May is Schoharie Watershed Month!
Schoharie Watershed Month (SWM) is our annual, month-long celebration of the waterways that flow across the Schoharie Reservoir Basin, as well as the 315 square miles of land that feed them. We enthusiastically invite you to participate in this year’s SWM programs that will be offered throughout the month of May.
Schoharie Watershed Month 2024 offerings include:
- May 1 - May 31: The Schoharie Reservoir Watershed BioBlitz
- Wednesdays: The Watershed Wednesdays Webinar Series
- Saturday, May 4: The opening of the Flowing Impressions art show
- Saturday, May 18: Schoharie Reservoir Paddling Adventure
- Saturday, May 25: The Mountain Top BioBlitz Celebration featuring a performance by Arm-of-the-Sea Theater
We hope you'll join us!
Have a great idea for an event? Send it to
All events are FREE and made possible through partnership between GCSWCD & DEP.
On Saturday, May 18, join GCSWCD, Screaming Eagle Outdoor Adventures, and Rip Van Winkle Adventure Guide for a morning of watershed education… on the water! Space is limited and advance registration is required. Register today: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/schoharie-paddling-adventure-tickets-899242617877?aff=oddtdtcreator
In 2020, four of the Catskill region’s six NYC water supply reservoirs were re-opened for non-motorized recreational boating as part of a continuation of efforts to open lands to local communities and visitors. We invite you to join us in this unique opportunity to get on the water in celebration of Catskill streams and the Watershed!
A DEP Accesss Permit is required to participate in this activity. A free Access Permit can be obtained here: https://www.nyc.gov/site/dep/recreation/recreation.page
Your registration is considered complete after you send a copy of your Access Permit to
This program is offered as part of 2024's Schoharie Watershed Month. Schoharie Watershed Month events are offered free of charge by the Schoharie Reservoir Stream Management Program at GCSWCD, in partnership with the NYC DEP.
Schoharie Reservoir Watershed BioBlitz
Celebrate Schoharie Watershed Month with a biodiversity hunt across the Reservoir's drainage basin! Throughout the month of May, community members and visitors are welcome (and encouraged!) to log their biodiversity sightings into a community science project on the iNaturalist mobile app.
iNaturalist is an online network of people sharing biodiversity information to help each other learn about nature. It's also a crowdsourced species identification system! You can use it to record your own observations, get help with identifications, collaborate with others to collect this kind of information for a common purpose, or access the observational data collected by iNaturalist users.
Click here to review and join the Schoharie Reservoir Watershed iNaturalist Project.
On Saturday, May 25th, the BioBlitz will culminate in a celebration at the Mountain Top Arboretum in Tannersville, NY. View the schedule below and join us for at any point during the day!
Mountain Top BioBlitz Celebration: Saturday, May 25 at the Mountain Top Arboretum
- 8AM - 9:30AM Bird Walk with Larry Federman
- 10AM - 11:30AM Wetlands Walk with Frank Parisio
- 11:30AM - 12PM LUNCH BREAK
- 12PM - 1:30PM Insect Walk with Frank Beres
- 1PM - 3PM Seed Bomb Craft Station with Maureen Garcia
- 1:30PM - 3PM Native Plant Walk with Poppy Jones
- 3PM - 4PM Arm-of-the-Sea Theater presents: A Riparian Rhapsody!
Watershed Wednesdays Webinar Series
Beginning on Wednesday, May 1, we have the return of our Watershed Wednesdays Webinar Series! We're very excited for the lineup and we hope to "see" many of you there.
- May 15, Session 3, Flood Watch NY: Documenting Local Floods Through Community Science with Jess Kuonen
Flood Watch NY is a statewide community science program for collecting and analyzing photos of floods and storm impacts through the MyCoast NY app and website. Photos are placed on a map, posted to a public website, and linked to environmental data from the closest weather station and river gauge. Come learn more about the program, how the photos are being used, how to get involved, and what we’ve learned from 2 years of data collection.
Jess Kuonen is an Extension Specialist for New York Sea Grant, serving the 10 counties that border the tidal Hudson River estuary. Jess develops and delivers programming for a variety of stakeholders related to coastal hazards, climate resilience, and overall environmental health.
Click here to register for Session 3! - May 22, Session 4, Unraveling the Gordian Knotweed: Management of Japanese Knotweed in the Catskills with Dan Snider-Nerp
Japanese knotweed is exceedingly difficult to manage. In this presentation, Dan Snider-Nerp of the Catskill Regional Invasive Species Partnership (CRISP), will cover current best management practices, experimental methods, and the future of Japanese knotweed biocontrol. Knotweed is a common streamside and roadside invader that can reproduce from a tiny root fragment, which has led to its spread along many Catskill rivers and streams. Knotweed displaces native vegetation due to its aggressive growth and dense thickets. It lowers the quality of habitat for fish and wildlife and can contribute to streambank erosion.
Dan Snider-Nerp is the Terrestrial Invasive Species Manager at the CRISP. He has worked at CRISP managing priority invasive species for 9 years and is a licensed pesticide applicator.
Click here to register for Session 4! - May 29, Session 5, Wetlands of the Catskills and NYC West-of Hudson Watershed: Ecology and Characteristics with Frank Parisio
In this wetlands talk, freshwater wetland ecologist, Frank Parisio, will share findings from his studies in and around the Schoharie Reservoir basin.
Frank Parisio is a lifelong naturalist and a professional freshwater wetland ecologist for the New York City Department of Environmental Protection. His areas of research and monitoring have focused on wetland plant community diversity (particularly within the sedge genus Carex), amphibian health and breeding habitat usage, and wetland hydrology.
Click here to register for Session 5!