From Joan Wulff,
"Dear angler and conservationist,
We need your help.
Crossroads Ventures, Ltd., wants to put two eighteen-hole golf courses on a mountaintop in the central Catskills.
And a lot more. The Belleayre Resort at Catskill Park will also include two hotels with 400 rooms, four restaurants, a conference center, a country club, a 21-lot residential subdivision, 351 detached lodging units in 43 buildings, two sewage treatment plants, and 77 football fields worth of impervious surface – just to hit the highlights
During construction 529 acres will be cleared, 86,000 mature trees and 189,000 saplings will be cut, and two million cubic yards of soil will be excavated over a ten-year period.
This will take place at the headwaters of two historic trout rivers: the Esopus creek and the East Branch of the Delaware. Theodore Gordon, A. E. Hendrickson, Jim Payne, Roy Steenrod, Everett Garrison, Preston Jennings and other luminaries from the Catskills heyday fished the Esopus and praised its rainbows, which today are a self-sustaining wild population. The East Branch, as part of the Delaware system, is among our country’s beloved waters.
Two reports commissioned by TU from respected scientists describe significant negative impacts on area streams if the resort complexes are built.
§ TU’s hydrogeologist finds that pumped water withdrawals for golf course irrigation and to supply the three hundred and seventy-six buildings will deplete groundwater supplies, completely depriving a segment of one brook of its baseflow and taking water from the bed of Birch Creek, contrary to the developer’s claims.
§ TU’s aquatic habitat specialist finds that reduction of baseflow, reduction in wetted perimeter, increased water temperatures and modifications of stream morphology will impair aquatic biota, also contrary to the developer’s claims.
Other issues raised by TU include loss of hydrological and biological function in headwater intermittent streams, non-point source pollution from golf-course fertilizer and biocides, and the sub-lethal effects on trout and trout eggs of trace contaminants such as chlorine, ammonia and metals during dry spells, when the water in Birch Creek will largely be sewage effluent.
TU’S ASHOKAN-PEPACTON AND CATSKILL MOUNTAINS CHAPTERS, SUPPORTED BY NEW YORK STATE COUNCIL, HAVE JOINED WITH OTHER GROUPS TO FIGHT THIS MEGA-DEVELOPMENT.
The Catskill Preservation Coalition includes Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., Friends of Catskill Park, Catskill Heritage Alliance, Catskill Center for Conservation and Development, Pine Hill Water District Coalition, Theodore Gordon Flyfishers, Inc., New York Public Interest Research Group, Zen Environmental Studies Institute, and Riverkeeper, Inc., in addition to the two TU chapters.
A State Environmental Quality Review is currently underway. The next phase is an adjudicary hearing, which will resemble a trial, with attorneys for both sides calling expert witnesses to give testimony and undergo cross-examination. This will be followed by appeals. The entire process is expected to take several years and to be very costly. So far, the fight against Crossroads Ventures has cost more than $250,000 in funds raised, services donated and in-kind contributions including $17,157.00 from the two TU chapters and NY State Council to pay TU’s experts for their services to date. Many thousands more are needed if the coalition not to be defeated through lack of funds.
MANY THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS MORE ARE NEEDED IF WE ARE NOT TO BE DEFEATED THROUGH LACK OF FUNDS.
We appeal to you to give what you can. Protecting the birthplace of American flyfishing and protecting the future of the Catskills are on the line. Contributions are tax-deductible. Your check should be made out to Crossroads Opposition Fund and mailed to Catskill Mountains Chapter TU, Crossroads Opposition Fund, P.O. Box 1487, Kingston NY 12401. Your envelope and stamp will help us defray costs.
Sincerely,
Need to know more? Detailed information about the project’s impacts on area trout streams can be obtained from the reports written by TU’s experts, and from TU’s written public comment. All three documents are available online at http://www.cmtu.org."
*****
Okay you guys. Here's a very real environmental threat to 2 rivers. Forget levels, temps, flood control and reservoir levels for a minute. None of that will matter if the water is contaminated because of the potential of this construction. If it goes through, you might have the best levels, excellent temps, etc. but where will the fish be? You know about all of the claims of 'Fish Kills', even though one has yet to be documented, well this may just do it.
Now, don't bother renewing a discussion about water levels or posting a picture of a dead trout. Means nothing. THIS is what you'd better grab onto and fight for. This is not a matter of 'improving' the fishery. It's a matter of 'saving' the fishery.
