Streamside guide now available

MARGARETVILLE, N.Y., January 10, 2007 -- A useful new publication, Catskill Streams and You, Living Streamside in the Catskill Region, is now available for homeowners in the New York City Watershed.

The large format, eight-page brochure highlights the importance of Catskill waterways and explains the environmental functions and services they perform. Filled with beautiful full-color photographs, the publication suggests inexpensive measures individuals can take to protect and enhance their riparian (streamside) property, a topic with particular relevance in the aftermath of recent floods in parts of the Watershed.

It also encourages residents to get involved in community and watershed stewardship programs and activities, from stream cleanups to tree planting. One particularly active group – the Broadstreet Hollow Landowners Association in the Town of Shandaken, Ulster County -- is profiled in the brochure.

Property owners who live along the main stem of basins where stream management plans have been adopted or are being developed will receive Catskill Streams in the mail. These basins include the West and East Branches of the Delaware River, and the Batavia Kill, Stony Clove, West Kill, Broadstreet Hollow and Esopus Creeks.

The publication will also be available at public events where the Catskill Watershed Corporation (CWC) and other co-sponsoring organizations offer information on their programs. Copies may also be ordered by emailing Jenn Grieser, DEP Stream Management Project Manager, at jgreiser@dep.nyc.gov.

Catskill Streams was a joint production of the CWC, the NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the Watershed Agricultural Council, the Catskill Center for Conservation and Development, Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) of Ulster and Greene Counties and the Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCD) of Delaware and Greene Counties.

Several Watershed landowners also contributed to the document by reviewing its contents and offering feedback during a 2006 "Banks and Buffers" workshop hosted by DEP, Greene County SWCD, and CCE Greene.

"I am pleased that we are able to distribute this guide that received so much input from various stakeholders," said Ms. Grieser. "We hope it will answer some frequently asked questions and encourage people to get involved in stream stewardship."

A new partnership website, www.catskillstreams.org is due to go online this spring. It will provide complementary information on stream processes, preventing erosion and contamination of waterways, and hazard mitigation in floodplains.

The website will include a calendar of stream-related activities and events, as well as a library of stream management plans and other documents. There will be separate pages with descriptions, maps and other information specific to major stream basins in the Catskills (East and West Branches of the Delaware River, the Schoharie, Esopus and Rondout Creeks, and the Neversink River.)