Saturday, October 26th was a cold, rainy afternoon when 25 of us got together at "Ship Shape" Kyla Marion's Phoenicia home for some hot chili and a good discussion of our stakeholder issues with the Stony Clove Watershed.  (A number of folks who couldn't make it, expressed interest in the Association and wanted to be kept updated for next time.

During the early part of the afternoon, we go to know each other in groups wandering outside overlooking the creek or sitting inside the house.  As we discussed the watershed  group and the studies by the DEC, NYC DEP, and various other interested parties, historical

perspective was provided by Robyn and Sheldon Awand, Randy Ostrander, Tom Emerick from Catskill Trout Unlimited, Andrew Hatfield, and Kyla Marion.

Donna Meislin, Kyla Marion, Frank Falatyn, Aaron Weiss

Meredith Altman, Brain Hoffman, Randy Ostrander

Over coffee and cookies the group had a more organized discussion about landowner concerns with the DEP's present study and proposed Master Plan for the Stony Clove Creek.  Amy DeGaetano, from Greene County Soil & Water Conservation District, made some opening remarks about the Master Plan development and distributed copies of the Management Project Newsletter.  This was followed by a lively discussion about how we could organize and what we could expect from a landowners association.

What follows are notes of comments, issues and next steps that came out of the group discussion:

Flood Insurance and FEMA - How do we obtain flood insurance?  What are the requirements to get help from FEMA after a disaster?

Doing stream work (maintenance or rehab) on your own - What is allowed? Who provides permission and permits? How do we calculate effects of work on downstream properties?

The benefits of our organizing together to get our issues in front of the various government agencies are that numbers translate into influence.  The group represents a variety of backgrounds, so we can solve our problems with shared knowledge and expertise.

Who are the stakeholders for this association - Landowners on the creek only? Landowners on tributaries? Other landowners along Route 214? Landowners in the watershed area? Non-landowner residents?

What do we need to get organized? - How formal an organization do we want? Will we focus on water issues only? Will we be concerned with other environmental and community topics? How often and where shall we meet? How will we set meeting agendas? How do we interact with the media?

What organizations must we interact with - NYC DEP, DEC (NYS, Stamford, New Paltz), Soil and Water Conservation Districts (Greene & Ulster Counties), Towns of Hunter and Shandaken, US Army Corps of Engineers, Department of Transportation.  What other organizations might help (for example, Catskill Trout Unlimited)

Land erosion along the waterways - What can we do for help with immediate trouble spots? For example, Andrew Hatfield identified erosion on his land along the creek where he may lose big trees and large amounts of soil during this winter/spring.  Burt Reilly phoned after the meeting to communicate that his house is perilously close to the edge of the creek bank.

Planting to prevent erosion - Can we schedule a repeat of the presentation from 2002 on this important topic?  Are there other sources of information people can obtain?

Kristin Schroder and Robyn Awand

Andrew Hatfield and Tom Emerick

Next Steps:

• Amy DeGaetano (GCSWCD) will speak with her colleagues to respond to the immediate erosion concerns that were raised at the meeting.
  
• Emily Rosenthal will follow up with Amy to inquire about availability of reimbursement for mailings and meeting expenses.
  
• Catskill Trout Unlimited extended an invitation to all residents and landowners to their organization's monthly meetings; next meeting 12/11/02, 6:30pm, at the VFW Hall in Kingston, pot luck, for more information call Tom Emerick (845) 691-9046.
  
• Next watershed association meeting tentatively set for Saturday, January 25, 2003, 10am - noon at the Phoenicia Elementary School.  Please call Meredith Altman (845) 688-7293 with suggestions/contacts for meeting.
  
• Marc Rubin will contact Phoenicia Times reporter to cover next meeting.
  
• Agenda items for next meeting: prioritize landowner concerns and develop action plans against top priorities