WAM Events

Happy Watershed Awareness Month everyone!

July 2011 marks the third annual Watershed Awareness Month (WAM) for Dutchess County. Organized by the Dutchess Watershed Coalition, WAM will offer family-friendly events to improve the understanding and awareness of local watershed issues.

This year, the Dutchess Watershed Coalition is asking residents to share their stories with the theme: Watershed Moments.  A watershed moment is often defined as “a turning point” or “a critical moment of time.” This year’s theme will encourage participants to share the moments they have been inspired by the land and water resources of Dutchess County; the critical moment in time when they became in awe of the landscape around them, or the turning point when they realized how the land and water come together to create their natural environment.  To share your watershed moments with the Dutchess Watershed Coalition, visithttp://dutchesswam.com/watershed-moments/.

For the second year in a row all event attendees will be able to enter their name into a raffle in which the prize will be 1 of 5 painted rain barrels. The rain barrels are being painted by local artists Matt Purcell, Chris & Nicole Miller and Peggy Farrington.  The raffle is free and any time you attend a WAM event you will gain another chance at winning.  The winners of the raffle will be pulled at the Green Infrastructure for Homeowners Workshop held at the East Fishkill Town Hall on July 26^th at 7pm.

During the week of July 3^rd – 9^th, the Wappinger Creek Watershed Intermunicipal Council (WIC) will be holding its third annual “Wappinger Creek Week.” Events taking place as part of Wappinger Creek Week and Watershed Awareness Month for this coming week include:

Ralph T. Waterman Bird Club Walk: West Buttercup Farm Wildlife Sanctuary
Sunday, July 3, 8:00 am
Location: West Buttercup Farm Wildlife Sanctuary, Stanford
Watershed: Wappinger Creek
For 2-3 hours explore Buttercup Farm with members of the Ralph T. Waterman Bird Club and learn about the many resident bird species. This is an easy to moderate walk. For additional information click here.

Ralph T. Waterman Bird Club Walk: Tamarack Preserve
Wednesday, July 6, 8:00 am
Location: Tamarack Preserve, Turkey Hollow Road, Amenia
Watershed: Tenmile River
For 2-3 hours explore Tamarack Preserve with members of the Ralph T. Waterman Bird Club and learn more about the many resident bird species. For additional information click here.

Cary Institute Wappinger Creek Week Celebration Walk
Thursday, July 7, 5:00 pm–6:30 pm
Location: Gifford House, Cary Institute, 2917 Sharon Turnpike, Millbrook
Watershed: Wappinger Creek
Join us for a family-friendly interpretive walk along the Wappinger Creek. Explore a wetland habitat and sample creek macro-invertebrates.

Millbrook Film Screening: Bag It
Thurs, July 7, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Location: Farm & Home Center, 2715 Route 44, Millbrook
Watershed: Wappinger Creek
A man who pledges to stop using plastic bags at the grocery store realizes society’s abuse of plastic and documents the consequences while identifying solutions.

Sunset Sail on the Hudson Aboard the Woody Guthrie
Friday, July 8, 6:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Location: Beacon Sloop Club at Beacon railroad station, Beacon
Watershed: Fishkill Creek
Sail on a replica of sloops that plied the Hudson in the 19th century while enjoying a potluck dinner and presentation on the river’s environment. Bring a covered dish and beverage to share. Suggested donation $10/adult, $3/child under 13. RSVP  by July 1st with Russ at russoutdoors@yahoo.com.

Ralph T. Waterman Bird Club Walk: Pawling Nature Preserve
Saturday, July 9, 8:00 am
Location: Pawling Nature Preserve, Quaker Lake Road, Pawling
Watershed: Tenmile River
For 3-4 hours explore Pawling Nature Reserve with members of the Ralph T. Waterman Bird Club and learn more about the many resident bird species. This is a moderate to strenuous walk. For additional information click here.

