Watershed Alliances
What is a Watershed Alliance?
A group of concerned community members working together, in some cases with government staff, municipal officials, academic institutions, scientists, artists and more to improve the health of a waterway for social, economic and environmental growth.
A watershed is the geographic boundary where water flows and is stored. The boundary is typically designated by high peaks or mountains draining water to a valley or lower lying area. Watersheds do cross municipal boundaries thus, collaboration across municipalities is necessary to best manage water resources. Watershed Alliances help with promote collaboration to best manage these important waterways!
There are two watershed alliances that exist in Rockland County; the Sparkill Creek Watershed Alliance and the Minisceongo Creek Watershed Alliance!
Sparkill Creek Watershed Alliance
The Sparkill Creek Watershed Alliance has been around for nearly a decade and is currently compromised of dedicated volunteers, artists, scientists, and academics.
The Sparkill Creek Watershed is one of many watersheds that flow into the Hudson River. It is plagued by high level of bacteria, which was discovered several years ago by the Riverkeeper Organization. We know that poor water quality can be the result of residential, commercial, and industrial usage, including the two sewage treatment facilities in the area. But we still don't understand what the source is for the high levels of bacteria. That's why we formed our Alliance and became self-appointed stewards of the Sparkill Creek. With the help of the Hudson River Estuary Program at the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), we were trained in proper scientific methods (by the EPA) to monitor our waters. We have learned how to work for a healthy watershed by partnering with Riverkeeper's stream monitoring program and with the DEC's Trees for Tribs stream bank restoration plantings. Sparkill Creek Watershed Alliance members are active participants in streamside clean-up programs, and volunteers for watershed eel and amphibian monitoring.
To learn more about the Sparkill Creek Watershed Alliance, please visit www.sparkillcreek.org.
Minisceongo Creek Watershed Alliance (MCWA)
The Minisceongo Creek Watershed Alliance is the newest watershed group in Rockland. In the summer of 2017, a group of local and state organizations including the Village of West Haverstraw, Keep Rockland Beautiful, Rockland Conservation & Service Corps, NYS DEC Hudson River Estuary Program and more met to discuss the health of the Minisceongo Creek watershed that feeds into the Hudson River Estuary. Several projects were identified during this meeting including public awareness, erosion control, flood control, stream bank stabilization and more. The formation of the Alliance was sparked by The Nature Conservancy, Scenic Hudson, and Hudson River Watershed Alliance workshop in 2017. The Climate Resiliency Building workshop is summarized in the Meeting Report. The Alliance has expanded to include Garner Arts Center.
The Minisceongo Creek flows from its headwaters at Lake Welch in Harriman State Park and spans ~11 miles until it meets the Hudson River Estuary near Bowline Power Plant and Bowline Point Town Park. Due to urbanization, the stream faces challenges such as trash build up, flooding, and erosion. These challenges impact both the aesthetic of the Creek as well as educational opportunities within and near the Creek. This Creek serves as a resource for education based activities, research, and community building.
The current goal of the MCWA is to create a coordinated effort to restore the Minisceongo Creek through public, private, and non-government partnerships (P3). This includes community engagement, beautification, and discovering key concerns. Since 2019, the MCWA lead agencies have worked together to host a cleanup event at the Garner Arts Center in Garnerville, NY. You can sign up for the annual cleanup thru Keep Rockland Beautiful' s website.
MCWA and Cleanup
This video will introduce you to the Minisceongo Creek Watershed Alliance, its partners, and local volunteers who help to keep our waterways clean and healthy.
Map
A map of waterways in Rockland is shown below.
Additional Resources Related to the Minisceongo Creek Watershed
The MCWA leadership team has gathered information on the following topics: historical information, water quality data, community science projects, flooding and erosion studies, arts and education. The Alliance has data available on the history of the Garner Holding Company complex, Haverstraw Brick Museum, professional grade stream biomonitoring, American eel populates, road-stream crossing inventory document, community cleanups, storm drain marking, Tree's for Trib's plantings, Green infrastructure, Minisceongo Marsh research and more.
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