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RateTown gets status updates on projects
By Jim Planck
Hudson-Catskill Newspapers
HUNTER — Greene County Soil & Water Conservation District education coordinator Michelle Yost told the Hunter Town Board Tuesday night that it has been about one year since the town signed the Schoharie Watershed Advisory Committee [SWAC] Memorandum of Understanding [MOU], and congratulated the board and the community’s volunteers for their participation in the effort.
The SWAC is a Schoharie Creek watershed-wide group comprised of appointees from each municipality within the creek basin, as well as representatives from three Schoharie Basin Stream Management Plan sub-committees -- highway superintendents, education and outreach, and recreation and habitat -- plus one Greene County legislator, as well as other local, state, and federal agencies.
The SWAC’s purpose is to represent the interests of property owners, government officials, watershed agencies, and non-profit organizations in guiding implementation of the creek’s management plan.
That management document also has an advisory plan component, and Yost said that an initial step of securing operational costs for selected programs has been achieved.
”We have funding now to implement recommendations in the advisory plan,” she said, noting that a subcommittee was formed to determine potential options, with the final selections done by a 15-member voting committee.
Yost said that the larger committee also helps “spread the good word” about the plan and its goals and successes, including with a new brochure, which she provided copies of to the board.
“We had our first round of funding proposals back in September,” Yost said.
She said the proposals reflected concepts identified in the plan, including one to “conduct a thermal flyover” -- or thermal imaging study -- of the Westkill Creek portion of the Schoharie Basin to identify cold water pocket areas that are important to trout populations.
Yost said that in addition to the forthcoming selected initiatives, the plan will continue to offer mechanisms for technical assistance for those needing it.
She also said that in order to stay current with the greater community’s needs, GCSWCD always welcomes input, whether on the plan or any of the agency’s multiple other activities.
One of those is Yost’s role as the agency’s representative in heading up the Greene County Watershed Assistance Program [WAP], an initiative created by the Greene County Legislature to help Mountaintop communities and their residents and businesses interact with the rules and regulations of the NYC watershed -- and the economic issues that can attach themselves to those requirements.
The initiative was created in 2002, and Yost accordingly has WAP and GCSWCD offices in Tannersville to outreach and interact with the Mountaintop.
Yost also told Hunter board members that one of the stream management plan’s ongoing components -- the recreational part -- is under development as an outgrowth of a WAP activity called the Mountaintop Community Recreation, Cultural Resources, and Scenic Quality Strategy.
She said the group’s main committee, as well as appropriate subcommittees, currently have two recreational trail projects under discussion.
She said one of them is the Kaaterskill Rail Trail, a proposal to develop a portion of the old Ulster & Delaware Railway line from the hamlet of Haines Falls to the Catskill Mountain House site into a non-vehicular multi-use trail.
The particular section under consideration runs from the Mountain Top Historical Society campus on Route 23A to the Kaaterskill Falls area at the base of Laurel House Road.
Yost said there are three property owners along that stretch, and that discussions have thus far been fruitful with two of them.
She therefore asked approval from the board to start working with Town Attorney Larry Gardner to begin drafting contractual easement and liability language to further those talks along.
She said the content would be similar to language drafted about seven years ago for an earlier -- but different -- rail bed plan, which had unsuccessfully sought grant funding.
That plan included two parallel trails -- one on the upper rail bed and one on the lower, while the current one utilizes only the lower trail.
Hunter Town Supervisor Dennis Lucas indicated he feels the current proposal has good chances because it is “not as ambitious” as the previous plan, and that he feels the tighter focus will help considerably in helping to move it forward.
Yost also noted that the current plan does not call for upfront outside funding as part of the approval process.
“We would do it independent of any grant,” she said.
“The goal,” Yost said, “is to work with the three property owners and get [permission for] the trail to open, then work with the agencies to get it up to speed [with funding sources].”
Lucas said that Gardner has the town’s approval to work with Yost on the easement and liability language as necessary.
Lucas also said the town will send a letter of support for the trail concept to the remaining property owner, asking for “serious consideration” of the project.
He said it is his hope that the town’s request will be successful, “and allow the town and the Watershed Assistance Program to go forward, find funding, and create a recreational trail from the Mountain Top Historical Society [grounds] to the Kaaterskill Falls area.”
For more information on any of GCSWCD’s numerous functions, including its participation in the Watershed Assistance Program, the Schoharie Creek Management Plan, and the Kaaterskill Rail Trail, visit www.gcswcd.com.
