Water Level for Oatka Creek today 9/9/2010

Gage height, feet
	Most recent instantaneous value: 2.41 09-09-2010 07:00 EST

AMFF Manchester, VT

Field Notes - Noteworthy News from NY Division of Fish, Wildlife and Marine Resources

 

2010-2011 Hunting /Trapping and Fishing Guides Available on the Web

Visit the DEC web-site to review the new 2010-2011 NY Hunting & Trapping Laws and Regulations Guide (http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/37136.html). You may scan through the guide online using the Interactive Viewer, or you may download specific sections or the entire guide. The 2010-2011 NY Fishing Regulations Guide (http://pub.jfgriffin.com/doc/jfgriffin/10NYFW) is available to review in the Interactive Viewer, and will also be available shortly for download from the DEC website www.dec.ny.gov (http://www.dec.ny.gov) . Hardcopy versions of both guides will be available to license holders at all license issuing agents when 2010-2011 sporting licenses go on

Field Notes - Noteworthy News from NY Division of Fish, Wildlife and Marine Resources

Attention Boaters and Anglers: Don't Spread Invasive Species! - NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation

 

Attention Boaters and Anglers: Don't Spread Invasive Species!

Boats, along with boating and fishing equipment, can transport
undesirable invasive species.

Boats, trailers, waders and other fishing and boating equipment can spread invasive species from waterbody to waterbody unless properly cleaned, dried or disinfected after use. Although some invasive species such as water milfoil are readily visible to the human eye, many others are too small to be readily noticed. To avoid spreading invasive species please follow the following guidelines:

INSPECT your boating and fishing equipment for invasive species. Outboard motor props, depth finder transducers and even fishing lures are great places for invasive species to attach.

Inspect your boat for attached plants and animals.

Motor props and fishing lures all provide convenient
locations for invasive plants and animals.

REMOVE any visible mud, plants, fish or animals before transporting equipment. Discard items in an upland area or in one of the invasive species disposal stations that have been installed at many boat launch sites for your convenience.

Remove all invasive species from your boat and equipment.

Don't forget equipment such as
anchors and other gear.

Invasive species disposal stations, installed at
many DEC boat launches, provide a convenient
location to dispose of the invasive species you
remove from your boating and fishing equipment.

CLEAN & DRY anything that comes into contact with water including boats, trailers, waders, bait buckets and other boating and fishing equipment. Boaters should be particularly aware of baitwells, livewells and bilge areas that are difficult to dry.

Dry all your equipment before using in another body of water.

Drain your boat before you leave the access site!

DISINFECT your boating and fishing equipment with a disinfectant if it cannot be dried before it is used in another body of water.

Attention Boaters and Anglers: Don't Spread Invasive Species! - NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation

 

Dear John,

The Open Space Institute is pleased to report that the U.S. House of Representatives has passed H.R. 3534, the Consolidated Land, Energy, and Aquatic Resources (CLEAR) Act, which includes full funding for the critically important Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) at $900 million. The Senate could vote on a companion bill as soon as this week.

In light of this huge step forward, OSI salutes the many conservation partners who have been working alongside us and our Washington, DC affiliate, the Outdoors America Campaign (see Fall 2009 OSI Newsletter), to urge Congress to keep its promise to the American people by fully funding the LWCF.

In addition to its conservation funding component, the just-passed bill includes significant and wide-ranging reforms to ensure that oil and gas development on federal lands and waters proceeds efficiently while protecting human safety and the environment. It includes many provisions to facilitate the cleanup and restoration of the Gulf of Mexico in the wake of the Deepwater oil disaster.

The LWCF is the federal government’s primary tool for protecting America’s vast recreational and scenic open spaces. It was created 45 years ago, and through a 1977 Congressional directive, was set at a funding level of $900 million each year.

Since then, the LWCF, however, has never been adjusted for inflation; in reality, its land acquisition funds have nearly every year been “borrowed” for other purposes. LWCF funding has hovered around the $300-$400 million mark for many years, very rarely reaching its target of $900 million.

OSI thanks Congressman Nick Rahall (D-WV), chairman of the Natural Resources Committee, for introducing the CLEAR Act, and those members of Congress who recognized the importance of responsibly restoring the Gulf of Mexico and creating conservation safeguards to protect the special places that make America unique.

