Power Point Presentation

Fishkill Creek Watershed Education Program – EARTH SCIENCE LESSONS Power Point Presentation Order Photo Narration number* 1 This slide show presentation is about the Fishkill Creek. How many people have noticed these stream signs while driving around? What do they mean? (That the Fishkill Creek is part of the Hudson River Estuary watershed – the Fishkill Creek flows into the Hudson River, which is really an estuary). 2 This shows a generic watershed. Who can define a watershed? (An area of land that drains to a waterbody, also called a “basin”). What determines where the boundaries of a watershed, or “divides,” are located? (High topographic points on the landscape - water flows down hill with gravity). Note the sub- basin boundary drawn around the tributary. 3 This is a computer generated map from the Dutchess County Environmental Management Council, an agency in your county government working to help protect the Fishkill Creek. It shows how much of Dutchess County falls into the Fishkill Creek watershed. What do I mean when I say that? (Rain that falls on the land shown in color, eventually flows into the Fishkill Creek). Arlington students do field studies on Sprout Creek, a tributary to Fishkill Creek. The Sprout Creek Watershed is a sub-watershed (sub-basin) of the Fishkill Creek Watershed. Which color represents the Sprout Creek sub- watershed? (Pink). Which towns are in the Sprout Creek sub-watershed? (Washington, Union Vale, Pleasant Valley, LaGrange, East Fishkill, Wappinger). 4 This hand-drawn map shows the approximate boundary of the Fishkill Creek Watershed. The beginning of Sprout Creek is as far east but further north than the beginning of Fishkill Creek. What town is the Arlington High School’s stream site in? (Town of LaGrange). Sprout Creek flows into the Fishkill Creek not far from what High School? (John Jay). The Fishkill Creek flows into the Hudson River Estuary in what city? (Beacon). Which high school is not in the Fishkill Creek Watershed? (Ketcham). 5 This diagram shows how river systems usually change from their headwaters (beginning) to their mouth (end). They often start in hills or mountains. These “upper reach” tributaries have relatively steep gradients. The water moves relatively fast and cuts a straight, V-shaped channel through the rock and soil. A fast stream is able to carry sediments; only the larger particle sizes drop to the bottom – there are more boulders and cobbles. The “middle reaches” of a river have a more moderate gradient. Their slower velocity carves a meandering U- shaped channel. The stream bottom particles are a little smaller – more cobbles and gravel. The “lower reaches” of a river tend to flow slowly in flat gradient areas, carving out larger meanders and a wider U-shaped channel. Fine particles have a chance to settle out in the slower moving water – they often have silty/muddy bottoms. 6 FC24 056 In the upper reaches of Fishkill Creek, the river cuts through a steep gorge, in Tymor Park, which is in the southern part of the Town of Union Vale. Return to Slideshow Fishkill Creek Watershed Education Program – EARTH SCIENCE LESSONS 7 FC24 063 In the Tymor Park gorge, the river has a steep gradient, fast velocity, v-shaped channel, is relatively straight, and its stream bottom has a significant amount of bedrock, boulders and cobbles. 8 FC22 006 Further downstream, the river has a more gentle gradient, it starts to meander, creating cut banks and point bars. This photo was taken not far from where Beekman-Poughquag Road crosses over the creek. 9 FC17 Here is another cut bank and point bar a bit further downstream, between ImpC002 Phillips Road and Stormville Road, near where the Taconic State Parkway crosses over the creek. 10 FC15 Here is an example where a road was built too close to the outside meander of ImpA008 the river. These “gambions” are helping to protect the road from being washed away by the erosional forces of the river. 11 FC16 052 This is just a little further downstream, between Stormville Road and Carpenter Road. This person is on the Fishkill Watershed Committee, a group of people working to protect the creek. They canoed this section of the creek and took all the photos in this slide show. Note the island in the creek. Often in the middle reaches of a river, the channel is not only meandering, but it is “braided.” This means there might be more than one channel at times, creating small islands in the middle of the creek. 12 FC15 014 In the middle reaches of a river, cobbles and gravel tend to be the dominant particle sizes. These provide optimal habitat for aquatic insects and certain species of fish. 13 FC07 This photo shows the I-84 bridge going over the creek. This is downstream of 2-006 where Sprout Creek enters the Fishkill Creek. 