2019 Schoharie Watershed Summit

2019 Schoharie Watershed Summit
Saturday, April 27th, 2019

Windham Mountain Resort
19 Resort Drive
Windham, NY 12496

The 13^th annual Schoharie Watershed Summit is focused on Digging Deeper: Understanding how geology affects the Schoharie Basin. This year's morning presentations will take the audience on a journey through geologic history, focusing on both bedrock and glacial geology, and concluding with information about how the geology affects modern streams and our stream management strategies. Morning presentations include:

Beneath It All: Bedrock Geology of the Upper Schoharie Watershed
Dr. Charles Ver Straeten (New York State Museum)
Rivers flowing through Earth’s earliest forested landscapes (~385 million years ago, Devonian Period) deposited sediments that formed the shale, sandstone and conglomerate of the Catskill Mountains. The modern landscape of the upper Schoharie watershed is a result of 350 million years of erosion, carving out valleys between the ridges and peaks of the Catskills. This talk examines the history of those rocks, their character and composition, and the effects of their weathering.

Dammed Terrain: The Glacial Geology of the Schoharie Watershed and Adjacent Areas
Dr. Andrew Kozlowski (New York State Museum)
Expanding Ice Sheets at culmination of the last glacial cycle about 25,000 years ago severely impacted drainage patterns across New York State particularly in the Schoharie Watershed and adjacent areas of the Catskills and Hudson Valley. Glacier margins blocked valleys creating deep expansive lakes, reversed drainages and blanketed the landscape with both thick and thin glacial sediment. This talk provides an overview of glacial events, glacial deposits and relict landforms resulting from our most recent glaciation.

Reading the River's Geologic Story
Dany Davis (New York City Department of Environmental Protection)
Dany Davis, NYCDEP’s Stream Studies Coordinator, will give a presentation covering the connection of Catskill geology to Catskill streams. How does the ancient bedrock history and the ice age saga conveyed by Drs. Ver Straeten and Kozlowski influence the modern stream story? How do we use our understanding of the Schoharie watershed geology to improve our understanding and stewardship of the streams? Does the West Kill have a different geologic story than the East Kill? Why does the Batavia Kill run red at Red Falls and can management practices change that? Dany will highlight some of the ways geology influences Schoharie watershed streams and why we need to know how to read this story if we are to succeed in stream management.

Afternoon workshops may count towards municipal credits. Attendees interested in attending afternoon workshops should make their selection during registration. This year, attendees will have the option to choose ONE workshop from the three choices. Each workshop will be two hours in duration. Workshop options include:

1. State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) Basics
Christopher Eastman and Jennifer O'Donnell (New York State Department of State, Division of Local Government)
This introduction to the State Environmental Quality Review Act includes an overview of the environmental assessment form (EAF), Type I, Type II, and Unlisted actions and the sequence of making a positive or negative declaration on a project’s potential to have an adverse impact on the environment. The relationship between the administration of local regulations and SEQR will also be discussed and the recent changes to the SEQR regulations highlighted. (Code officials may apply to use this course as a professional development elective.)

2. Discovering What Matters: Using Natural Resource Information for Local Planning and Conservation
Gretchen Stevens (Hudsonia)
This introduction to the just-published Greene County Natural Resource Inventory will describe some of the important and unusual resources, and their values for the people of the county. The presentation will show how to identify and prioritize features of local importance. The presentation will also explore volunteer and local regulatory measures for the features and places of greatest local value.

3. Introduction to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP)
Tom Blanchard, CFM (New York State Department of Environmental Conservation)
This workshop will be an introduction to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Topics to be covered will include the roles and responsibilities of the local floodplain administrator, typically the code enforcement official. Floodplain regulations and building code standards will also be discussed. Application has been made to the DOS for 2 code enforcement credit hours.

New venue this year! This FREE event will take place at the Windham Mountain Resort on Saturday, April 27^th, from 9:00am-2:30pm. Come early! Doors open at 8:00am for sign-ins and morning refreshments. All registered attendees will receive free morning refreshments and lunch (please indicate if you are staying for the buffet lunch during online registration).

This program is for all water resource stakeholders, including municipal officials, planners, engineers, watershed managers, regulators, and property owners. Afternoon workshops may count towards municipal credits for planning and zoning board members. This summit is a forum to bring diverse interests together to learn from one another and to network as we seek to understand each other’s roles in this living watershed.

Registrations are required by Tuesday, April 16^th. For more details, or help with registration, contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 518-622-3620 x104.