1 Hudson River Estuary Program Resources and Funding Opportunities Emily Vail Hudson River Estuary Program NYS Department of Environmental Conservation New York State Water Resources Institute at Cornell University October 15, 2015 2 Presentation Outline . Hudson River Estuary Program . Technical assistance . Habitat mapping and summaries . Natural Resource Mapper . Culvert assessment . Trees for Tribs . WAVE . Watershed planning Trees for Tribs planting at Bayard . Grants Elsbree Park 3 Hudson River Estuary Program Six Benefits: . Clean water . Resilient communities . Vital estuary ecosystem . Estuary fish, wildlife, and their habitats . Scenic river landscape . Education, river access, recreation, and inspiration 4 Albany Catskill Hudson River Creek Estuary Watershed New York City 5 Albany Hudson River Catskill Creek Estuary Watershed Groups New York City M. Cunningham 6 Albany Catskill Creek Stockport Wallkill River C. Bowser New York City Quassaick Creek 7 Technical Assistance from the Estuary Program . Grants and other funding opportunities . Presentations . Sharing and interpreting data . Natural Resource Summaries . Planning assistance . Reviewing documents . Citizen science, Trees for Tribs 8 Conservation and Land Use Assistance . Habitat Summary reports, maps, and information to assist comprehensive planning and zoning efforts . Seminars and trainings for planning and zoning officials . Habitat mapping: . Catskill Creek corridor . Huyck Preserve 9 Habitat map . Identify important intact stream buffers . Inform stream restoration or bank stabilization projects . Tool to review development projects . Baseline for monitoring change 10 Hudson Valley Natural Resource Mapper Interactive web map . Hudson River Estuary . Streams & Watersheds . Wetlands . Forests . Biodiversity hudson.dnr.cals.cornell.edu/mapper 11 Streams Map Includes: . FEMA flood hazard zones . Dams and culverts . Biologically important barriers . Forest & impervious cover . Stream class, trout status . Water quality 12 Prioritizing Aquatic Barriers . Important culverts and dams to get fish past . Also modeling capacity to pass storm flows 13 Prioritizing Aquatic Barriers 14 Trees for Tribs Provide free native trees & shrubs and technical assistance for planting along streams with local volunteers to protect: . water quality ■ fish and wildlife 15 Trees for Tribs on the Catskill Creek From 2008-2015: . 11 sites (+1 on the Kaaterskill, Town of Catskill) . 1,675 plants (+500) . 180 volunteers (+37) Spring 2013 – Catskill Creek Watershed Awareness Program, Towns of Durham & Rensselearville planted at 5 sites 16 Bayard Elsbree Park in Rensselaerville Planting Day May 2013 July 2013 July 2014 17 WAVE Water Assessments by Volunteer Evaluators . Volunteers select sampling sites, collect stream bugs that indicate water quality . Included in state and federal water quality reports 18 Watershed Planning . Brings information together on the land and water . Assess current conditions and prioritize actions for future . Whole watershed or portion . Comprehensive or focus on particular topic (flooding, water quality, etc.) 19 Watershed Planning . Quassaick Creek Watershed Management Plan . 54 recommendations . 10 priority actions . Municipalities (incl Orange and Ulster counties), agencies, citizens . Funding - DOS, DEC, Hudson River Estuary Program 20 Learn about grants and other opportunities . Grants webpage: http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/5091.html . Hudson RiverNet: Hudson River Estuary Newsletter (via GovDelivery): http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/76018.html 21 Hudson River Estuary Program Grants . Stewardship & Planning – planning, outreach, research, and implementation projects . Tributary Restoration – removing aquatic barriers (mitigating dams and culverts) . Take a handout! 22 2015 Estuary Grants . Village of Catskill, $25,500 Hudson River Shoreline Flooding Plan and an analysis of local zoning changes to address resiliency . Village of Catskill, $42,500 Risk and engineering review of the wastewater system, and implementing recommendations from Catskill Waterfront Resilience Task Force report 23 Thank You . Emily Vail Connect with us: Facebook: www.facebook.com/NYSDEC . Watershed Outreach Twitter: twitter.com/NYSDEC Specialist Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/nysdec . Hudson River Estuary Program . [email protected] . (845) 256-3145.