We are hopeful that this marks the real beginning of the America’s Great Outdoors Initiative that President Obama spoke about in Washington in April. If you’re so inclined, please contact your Senator and let him or her know you support the Clean Energy Jobs and Oil Accountability Act and a fully funded Land and Water Conservation Fund. We’ll let you know when we hear more.

      Sincerely,

• August 16, 2010 - Sporting License Sales.
  The 2010-2011 hunting, trapping and freshwater fishing sporting license year will begin on October 1, 2010. Starting on August 16th, all sporting licenses (including the annual recreational marine fishing license valid from 1/1/2011-12/31/2011) will be available for purchase. Find out how to purchase a sporting license (http://www.dec.ny.gov/permits/6101.html) and review important dates regarding the new license year on the DEC web-site.

Not much sleep, lots of Fishing - Catskill Flies Forum

Not much sleep, lots of Fishing - Catskill Flies Forum

Catskill Mountainkeeper Action Alert July 1, 2010

Catskill Mountainkeeper Action Alert July 1, 2010

Join us on July 14th to demand a moratorium on all gas projects in the Delaware River Watershed  On Wednesday, July 14th, the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) is sponsoring a public meeting in Trenton, NJ to consider the application by Stone Energy to withdraw .7 million gallons of water per day from the West Branch of the Lackawaxen River in Wayne County, PA. Upper Delaware River While the DRBC has been responsive to public concerns about the dangers of gas drilling by issuing a temporary halt to permitting for production and exploratory wells while they review the process, the temporary halt is not comprehensive and only applies to wells that are drilled in shale.  They are still considering approval of water withdrawals for gas development, wastewater discharge applications, non-shale wells and wells that have already received state permits.  The northeast regional offices of both the National Park Service and the US Fish and Wildlife Service have sent letters to the DRBC asking them to complete promulgation of new regulations and assess the cumulative impacts of gas development before allowing any well or water withdrawals to proceed. If drilling is allowed for these wells, it will move ahead without DRBC oversight, and the potential for pollution and environmental degradation is very real.  It will also become a precedent to approve other similar projects. We can't let this happen.  We need to tell the DRBC that we want a complete and total moratorium on gas drilling within the Delaware River Basin. There are two things that you can do to help:  Come with Catskill Mountainkeeper to the DRBC meeting at the West Trenton Volunteer Fire Company on Wednesday, July 14th at 1:00 PM in Trenton, NJ.  We are sponsoring buses that will leave from Monticello at 8:30 AM. The price of each ticket will be $25 to cover the cost.  Please make a reservation in advance by contacting Beth at the Catskill Mountainkeeper office at 845 482-5400 or email her at beth@catskillmountainkeeper.org. She will give you the specifics about where to board the bus.  We anticipate that the people who are pro-drilling will be showing up in large numbers. It is critical that those of us who oppose unsafe gas drilling come out in force to make our views known to the commission.  Join the National Park Service, the Regional Director of Fish and Wildlife, the Delaware Riverkeeper, the Damascus Citizens for Sustainability and thousands of others by sending a letter to the DRBC telling them you want a moratorium on all gas drilling in the Delaware River Basin.  To visit the DRBC website click here. BELOW IS TEXT FOR A SUGGESTED LETTER TO THE DRBC.  PLEASE COPY AND CLICK HERE TO PASTE IT INTO AN EMAIL ____________________________________________________________________ Dear Delaware River Basin Commission Members,  I am very concerned about how the development of natural gas extraction will affect the water I drink and the rivers and streams of the Delaware River Watershed. You have enacted a partial moratorium on gas development in the Basin, THANK YOU. But we need a COMPLETE AND TOTAL moratorium that will stop all natural gas related projects. PLEASE expand the review and moratorium you have in place to include water withdrawals, wastewater discharges, all test and production wells, even those already permitted by the states, and non-shale gas wells. This COMPLETE AND TOTAL moratorium will allow you and the public the time needed to study this issue and develop natural gas-specific regulations.  The moratorium needs to remain in place until you have completed a comprehensive analysis of the cumulative impacts of natural gas development on the Delaware River Watershed. The analysis you do of the potential impacts and the resources that would be affected will inform the natural gas rules you are developing and help to prevent pollution and the degradation of the environment and outstanding features of the Delaware River and its tributaries and watershed.  Finally, because a COMPLETE moratorium is needed to prevent the slippery slope of piecemeal degradation, you cannot allow the Stone Energy water withdrawal to be approved. The impacts of the proposed withdrawal and consumption of .70 million gallons of water per day from the West Branch of the Lackawaxen River will have devastating impacts on this important tributary to the Delaware and will endanger the life and habitat of the creatures who live there and downstream on the main stem. Until you have analyzed the capacity of the Delaware to support the cumulative build out of water depletion that will be imposed here by gas drilling, you cannot begin to allow companies to get their straws in the water. Don't start giving away the river before you know the limits of our watershed for this consumptive use. This is the same problem that led you to enact your proactive and careful approach of deferring all gas well approvals until after your rules are adopted. Please employ the same precautionary approach-do not approve water withdrawals, including the Stone Energy withdrawal, for gas extraction and development until you know what the river has to give up-this is the only way to prevent degradation of this precious fresh water that more than 15 million people and countless creatures rely on for survival.  Thank you for your forthright action to date-please take the next step and expand your review and defer all approvals of all natural gas-related projects until after you have completed a cumulative analysis and implemented natural gas regulations. Support Mountainkeeper We act as your advocate in protecting the Catskills. Our only funding comes from individual contributions and foundation grants. Help us continue to work for you by making a donation of any size. About Catskill Mountainkeeper Catskill Mountainkeeper is a community based environmental advocacy organization, dedicated to creating a flourishing sustainable economy in the Catskills and preserving and protecting the area's long term health. We address issues of water integrity for the Delaware and Susquehanna River Systems, the defense of the vast woodlands that encompass the Catskill Forest Preserve and the New York City Watershed as well as farmland protection. We promote "smart" development that balances the economic needs and concerns of the Catskill regions' citizens and the protection of our abundant but exceedingly vulnerable natural resources.