Wappingers Falls Rain Barrel Workshop and Painting Demonstration
Saturday, July 9, 10:00 am
Location: Meiser Homestead at Meiser Park, Village of Wappingers Falls
Watershed: Wappinger Creek
Rain barrels capture runoff from rooftops during storms to use later to water your lawn or garden. At this workshop you will build your own! There is a $45 fee and spaces are limited – please RSVP by emailing Angela at acs26@cornell.edu or calling (845) 677-8223 x114.  Following the workshop, at 11:30am, local artists will provide tips and illustrate how to add personality to your rain barrel.

For a complete list of events taking place, partnering organizations and sponsors, visit: www.dutchesswam.com. 

"Bag It" comes to Dutchess County as part of Watershed Awareness Month

Date: Thursday, July 7^th

Time: 7:00pm

Location: Farm and Home Center, 2715 Route 44, Millbrook, NY

The Dutchess Watershed Coalition is hosting a screening of the new, award-winning environmental documentary Bag ItThursday, July 7^th at 7:00pm at the Farm and Home Center in Millbrook, NY as part of Dutchess Watershed Awareness Month.  This will be the first screening of the 2010 documentary hosted in Dutchess County and the surrounding area.

Bag It follows “everyman” Jeb Berrier as he tries to make sense of our dependence on plastic bags. Although his quest starts out small, Jeb soon learns that the problem extends past landfills to oceans, rivers and ultimately human health. The average American uses about 500 plastic bags each year, for about twelve minutes each. This single-use mentality has led to the formation of a floating island of plastic debris in the Pacific Ocean more than twice the size of Texas. The film explores these issues and identifies how our daily reliance on plastic threatens not only waterways and marine life, but human health, too.

At the film screening, Girl Scout Troop 10205 from Hyde Park will be on hand to discuss their gift card recycling project and how the community can get involved.

Bag It is one of three films being shown on Thursdays throughout July as part of the Dutchess Watershed Awareness Month film series. Carbon Nation a documentary examining solutions to global climate change will be shown on July 14^th at the Mid-Hudson Children’s Museum Pavilion in Poughkeepsie. Gasland, a timely documentary on the surprising consequences of natural gas drilling, will be shown on July 21^st at the Lathrop Building at Lakeside Park in the Town of Pawling. All WAM film screenings are free, open to the public, begin at 7pm and will have light refreshments.

This event is free and open to the public.

For more information about WAM or the film screening, contact Carolyn Klocker at 845-677-8223, ext. 135 orcak97@cornell.edu.

RAMAPO RIVER WATERSHED CONFERENCE

16TH ANNUAL

RAMAPO RIVER WATERSHED CONFERENCE

FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2011

Ramapo College of New Jersey

505 Ramapo Valley Road, Mahwah, N.J. 07430, Student Center - Room 136

 9:30 am – Coffee and Bagels

10:00 - Remarks:  Ramapo College President Peter Mercer,

 Rockland County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef

10:15 -  A New Ramapo River Watershed Tour  2011 in Photos and HD Video

10:45 – Adam Strobel, Bergen County Planner, Visioning and Management Plan for Bergen County Ramapo Mountain Parklands

11:00 - Doc Bayne, Sterling Forest Historian: The Building of Sterling Forest Gardens:Historic Film of Peat Wetlands Drained to Create Gardens

11:30 - Rabbi Joel Mosbacher of Beth Haverim Shir Shalom Synagogue and co-founder of New Jersey Together; Joe Morris, lead Organizer of New Jersey Together: Using The Tools of  Citizens’ Organizing to Protect our Drinking Water and Hold Polluters Accountable.                     

