Masks are required when enter­ing the office.

Stop by if you need stream pro­gram infor­ma­tion, or con­tact us at info@ashokanstreams.org or (845) 688‑3047. The stream pro­gram also offers site vis­its to assess stream issues and pro­vide advise and assis­tance to Ashokan water­shed landowners.

stream program office

Office of the Ashokan Water­shed Stream Man­age­ment Pro­gram (AWSMP) in Shokan, NY.

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Stream Explorers Youth Adventure 2021 Registration is Open

Posted on: April 27th, 2021 by Brent Gotsch

The Ashokan Water­shed Stream Man­age­ment Pro­gram (AWSMP) is excit­ed to announce that reg­is­tra­tion for the Stream Explor­ers 2021 Youth Adven­ture is now open! Stream Explor­ers is an excit­ing day-long sci­ence-based pro­gram for youth in grades 3 through 7 resid­ing in the Ashokan Reser­voir Water­shed (this includes the Towns of Hur­ley, Olive, Shan­dak­en and Wood­stock in Ulster Coun­ty and the Towns of Hunter and Lex­ing­ton in Greene Coun­ty). This year’s event will be held on Sat­ur­day, June 5 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Ashokan Cen­ter locat­ed at 477 Beaverkill Road in Olive­bridge, NY. Reg­is­ter online today at www.tinyurl.com/streamexplorers2021.

Stream Explor­ers is a fun-filled day full of stream-themed activ­i­ties. Par­tic­i­pants will use sci­ence mod­els to learn how streams work and to assess stream health. We will play water­shed-relat­ed games, learn how nature fil­ters water, and explore the Eso­pus Gorge. A hearty bag-lunch and morn­ing and after­noon snacks will be pro­vid­ed. Youth are encour­aged to be pre­pared for a vari­ety of weath­er con­di­tions so dress in lay­ers, bring an all-weath­er jack­et and wear closed-toed shoes. It is also encour­aged to bring a pair of water-proof muck boots. Bring sun­screen and insect repel­lant. Watch our video on a pre­vi­ous Stream Explor­ers Youth Adven­ture to see some of the activities.

We have sev­er­al mea­sures in place to keep par­tic­i­pants safe from Covid-19. We are lim­it­ing reg­is­tra­tion to the first 40 par­tic­i­pants. Youth will be fur­ther divid­ed into small­er groups of 10 and inter­ac­tion with oth­er groups will be lim­it­ed. It will be manda­to­ry for all par­tic­i­pants to wear a mask while indoors or with­in 6 feet of one anoth­er. If mate­ri­als are to be shared, par­tic­i­pants will be required to wear gloves (that will be pro­vid­ed) and com­mon sur­faces will be dis­in­fect­ed reg­u­lar­ly. Unlike in pre­vi­ous years we will not be eat­ing a buf­fet lunch in the din­ing hall. Bag lunch­es will be sub­sti­tut­ed and we will eat with our subgroups.

Space is lim­it­ed and we expect to fill up quick­ly so reg­is­ter as soon as pos­si­ble at www.tinyurl.com/streamexplorers2021. Any ques­tions relat­ed to the Stream Explor­ers Youth Adven­ture can be direct­ed to Matt Savat­gy at mjs593@cornell.edu or Brent Gotsch at bwg37@cornell.edu or call 845–688-3047 ext. 103. 

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Informational Sessions for Proposed Hydroelectric Generation Station Scheduled

Posted on: March 12th, 2021 by Brent Gotsch
Pro­posed pump stor­age lay­out. Source: Pre­mi­um Ener­gy Holdings

Recent­ly, Pre­mi­um Ener­gy Hold­ings has pro­posed plans to con­struct a pumped stor­age hydro­elec­tric gen­er­at­ing sta­tion near the Ashokan Reser­voir. Two info ses­sions on this top­ic have been sched­uled for next week. One ses­sion will be host­ed by the Phoeni­cia Library on Tues­day, March 16 start­ing at 7:00 p.m. and oth­er will be host­ed by the Town of Olive on Thurs­day, March 18 start­ing at 6:30 p.m. Both will be held online. Links to more infor­ma­tion on the meet­ings are below.