14 FC03 005 This is even further downstream, believe it or not, in the City of Beacon. The creek in this lower reach area has more water and is larger, deeper, and wider. 15 FC01 004 Often rivers in their lower reaches have very low (flat) gradients and thus they move slowly and often silty – the fine particles are able to settle out in the slow moving water. 16 FC03 001 There are exceptions to every rule. Down in Beacon, in the lower reaches of the Fishkill, the creek passes through a large rocky area that is quite hard. The hard rock resists erosion by the water and forms a cascade or waterfall. This is more typical of the upper reaches of a river. The same thing happens with the Wappinger Creek. Near the end of the river, at Wappingers Falls, Wappinger Creek forms a substantial water fall over an area of hard, resistant rock. 17 FC03 009 In this area of bedrock, the water has carved out some interesting rock formations like this natural pothole. 18 FC01 001 This photo was taken very close to the mouth, of the creek, where it flows into the Hudson River. Here it is actually an estuary. What is an estuary? (A body of water affected by ocean tides. The elevation of the Hudson River and the mouth of the Fishkill Creek is sea level. The tide comes up the Hudson River and into the very lower part of Fishkill Creek. So sometimes the water flows “upstream” when the tide is coming in. Most of the time, the Hudson River at the Fishkill Creek is freshwater, but in drier summers, the salt water might come up this far. 19 FC16 047 Much of the Fishkill Creek flows through areas of good wildlife habitat, where the streamside vegetation has been left natural. Return to Slideshow Fishkill Creek Watershed Education Program – EARTH SCIENCE LESSONS 20 FC24 009 This wood turtle was found at Tymor Park, in the upper reaches of the creek. Wood turtles are not so commonly seen. 21 FC24 082 But there are human impacts to the creek in the upper reaches. In some areas in Tymor Park, natural vegetation along the stream (trees and shrubs) has been cut down and a lawn is maintained in its place. 22 FC16 061 Grass roots are not as good as tree and shrub roots in holding back erosion. Tree and shrub roots grow much deeper in to the soil than grass roots. 23 FC24 084 In the upper reaches of the watershed, there is much farmland. Farms are generally better for rivers than cities, but there can still be runoff from farms that is detrimental to rivers. 24 FC15 Too much animal manure or fertilizers entering a water body can cause ImpC013 excessive algae to grow. 25 FC25 Excess algae can degrade waterbodies (make them not so nice to swim and ImpA001 boat in). This is McKinney Pond, which is upstream from Tymor Park. It is starting to get choked with algae. 26 FC22 Another human impact to the creek can be found in the Town of Beekman 3ImpD010 Recreation Park where a swimming beach has been created. Water is diverted from the Fishkill Creek into this swimming area. 27 FC22 As with a swimming pool, chlorine is used to keep people from getting each 3ImpD005 other’s germs. 28 FC22 This is the area where the chlorine is added; the concentrations are high 3ImpD007 enough to be dangerous to people. By the time the chlorine gets to the swimming area, it has been diluted to the proper amount. 29 FC22 This is where the water from the swimming area flows back into the Fishkill 3ImpD013 Creek. You can see a slight discoloration of the water. The Fishkill Creek Committee is interested in studying whether this impacts the water quality and aquatic organisms in the creek. At least the fact that they divert the water into the swimming area, rather than create a swimming area directly in the creek, lessons the human impact of the swimming area. 30 This is a drawing of the hydrologic cycle to remind you that as water moves through watersheds, it doesn’t only flow over the ground. Most of the water seeps under the ground, into our groundwater aquifers. Groundwater then slowly seeps back into streams. Most people in Dutchess County, except in the larger cities like Poughkeepsie, drink groundwater from wells. 31 Water doesn’t flow under the ground in large underground rivers. It slowly trickles into the pore spaces between soil and rock particles. Larger particles tend to have bigger pore spaces that water can flow more quickly through. Water flows faster through sand than silt. 32 FC15 005 One of the greatest human impacts in our watersheds is pavement.

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