FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE04-22
May
5, 2004
Contact:
Ian Michaels
(718) 595-6600
Upstate
and Downstate Students Enhance Streamside Buffer for Watershed Protection
Will
Plant Native Trees and Pull Invasive Shrubs in Woodstock
Commissioner Christopher O. Ward of the New York City Department of Environmental
Protection (DEP) announced today that 35 high school students from upstate
and New York City will join forces to plant over 140 trees to enhance
a streamside buffer zone next to an important water source in the City’s
watershed. The planting will take place on Tuesday, May 11th, from 11:00
A.M. to 3:00 P.M. at the Beaver Kill in the Town of Woodstock.
Students from South Kortright Central School will work with downstate
students from the High School for Environmental Studies in Manhattan.
They will augment last year’s efforts by fellow students who planted
over 100 trees on an environmentally sensitive piece of land owned by
the DEP next to the Beaver Kill in Woodstock. This year the students will
plant more than 140 native trees and will pull the exotic, invasive species
Japanese barberry. The Beaver Kill flows into the Esopus Creek, which
in turn flows into the Ashokan Reservoir, a key part of the Catskill water
system.
“This parcel of DEP land provides a great outdoor classroom for
streamside stewardship,” said Commissioner Ward. “It allows
upstate and downstate students to understand the important ecological
functions of streamside buffers – streambank stabilization, pollution
protection and habitat preservation – and to see what their peers
have accomplished in the past. I’m glad that young people from the
different regions are able to get together to build long-term solutions
to protect our water quality.”
SUNY-Delhi Catskill Outdoor Education Corps, along with DEP Stream Management
and Land Management personnel, will provide site preparation and planting
supervision. The students will plant native trees and shrubs, including
Green Ash, Black Cherry, Yellow Birch, Red & Silver Maple and Elderberry.
The Council on the Environment of New York City coordinated the education
planting project, while funding was provided by the Catskill Watershed
Corporation (CWC), the Watershed Agricultural Council (WAC), and the New
York City Department of Environmental Protection. DEP helps to fund the
CWC and other programs in the watershed that benefit both the community
and drinking water quality.