March 16, 2021 at 7:00 p.m.:  https://www.facebook.com/events/1131783397242805

March 18, 2021 at 6:30 p.m.:  https://town.olive.ny.us/news/ashokan-pumped-storage-project-meeting/?fbclid=IwAR3y_ix7TtEWy6PT0KRI3eVWZVr8VYvQGO64dYZiYyT626P_S5k3Ka_Uom4

Town of Olive Home­page (has links to pro­pos­al):  https://town.olive.ny.us/

Town of Shan­dak­en Page (has addi­tion­al infor­ma­tion on pro­pos­al):  https://www.shandaken-ny.com/news/re-underground-hydroelectric-plant-proposal-at-ashokan-reservoir-raises-concerns/

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Catskill Visitor Use Survey Open Through March 19

Posted on: March 9th, 2021 by Brent Gotsch

The NYS Depart­ment of Envi­ron­men­tal Con­ser­va­tion (NYSDEC) and the Catskill Advi­so­ry Group have devel­oped a sur­vey to help bet­ter deter­mine the cur­rent and future needs of the Catskill Park. The sur­vey seeks to deter­mine how peo­ple are cur­rent­ly using the Catskill Park and the chal­lenges that the region faces. Ques­tions con­cern­ing trail use, over­crowd­ing, park­ing, and access will help to deter­mine where need­ed invest­ment should be made. This includes stream access and recreation.

The Ashokan Water­shed Stream Man­age­ment Pro­gram (AWSMP) requests every­one who lives in or vis­its the Water­shed take the sur­vey. This will help ensure that the need­ed invest­ments in tourism, eco­nom­ic devel­op­ment, and sus­tain­abil­i­ty are made so every­one in the region can ben­e­fit. The sur­vey is open through March 19.

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Stream Management Funding Available

Posted on: February 17th, 2021 by Leslie_Zucker

The Ashokan Water­shed Stream Man­age­ment Pro­gram is now accept­ing appli­ca­tions for stream and flood­plain man­age­ment projects in the Ashokan Reser­voir water­shed. 

Appli­ca­tions must be sub­mit­ted by Wednes­day, March 10, 2021.  

For more infor­ma­tion on who is eli­gi­ble and fund­ing pri­or­i­ties, vis­it: https://ashokanstreams.org/projects-funding/

To down­load the appli­ca­tion mate­ri­als:
Appli­ca­tion Form (Microsoft Word)
Appli­ca­tions Instruc­tions (pdf)

Fund­ing for the Ashokan Water­shed Stream Man­age­ment Imple­men­ta­tion Pro­gram is pro­vid­ed by the NYC Depart­ment of Envi­ron­men­tal Pro­tec­tion. Stream Man­age­ment Imple­men­ta­tion Pro­gram grants are admin­is­tered by Cor­nell Coop­er­a­tive Exten­sion of Ulster Coun­ty and reviewed by the AWSMP Stake­hold­er Council. 

For more infor­ma­tion or to sched­ule a meet­ing or site vis­it, con­tact Leslie Zuck­er at laz5@cornell.edu or call AWSMP at (845) 688‑3047.

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Showshoe Stream Walk along the Little Beaver Kill February 13th

Posted on: January 29th, 2021 by Brent Gotsch

Reg­is­ter now for a Win­ter Snow­shoe Stream Walk with the Ashokan Water­shed Stream Man­age­ment Pro­gram along a trib­u­tary to the Lit­tle Beaver Kill on the grounds of Ken­neth Wil­son State Camp­ground locat­ed at 859 Wit­ten­berg Road in Mount Trem­per, NY from 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Sat­ur­day, Feb­ru­ary 13, 2021. If there is not enough snow for snow­shoe­ing, a “No-Snow” date is sched­uled for Sat­ur­day, Feb­ru­ary 20. If there is still no snow on this date, a reg­u­lar stream walk will be held with­out snowshoes.

Snow­shoes and walk­ing poles will be pro­vid­ed, though, par­tic­i­pants are encour­aged to bring their own gear. Those with lim­it­ed or no expe­ri­ence snow­shoe­ing are encour­aged to attend. Instruc­tion on how to snow­shoe prop­er­ly and safe­ly will be giv­en before ven­tur­ing out on the trail.

