Mission and Purpose: The Rondout Creek Watershed Council is committed to protecting water resources, increasing community awareness through education and improving conservation efforts throughout the Rondout Creek Watershed. To further this purpose, RCWC is developing a Comprehensive Watershed Management Plan which will identify best watershed management practices for the four municipalities of the Lower Non-Tidal portion of the Rondout Creek.
The Rondout Creek Interim Watershed Management Plan will focus on the following key watershed protection topics specified by local stakeholders:
Watershed Education and Awareness, forming strategic partnerships
Stormwater Management, stormwater regulations and best practices
Floodplain Management, which includes riparian buffers, remapping of floodplains, not building in floodplains, minimizing impervious surface, controlled releases or diversions to prevent flooding wherever possible, buyouts and emergency response.
Vegetation Management (ecological issues), which also includes protecting riparian buffers and wetlands, as well as agriculture, forestry, open space and biodiversity protection.
The watershed management planning process begins with understanding that every piece of land is part of a watershed. A watershed is defined as an area in which all drainage flows to a common outlet.
A major focus of watershed management is prevention of non-point source water pollution. It is more cost effective to prevent flooding and water pollution than to correct problems after damage has occurred. To this end, understanding the health of our watershed will better inform the process of working toward protecting it.
Comprehensive watershed management plans include data from field inspections and inventories of existing drainage structures, mapping of watercourses, analysis of runoff rates and allowable capacities, and identification of existing and potential problem areas. Certain development practices may disturb land and create impervious surfaces such as roads, rooftops and compacted soil that in turn drastically change natural drainage patterns. During construction, existing grades and vegetation can be damaged, resulting in soil erosion. More sustainable forms are low impact development (LID) or better site designs are recommended.
Developing a management strategy across municipal borders that will incorporate municipal watershed data can better serve to manage and protect the health of the Rondout Watershed and Creek. The development of a Watershed Management Plan that takes into consideration the ecological and cultural assets of all the municipalities in the Rondout Creek Watershed and of its neighboring watersheds will strengthen regional efforts to promote the connectivity of all the Hudson Valley watersheds.
View the RCWC 2010 Progress Report here
DRAFT RONDOUT CREEK INTERIM WATERSHED MANAGEMENT PLAN
Download PDF of the Full Draft Plan
Section 2 – Rondout Creek and Adjacent Watersheds
Section 3 – Lower Non-Tidal Rondout Creek Watershed Characteristics
3.1 Watershed Soils and Geology
3.4 Riparian Vegetation Ecology and Management
Section 4 – Water Quality – Monitoring and Biomonitoring
4.2 - Stormwater and Wastewater
Section 5 – Economic Development in the Watershed
Section 6 – Educational and Recreational Assets
Section 7 – Summary of Recommendations for Key Watershed Issues
Section 8 – Guide to Implementation
Origins of The Rondout Creek Watershed Council: The Department of Environmental Conservation’s Hudson River Estuary Program (HREP) provided Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Hudson Basin River Watch (HBRW), and Cornell Cooperative Extension of Greene County a grant to organize watershed education and watershed resource planning initiatives for the Rondout Creek Watershed Council. Formed in 2007, the goal of the Rondout Creek Watershed Council is to collaborate with the four municipalities along the non-tidal portion of the lower Rondout Creek Watershed (Rochester, Rosendale, Marbletown and Wawarsing) to develop a Watershed Management Plan (WMP). In 2010, RCWC all four Towns adapted a revised IMA for collaborative watershed planning. RCWC watershed management efforts are being closely coordinated with the NYC Department of Environmental Protection initiatives in the upper Rondout, and the adjacent Lower Esopus and Wallkill watershed management groups, and in 2011 with funding from the Department of State, this watershed planning and protection work will be expanded to include the tidal portion of Rondout, which runs through the City of Kingston and the Towns of Esopus and Ulster.
Click here to go to the Rondout Creek Watershed community page on Facebook.