Upcoming Event

Mark and Sunrise Ruffalo,
On Behalf of The Catskill Mountainkeeper
Would Like to Invite You to Join Them at the
2nd Annual Barnfest
Saturday July 31st, 2010 at the Adams' Barn in Beaverkill, NY
The Festivities kick off at 3:30 pm.
· · · · · · · · · · · · ·
There will be activities for the whole family,
plenty to eat and drink, art to buy, and
an important keynote by the renowned environmentalist
Bill McKibben
as well as
a performance by legendary folk musicians
Jay Ungar & Molly Mason
· · · · · · · · · · · · ·
Barnfest is Free by Invitation
Please RSVP
by email at
info@catskillmountainkeeper.org
or at
845-482-5400
· · · · · · · · · · · · ·
Click Here
For more about Bill McKibben
For More about Jay Ungar & Molly Mason
To see a map/directions

A Long Time and No Posts

I am afraid that I have been posting here very often I will try to change that and keep this Blog up to date.

Pipeline project paving way for Marcellus Shale gas - Canandaigua, NY - MPNnow

 

By Julie Sherwood, staff writer

Messenger Post

Posted Feb 17, 2010 @ 01:41 PM

Victor, N.Y. —

A public meeting Thursday will update residents on a natural gas pipeline project in Ontario County in the Victor area. The Tioga County Extension project involves replacing a 1.3-mile section of existing natural gas pipeline near Victor and building a new pipeline to connect with the Tennessee Gas Pipeline in Ontario County.
Residents will be able to ask questions and learn about the proposed project to run 16 miles of underground pipeline from Steuben County to Tioga County, Pa., with an interconnect to the existing Empire Connector Pipeline at the northern end of the project near Victor.
In an invitation to the open house, Empire Pipeline stated the extension project would “help bring abundant supplies of domestic, clean-burning natural gas from locally-produced Marcellus Shale and Trenton-Black River gas wells to consumers in this region and beyond.”
The project would be 100 percent privately funded by Empire Pipeline, stated the company.
Affected property owners were notified of the open house by mail, Empire said, though anyone may attend.
The pipeline replacement section would begin west of High Street and end east of Hidden Brook Trail, in Victor. Construction of the new interconnection with Tennessee Gas Pipeline would be west of Route 21 along the Tennessee Gas Pipeline right-of-way in Canandaigua.

 

Pipeline project paving way for Marcellus Shale gas - Canandaigua, NY - MPNnow

If you go

WHAT Tioga County Extension project open house
WHEN Feb. 18, at 7 p.m.
WHERE Victor Central School, 953 High St., Victor
DETAILS A natural gas pipeline project calls for replacing a 1.3-mile section of existing natural gas pipeline near Victor and building a new pipeline to connect with the Tennessee Gas Pipeline in Ontario County.