OCTOBER WALK TO STREAMSIDE OF NORMANSKILL

deep shaded bank

seeing blue water

the MIGHTY stream

great spot for a board meeting

A poem by Matsuo Basho

All night long

I listened to the autumn wind

Howling on the hill

At the back of the temple

On a beautiful fall day my wife and I took a short walk along the Mohawk-Hudson Land Trust Land Normanskill trail that starts near the Delaware Ave bridge in Bethlehem. Seeing a wagging tail we decided to make a dog happy and brought our dog Charlie along too. The clay soil make the steeper parts of the trails a bit slippery but still easily managed if you took a little care.

A VOICE FOR THE NORMANSKILL

The Tri-Village Greenway Committee of the Mohawk-Hudson Land Trust hosted members of our fledgling Normanskill Roundtable at their February 9, 2010 meeting. As Chaired by Dan Lewis and attended by MHLC Executive Director Jill Knapp and a fair number of Land Trust members the meeting was an opportunity to inform and learn about mutual interests and activities. There was a general understanding of the concept of watershed associations and an appreciation of the small steps the Normanskill Roundtable and the other organizations associated with us have accomplished in developing a "voice for the Normanskill". Laura DeGaetano, Tim Lake and Dan Driscoll were present to contribute their knowledge and insight into the need and possibility of watershed management and planning. The Town of Bethlehem is home to five Land Trust Preserves including Normanskill East and Normanskill West. There was discussion on trail links especially the lower river using the proposed rail trail, Graceland Cemetary, Albany's Normanskill park, the MHLC Preserves, and the Albany Public Golf course. After the meeting Laura DeGaetano mentioned to me there was a linked trail potential in the Town of Guiderland for the Normanskill's path through Tawasentha Park crossing Route 146 towards (and perhaps along) the Watervliet Reservoir. Canoe access and use of the Normanskill was also discussed with downstream trips starting at Krumkill Road or State Farm Road bridges, depending on waterlevels and pulling out at park near the first Route 85 round-about where there is a launch point. It would be a good task to collect water recreational access information from those with the experience to tell the tale. Other news from the meeting includes the June 5, 2010 Trails Day to be sponsored by the Tri-village Committee. Also the Stormwater Coalition of Albany County has a meeting on the Normanskill Watershed on February 25, 2010, 7 pm at Five Rivers Environmental Education Center, 56 Game Farm Rd. Delmar and on Krum Kill Watershed, February 18, 2010, 7pm at Holiday Inn Express, 1442 Western Ave. Guilderland. Thanks to this meeting the voice of the Normanskill got a little louder. THE NEXT NORMANSKILL ROUNDTABLE Open to all with an interest in the Normanskill Watershed TOPIC: Vital Signs of the Normanskill Watershed DATE: Tuesday, April 13, 2010 PLACE: Pine Hollow Arboretum, 16 Maple Avenue, Slingerlands, NY TIME: 5:30 pm for Arboretum Tour led by John Abbuhl 7:00 pm Roundtable Begins Contact Alan Casline at ACASLINE@AOL.COM Please comment insection below.

NORMANSKILL NOTES

The Normanskill watershed is a near perfect example of how political boundaries divide and obscure natural systems. While it doesn’t appear to me these divisions are insurmountable, they do leave watershed concerns without an obvious policy structure or forum with which to focus attention. In some parts of the world, there are river systems shared by different countries. There are also rivers that serve as boundaries or move water from one country or state to another. The Normanskill does neither. The Normanskill is found entirely in New York State. As a major tributary, the watershed receives recognition as important to advocates and friends of the Hudson River. Not crossing national or state boundaries is an advantage to political management and a few less layers of government hopefully simplifies land-use planning and the watershed protector’s landscape. There are still global and bio-regional concerns which should be on the Normanskill watch list but these concerns reflect local problems and solutions with the harm and benefits to be derived locally as well. The political divisions of Counties, Towns, City and Villages are the divisions that largely remove the bio-regional view of this 170 square mile territory from the local population’s concerns and the local planning agency’s priorities. Which is not to say there are not concerned citizens, workers, and officials with a green environmental, open space, natural resource awareness, smart planning perspective; who recognize the importance of understanding and sustaining the whole living system they live in. I see two major divides of this river system. One is the Watervliet Reservoir. The watershed above the dam has interested parties concerned with water quality and by extension development, drainage, and pollution control. A second major biological divide is the estuary at the river’s confluence with the Hudson River near the Port of Albany. The landscape there is industrialized and like much of the Albany shore filled, dredged, and drowned to the point that its natural and human history is difficult to discern. Castle Island is no more, now you have a fill enlarged peninsula with obscured historical boundaries. From the Watervielt Reservoir downstream through Towns of Guilderland and Bethlehem the Normanskill and tributaries drain a mixed urban and suburbanized area. Maybe because my own property drains off onto this part of the watershed, I here find more permutations and interesting areas to still explore—from the recognized uniqueness of the Pine Bush Barrens; the availability of a surprising amount of green space due mostly to steep banked riversides, the Hunger Kill and the other small urban streams that move through the City of Albany and on to major malls and the campus of SUNY Albany. I see this portion of the river as our “European Watershed.” Common sense says over a hundred years of industrializations, denser human habitation, and major levels of pollution have made the health of this part of the river irretrievable. That is unless the cultural and societal change of the next hundred years decides differently. What is my proposed agenda for the Normanskill Watershed? First I would say to celebrate what we already have. A resource guide should be developed, eco-tourism encouraged, a sense of place, nature, seasonal activities; all to be encouraged. The publication NORMANSKILL can continue to be an anthology that networks and explores the depth of our bio-regional identity. Next would be preservation, eco-system enhancement, renewable “green”industries, increased food production, sustainable forestry, locally marketed locally produced products and crafts. No new ideas here but as a friend said recently, “We don’t need ideas. We need action.” I think there is a lot going on in these areas already. We need a catalog for access to what is available, perhaps included in the larger resource guide. On the political and planning level getting away from the “Big Pipe” mentality and seriously implementing water quality conscious decisions that involve different (and proven) technologies. Unless you live on a mountain peak, everyone is downstream from someone else. Alan Casline

ACASLINE@AOL.COM

foot bridge at French's Hollow