Did anyone else in the New Paltz area notice the Wallkill turn bright green in the past few days? These pictures were taken by Alliance member Rich Picone off the Rail Trail bridge this past Wednesday. It seems to be some sort of algae bloom, starting just upstream of the bridge and continuing out of sight downriver. Algae blooms are …
Water Quality Update
This just in from Jennifer Epstein, of Riverkeeper: “Results from our 8/29 Wallkill River water quality testing are on the Riverkeeper website. You can see them here: http://www.riverkeeper.org/…/citi…/wallkill-river-watershed/. In other mid- and upper-Hudson tributary watersheds where we sample, including the Rondout Creek, we observed notably good water quality on our late August sampling days. In the Wallkill River watershed, the …
Suspicious blue-green algal bloom
Last week’s algae bloom in New Paltz was reported to the DEC and listed as a suspicious blue-green algae bloom. Although we haven’t confirmed that it was a harmful bloom in the Wallkill, these algae can produce toxins that are harmful to humans and animals. For more info: http://www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/77118.html. If you see this again, send info and photos to HABsInfo@dec.ny.gov. …
Dead Carp
Riverkeeper has received several reports of dead carp on the Wallkill River near New Paltz, and has reported it to the NYSDEC. The Alliance is monitoring the situation and will update this page when we know more. IF YOU OBSERVE DEAD FISH, please contact DEC at 845-256-3161. Report: — the location dead fish were seen — the number observed — …
Tree Planting
More than 600 volunteers have planted over 6,000 native trees and shrubs along the Wallkill River and its tributaries with the Hudson River Estuary Trees for Tribs Program to improve water quality and stream health. Want to get involved? Do you own or manage land along a stream? If you have a site that could use some plants, visit www.dec.ny.gov/lands/43668.html …
Water Sampling
Community scientists throughout the Wallkill River Watershed are taking monthly water samples for processing aboard the Riverkeeper patrol boat’s lab. We test the water for Enterococcus,an EPA-recommended indicator of fecal contamination that can be used to assess whether water meets federal safe-swimming guidelines. Linked here are the results from sampling on May 30, which include three new sampling sites in …