The walk will be approx­i­mate­ly 2 hours in length on NYS Depart­ment of Envi­ron­men­tal Con­ser­va­tion land. Walk is designed for begin­ners but the group at times may go off trail. Dur­ing the walk, edu­ca­tors from Cor­nell Coop­er­a­tive Exten­sion of Ulster Coun­ty will share infor­ma­tion about local streams and pro­tect­ing water resources, and we will inves­ti­gate signs of local wildlife. There will be fre­quent stops to point out inter­est­ing fea­tures of the stream or to dis­cuss envi­ron­men­tal top­ics. Be sure to bring your own snack and beverage.

Meet at the Ken­neth Wil­son State Camp­ground park­ing area at 859 Wit­ten­berg Road by 10:00 am. Par­tic­i­pants must fill out and return a Lia­bil­i­ty and Media Release Form and a Stream Safe­ty Pledge in order to participate.

The event is free of charge, but space is lim­it­ed. Please reg­is­ter ear­ly to hold your spot. Reg­is­ter online at https://cceulster.mahaplatform.com/events/snowshoestreamwalk or con­tact Brent Gotsch at the AWSMP office at bwg37@cornell.edu or 845–688‑3047 ext.103.

This pro­gram is fund­ed by the NYC Depart­ment of Envi­ron­men­tal Pro­tec­tion.

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AWSMP Provides Watershed-Based Remote Learning during Pandemic

Posted on: January 26th, 2021 by Brent Gotsch
Water­shed Youth Edu­ca­tor Matt Savat­gy pro­vid­ing remote learn­ing sci­ence edu­ca­tion for ele­men­tary school stu­dents in the Onte­o­ra Cen­tral School Dis­trict. Pho­to by Bai­ley Savatgy.

Despite the ongo­ing pan­dem­ic, the Ashokan Water­shed Stream Man­age­ment Pro­gram (AWSMP) has found a way to pro­vide water­shed-based sci­ence edu­ca­tion to Onte­o­ra Cen­tral School Dis­trict ele­men­tary students.

Work­ing direct­ly with teach­ers, our youth edu­ca­tor, Matt Savat­gy, has been pro­vid­ing remote instruc­tion­al sup­port since last fall. Regard­less of whether they are at school or at home, stu­dents join Matt each week for a live Google Class­room sci­ence ses­sion. A wide range of water­shed-relat­ed top­ics are cov­ered through­out the school year. Accord­ing to Matt, “Much of the ele­men­tary school sci­ence cur­ricu­lum is direct­ly relat­able to the Ashokan Water­shed, par­tic­u­lar­ly in fourth grade.”

Savat­gy uses short video clips, lots of back-and-forth dis­cus­sions, demon­stra­tions, spec­i­mens from his exten­sive nat­ur­al his­to­ry col­lec­tion, and games to help stu­dents grasp required sci­en­tif­ic con­cepts.  Ben­nett Ele­men­tary School Teacher Eliz­a­beth Lef­ferts says, “My stu­dents eager­ly look for­ward to each of our sci­ence ses­sions with Mr. Savat­gy and the inter­ac­tive activ­i­ties they know are await­ing them.”

As a way to extend learn­ing beyond the remote class­room meet­ings stu­dents are pro­vid­ed with video links and activ­i­ty resources for them to try at home and they are encour­aged to use them while explor­ing their local out­door set­ting. Fourth Grade teacher, Liz Cor­sit­to, indi­cat­ed that, “This year has been dif­fi­cult to nav­i­gate in terms of teach­ing and learn­ing vir­tu­al­ly. Matt has stepped in to encour­age our stu­dents to still love sci­ence even though it is being deliv­ered vir­tu­al­ly and to get involved in the sci­ence that sur­rounds them at home.”

The Ashokan Water­shed Stream Man­age­ment Pro­gram also pro­vides numer­ous oppor­tu­ni­ties out­side of school for stu­dents to learn about the impor­tance of streams and our water­shed. A cou­ple of these activ­i­ties include: The Water­shed Detec­tives after­school pro­gram and the annu­al Stream Explor­ers Youth Adven­ture. To learn more about these pro­grams and AWSMP, vis­it ashokanstreams.org.

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