 12:00 Noon – 1:15 pm     -     LUNCH

1:15 PM - Janet Burnet, New York State Chair:   Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route          National Trail Update

1:30 -  Kevin Olsen, Passaic River Institute, Montclair State University: Water Pollution Analysis in New Jersey, Employing the Cutting Edge Analytical Technology of 1876

2:00 - Chuck Stead, Cornell Cooperative Extension Educator / Adjunct Professor, Ramapo College: The Saltbox Environmental Research Center, Ford Toxic Legacy Continues

2:30 - Carl Padula, Chairman Flood Advisory Board, Pompton Lakes, Flood Problems in Pompton Lakes

                                    

 3:00 - E. Durling Merrill, Environmental Officer Pompton Lakes: Local Knowledge Based on Extensive Field Experience on the Lower Ramapo River

  3:15 - Don Steinmetz, HEnRI, Hudson River Estuary Action Agenda Program: From Forest to Faucet

3:45 - Howard Horowitz, Ramapo College: Geographic and Hydrologic Peculiarities of the Ramapo Watershed

4:00 - Geoff Welch, Ramapo River Committee: David Johnson, An Artist’s Nature Studies in Torne Valley During the 1870’s

4:30 - Wine and Cheese Reception

       

                       Presented by the Ramapo River Committee

and the Institute for Environmental Studies at Ramapo College

Kindly Sponsored by:

GEORGE L. BECKER Jr. MD, CGF

 PASSAIC RIVER COALITION

 ROCKLAND COUNTY, TOWN of RAMAPO, BETTY HEDGES, JAN BARRY

THE RAMAPO RIVER WATERSHED INTERMUNICIPAL COUNCIL

Free Event - Registration requested at geoffwelch@gmail.com (845) 712-5220

Forum on Regional and Freshwater Issues

On April 16^th, the Cary Institute and Cornell Cooperative Extension Dutchess County (CCEDC) are hosting a Science and Management Forum on Regional Freshwater Issues. The event will be held from 9am – 12pm at the Cary Institute auditorium (2801 Sharon Turnpike/Route 44, Millbrook, New York.) Free and open to the public, the event will provide an overview of the quantity and quality of regional freshwater resources, pressures that existing supplies face (pollution, development, invasive species), and management options. Special attention will be given to green infrastructure and stormwater.

The forum’s goal is to provide municipal officials, watershed groups, CAC’s, planning boards, and concerned citizens with the information needed to make sound decisions about freshwater management.

Attending this forum may qualify towards three hours of New York State required municipal training credit. Certificates for full participation will be available at the end of the session, which can be presented to your municipality for their approval.

Reservations are required; seating is limited. To register online, visithttp://www.caryinstitute.org/freshwater.html . For more information: Claudia Rosen (845) 677-7600 x171; rosenc@caryinstitute.org

Watershed Outreach Training - March 28th

On March 28^th, from 6:00-8:30pm the Wappinger Creek Watershed Intermunicipal Council (WIC), Cornell Cooperative Extension Dutchess County and the Cornell Department of Natural Resources Human Dimensions Research Unit will be providing a watershed outreach training on Delivering the Results of the Wappinger Creek Watershed Stakeholder Survey. The training will be held at the Farm and Home Center in Millbrook.

Participants of the training will:

- Become familiarized with the Wappinger Creek Watershed Stakeholder Survey project
- Acquire communication skills for presenting to municipal board audiences
- Gain experience with the outreach presentation through practice and role play
- Learn how to represent the WIC & CCE

The goal of the training is to prepare participants to be able to effectively make a 10 min presentation to local CAC’s, municipal boards and planning boards that educates audiences about the Wappinger Creek Watershed, the WIC, and the Stakeholder Survey conducted. The training will be led by Dr. Shorna Broussard Allred and Margaret Kurth of Cornell University and Carolyn Klocker of Cornell Cooperative Extension Dutchess County.

Watershed groups, CAC’s, municipal officials, and residents familiar with watershed concepts should attend. The focus will be on municipalities found in the Wappinger Creek Watershed but all are welcome. A light dinner will be provided.

Participants interested in attending must RSVP to Angela at (845) 677-8223, ext. 114. Space is limited. Should the event reach capacity, priority will be given to attendees planning on utilizing the training to make the presentation about the Wappinger Stakeholder Survey to a CAC, municipal board and/or planning board within the Wappinger Creek Watershed.

For questions about the survey, the presentation, and/or the training contact Carolyn Klocker at (845) 677-8223, ext. 135 or cak97@cornell.edu.