From trout to topography
Onesquethaw watershed to be studied



NEW SCOTLAND — Using a regional approach to understand ground-water supply as part of a state effort to protect the Hudson River, the Onesquethaw-Coeymans Watershed Council, is developing a management plan for the local Onesquethaw watershed.

This not-for-profit council has received a $36,000 state grant as part of $1.3 million designated this year for 45 communities’ estuary projects.

The underground water and reemerging creek runs over 52 square miles from the Helderbergs in Berne through New Scotland and eventually into the Hudson River, said Fred Realbuto, the chairman of the seven-member board of directors of the watershed council.

The objective of the management plan is to identify the important and critical natural resource and to protect it, he said of the watershed.

In order to save something, you have to know what you’ve got, he said.

The Onesquethaw-Coeymans Watershed Council was formed eight years ago with a collection of interested parties, including the Albany County Water Committee, Trout Unlimited, the Albany County Natural Resources Department, and the Mohawk-Hudson Land Conservancy, Realbuto said.

The council is a nonadvocacy group that is dependent on grants and contributions from its membership, Realbuto said.

Realbuto is a stakeholder from the Audubon Society of New York State, which has a hawk sanctuary in South Bethlehem and offers public access to the Onesquethaw creek. From the Audubon Society’s perspective, Realbuto said he would like the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation to continue to restrict the draw from the watershed.

The Onesquethaw Creek diversion dam on Wolf Hill in New Scotland takes a million gallons a day during the summertime out of the watershed to supply the Vly Creek Reservoir, Realbuto said. He is curious how the diversion affects water quality.

Bethlehem applied to the DEC two years ago to draw more water off for public consumption, Realbuto said, but the DEC turned down the application. Additionally, the DEC has restricted the water draw during May and June so fish can spawn.

Roy Lamberton, a leader of the in-the-works management plan, wrote the grant application to the state’s Hudson River Estuary Program. Lamberton represents Trout Unlimited on the watershed council.
"The wild trout population is very healthy in the Onesquethaw," Lamberton said. The trout live in the stream all year round and breed in the fall, he said.
"The creek itself is in pretty good shape as far as quality," Realbuto said. The limestone geology offers very little ground cover, and is very permeable, so pollutants in the air or at the surface would easily make it to the water, he said. "So we would know if there is a real problem."

Acid rain is not a problem in the area because the limestone, a base, counteracts the acid, Realbuto said.

Management plan

The watershed management plan will have two parts, Lamberton said. The first is the state of the watershed as it is now, and the second will be outreach.

The final goal is to produce a document by the end of 2007 with data, conclusions, and recommendations, Lamberton said.

The Capital District Regional Planning Commission is in charge of the first part, Lamberton said. This phase will occur through 2006, he said.

The commission will look at geological GIS layers (geographical information system), soil, how land use is effecting the water, land-use regulations, agriculture, and natural and human effects including waterfalls and dams.

There will be bio-diversity studies, and studies of native plants, unique habitats, how sensitive certain areas of the watershed are, and natural water and human influences, Lamberton said.

One example of human influence, Lamberton said, is that various groups, municipalities, and businesses along the creek have state permits to discharge treated sewage water back into the tributary. There will be an inventory review of these permits, assessing the quantity of treated water entering the watershed, where, when, and how much, to analyze what is normally a relatively safe relationship, Lamberton said.

Some data sampling has already been completed, Lamberton said. The DEC has done sampling of the invertebrates that live in the stream, and the watershed council took photos of historic sites and old buildings along the stream.

After gaining a quantitative scientific understanding of the state of the watershed, the council will then consider some recommendations for action, Lamberton said.

Perhaps a better vegetative buffer along the stream can help, and the council will then recruit volunteers to plant native species along the creek’s bed. Or the watershed council may want to encourage towns to incorporate building setbacks from the stream into their zoning ordinances, Lamberton said.

The second phase to completing the management plan involves outreach in 2007 where the information gathered will be taken to the towns of Berne, New Scotland, Bethlehem, and Coeymans, Lamberton said. The information will be presented to planning boards, conservation boards and to other interested groups like landowners’ associations and farming groups, Lamberton said.

This second part will depend on members of the watershed council and other volunteers, Lamberton said.

Outcome

While there will be analysis of how the water diversions are affecting the stream, Lamberton said, the basic understanding that the watershed is important to the surrounding communities’ water supply remains firm; with that understanding, there should be an understanding of that water and how best to use it, Lamberton said.

The Onesquethaw watershed is a very complex system, Lamberton said. Water goes through the Clarksville Cave, over a number of waterfalls, and travels underground, goes across countryside, hills, the cliffs of the Heldebergs, and then over flat plains. It collects runoff along the way, from farms to the Selkirk train yard, Lamberton said.

The hope is to identify what might be affecting the water quality, but nothing is preconceived, Roy Lamberton said.

Extensive studies and management plans have been completed for southern Hudson River communities like Ulster county where the higher density population has created the potential for more pollution. This will be one of the first Hudson River tributary watershed-management planning studies this far north, Lamberton said.

State-wide

For 2006, the state has designated $1.3 million in grants for Hudson River estuary projects. The money has been dispersed to 45 community projects with the mission of enhancing public use and enjoyment; cleaning up pollution; promoting environmental stewardship and education; and preserving the natural resources of the Hudson River, tributaries, and watersheds.

The Hudson River Estuary Action Plan was developed in 1996 and has since provided more than $370 million to clean, protect, and restore the Hudson River.

The grants this year were allocated based on five categories: interpretation and education projects; community habitat conservation and stewardship; open-space planning inventory and acquisition; watershed planning and implementation; and river access including boating, fishing, and swimming.

The Onesquethaw-Coeymans Watershed Council has received grants in past years for education, Lamberton said.

This year in The Enterprise coverage area, besides the council receiving $36,000 for watershed planning and implementation, the Hilltowns’ Natural Area Alliance received $4,500 for conservation and stewardship of the E.N. Huyck Preserve in Rensselaerville.

The preserve consists of almost 2,000 acres of open space and has a biological research station. The alliance will be identifying critical habitats, creating GIS maps, and assessing current land-use polices in the towns of Renneselaerville and neighboring Berne.