Allan
"Dear angler and conservationist,
We need your help.
Crossroads Ventures, Ltd., wants to put two eighteen-hole golf courses on a mountaintop in the central Catskills.
And a lot more. The Belleayre Resort at Catskill Park will also include two hotels with 400 rooms, four restaurants, a conference center, a country club, a 21-lot residential subdivision, 351 detached lodging units in 43 buildings, two sewage treatment plants, and 77 football fields worth of impervious surface – just to hit the highlights
During construction 529 acres will be cleared, 86,000 mature trees and 189,000 saplings will be cut, and two million cubic yards of soil will be excavated over a ten-year period.
This will take place at the headwaters of two historic trout rivers: the Esopus creek and the East Branch of the Delaware. Theodore Gordon, A. E. Hendrickson, Jim Payne, Roy Steenrod, Everett Garrison, Preston Jennings and other luminaries from the Catskills heyday fished the Esopus and praised its rainbows, which today are a self-sustaining wild population. The East Branch, as part of the Delaware system, is among our country’s beloved waters.
Two reports commissioned by TU from respected scientists describe significant negative impacts on area streams if the resort complexes are built.
§ TU’s hydrogeologist finds that pumped water withdrawals for golf course irrigation and to supply the three hundred and seventy-six buildings will deplete groundwater supplies, completely depriving a segment of one brook of its baseflow and taking water from the bed of Birch Creek, contrary to the developer’s claims.
§ TU’s aquatic habitat specialist finds that reduction of baseflow, reduction in wetted perimeter, increased water temperatures and modifications of stream morphology will impair aquatic biota, also contrary to the developer’s claims.
Other issues raised by TU include loss of hydrological and biological function in headwater intermittent streams, non-point source pollution from golf-course fertilizer and biocides, and the sub-lethal effects on trout and trout eggs of trace contaminants such as chlorine, ammonia and metals during dry spells, when the water in Birch Creek will largely be sewage effluent.
TU’S ASHOKAN-PEPACTON AND CATSKILL MOUNTAINS CHAPTERS, SUPPORTED BY NEW YORK STATE COUNCIL, HAVE JOINED WITH OTHER GROUPS TO FIGHT THIS MEGA-DEVELOPMENT.
The Catskill Preservation Coalition includes Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., Friends of Catskill Park, Catskill Heritage Alliance, Catskill Center for Conservation and Development, Pine Hill Water District Coalition, Theodore Gordon Flyfishers, Inc., New York Public Interest Research Group, Zen Environmental Studies Institute, and Riverkeeper, Inc., in addition to the two TU chapters.
A State Environmental Quality Review is currently underway. The next phase is an adjudicary hearing, which will resemble a trial, with attorneys for both sides calling expert witnesses to give testimony and undergo cross-examination. This will be followed by appeals. The entire process is expected to take several years and to be very costly. So far, the fight against Crossroads Ventures has cost more than $250,000 in funds raised, services donated and in-kind contributions including $17,157.00 from the two TU chapters and NY State Council to pay TU’s experts for their services to date. Many thousands more are needed if the coalition not to be defeated through lack of funds.
MANY THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS MORE ARE NEEDED IF WE ARE NOT TO BE DEFEATED THROUGH LACK OF FUNDS.
We appeal to you to give what you can. Protecting the birthplace of American flyfishing and protecting the future of the Catskills are on the line. Contributions are tax-deductible. Your check should be made out to Crossroads Opposition Fund and mailed to Catskill Mountains Chapter TU, Crossroads Opposition Fund, P.O. Box 1487, Kingston NY 12401. Your envelope and stamp will help us defray costs.
Sincerely,
Need to know more? Detailed information about the project’s impacts on area trout streams can be obtained from the reports written by TU’s experts, and from TU’s written public comment. All three documents are available online at http://www.cmtu.org."
*****
Okay you guys. Here's a very real environmental threat to 2 rivers. Forget levels, temps, flood control and reservoir levels for a minute. None of that will matter if the water is contaminated because of the potential of this construction. If it goes through, you might have the best levels, excellent temps, etc. but where will the fish be? You know about all of the claims of 'Fish Kills', even though one has yet to be documented, well this may just do it.
Now, don't bother renewing a discussion about water levels or posting a picture of a dead trout. Means nothing. THIS is what you'd better grab onto and fight for. This is not a matter of 'improving' the fishery. It's a matter of 'saving' the fishery.
Allan