To reach reporter Jim Planck, call 518-943-2100, ext. 3324, or e-mail jplanck@thedailymail.net.
The SWAC is a Schoharie Creek watershed-wide group comprised of appointees from each municipality within the creek basin, as well as representatives from three Schoharie Basin Stream Management Plan sub-committees -- highway superintendents, education and outreach, and recreation and habitat -- plus one Greene County legislator, as well as other local, state, and federal agencies.
The SWAC’s purpose is to represent the interests of property owners, government officials, watershed agencies, and non-profit organizations in guiding implementation of the creek’s management plan.
That management document also has an advisory plan component, and Yost said that an initial step of securing operational costs for selected programs has been achieved.
”We have funding now to implement recommendations in the advisory plan,” she said, noting that a subcommittee was formed to determine potential options, with the final selections done by a 15-member voting committee.
Yost said that the larger committee also helps “spread the good word” about the plan and its goals and successes, including with a new brochure, which she provided copies of to the board.
“We had our first round of funding proposals back in September,” Yost said.
She said the proposals reflected concepts identified in the plan, including one to “conduct a thermal flyover” -- or thermal imaging study -- of the Westkill Creek portion of the Schoharie Basin to identify cold water pocket areas that are important to trout populations.
Yost said that in addition to the forthcoming selected initiatives, the plan will continue to offer mechanisms for technical assistance for those needing it.
She also said that in order to stay current with the greater community’s needs, GCSWCD always welcomes input, whether on the plan or any of the agency’s multiple other activities.
One of those is Yost’s role as the agency’s representative in heading up the Greene County Watershed Assistance Program [WAP], an initiative created by the Greene County Legislature to help Mountaintop communities and their residents and businesses interact with the rules and regulations of the NYC watershed -- and the economic issues that can attach themselves to those requirements.
The initiative was created in 2002, and Yost accordingly has WAP and GCSWCD offices in Tannersville to outreach and interact with the Mountaintop.
Yost also told Hunter board members that one of the stream management plan’s ongoing components -- the recreational part -- is under development as an outgrowth of a WAP activity called the Mountaintop Community Recreation, Cultural Resources, and Scenic Quality Strategy.
She said the group’s main committee, as well as appropriate subcommittees, currently have two recreational trail projects under discussion.
She said one of them is the Kaaterskill Rail Trail, a proposal to develop a portion of the old Ulster & Delaware Railway line from the hamlet of Haines Falls to the Catskill Mountain House site into a non-vehicular multi-use trail.
The particular section under consideration runs from the Mountain Top Historical Society campus on Route 23A to the Kaaterskill Falls area at the base of Laurel House Road.
Yost said there are three property owners along that stretch, and that discussions have thus far been fruitful with two of them.
She therefore asked approval from the board to start working with Town Attorney Larry Gardner to begin drafting contractual easement and liability language to further those talks along.
She said the content would be similar to language drafted about seven years ago for an earlier -- but different -- rail bed plan, which had unsuccessfully sought grant funding.
That plan included two parallel trails -- one on the upper rail bed and one on the lower, while the current one utilizes only the lower trail.
Hunter Town Supervisor Dennis Lucas indicated he feels the current proposal has good chances because it is “not as ambitious” as the previous plan, and that he feels the tighter focus will help considerably in helping to move it forward.
Yost also noted that the current plan does not call for upfront outside funding as part of the approval process.
“We would do it independent of any grant,” she said.
“The goal,” Yost said, “is to work with the three property owners and get [permission for] the trail to open, then work with the agencies to get it up to speed [with funding sources].”
Lucas said that Gardner has the town’s approval to work with Yost on the easement and liability language as necessary.
Lucas also said the town will send a letter of support for the trail concept to the remaining property owner, asking for “serious consideration” of the project.
He said it is his hope that the town’s request will be successful, “and allow the town and the Watershed Assistance Program to go forward, find funding, and create a recreational trail from the Mountain Top Historical Society [grounds] to the Kaaterskill Falls area.”
For more information on any of GCSWCD’s numerous functions, including its participation in the Watershed Assistance Program, the Schoharie Creek Management Plan, and the Kaaterskill Rail Trail, visit www.gcswcd.com.
To reach reporter Jim Planck, call 518-943-2100, ext. 3324, or e-mail jplanck@thedailymail.net.
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