The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s latest episode of “DEC Does What?!” podcast discusses the department’s oversight of more than 6,000 regulated dams across New York State. [Read more…] about New York’s Dams, Dam Removals & DEC
Dams
‘A Terrible Death Struggle’: The Wreck of the George W. Lee
The mournful sound of the midnight ferry skittered across the Hudson River, and rain clouds spat a parting gift onto Captain John Frawley as he urged his mules northward and passed out of sight.
Over the last sixteen hours, Frawley had brought the canal boat George W. Lee from the Morgan sawmill in Glens Falls, and forty miles down the Champlain Canal to the Albany Basin, where he deposited the year’s last load of lumber. Despite the rain, his trip down had been uneventful, even getting well-behaved mules when he stopped for a fresh team in Schuylerville. [Read more…] about ‘A Terrible Death Struggle’: The Wreck of the George W. Lee
Putnam County’s East Branch Reservoir History Collection Debuts
Water has always played a vital role in the history of Putnam County, NY. Now, Brewster High School senior and Eagle Scout candidate Connor O’Reilly has led a service project commemorating the construction of the East Branch Reservoir in the Town of Southeast, completed more than a century ago. [Read more…] about Putnam County’s East Branch Reservoir History Collection Debuts
The Ecological Impacts of 200 Years of Hudson River Dredging
The navigable portion of Hudson River provides a unique ecosystem with highly diverse habitats, despite being dramatically impacted by 200 years of dredging, retaining walls, and industrial development.
More than 85% of the river’s islands have been eliminated and most of the river’s side channels have been filled in. About half of the river shoreline between Troy and the Mario Cuomo Bridge (formally Tappan Zee) has been engineered. [Read more…] about The Ecological Impacts of 200 Years of Hudson River Dredging
The Bronx River: A Natural History
The source of the Bronx River is now the Kensico Reservoir in Westchester County. From here the river flows south, passing 24 miles through White Plains, Scarsdale, Yonkers, and Bronxville until it reaches Bronx County, where it then empties into the East River, a tidal strait connected to Long Island Sound, between Hunts Point and Clason Point.
The river gets its name from colonial settler Jonas Bronck. The river once originated in an area the Weckquasgeek called Quaropes (White Marshes). [Read more…] about The Bronx River: A Natural History
Feeding the Erie Canal: Rome Summit Level Reservoirs
All canals are a series of ponds, at different water stages, or elevations. These elevation changes are transitioned by locks, with the area between the locks being of any length, and referred to as a level. Simply put, canal transport is similar to a set of stairs, with the levels being the tread, and the locks the riser. The highest level of any canal is known as the summit level.
As water flows with any lock movement, it is necessary to constantly re-supply the canal, and by feeding the replacement water to the summit level, the entire canal may be supplied. The original Erie Canal, statewide from Albany to Buffalo, had three summit levels; Lake Erie, Jordan and Rome. [Read more…] about Feeding the Erie Canal: Rome Summit Level Reservoirs
The Shadow of Kinzua: The Seneca Since World War II
Kinzua Dam on the Allegheny River in Pennsylvania, is one of the largest dams east of the Mississippi River. It is located within the Allegheny National Forest and its impounded waters reach nearly to Salamanca, NY, on the Allegany Reservation of the Seneca Nation in Cattaraugus County.
The dam has cast a long shadow on Seneca life since World War II. The project, formally dedicated in 1966, broke the Treaty of Canandaigua of 1794, flooded about 10,000 acres of Seneca lands in New York and Pennsylvania, and forced the relocation of hundreds of tribal members. [Read more…] about The Shadow of Kinzua: The Seneca Since World War II
A Sketch of the Great Northern or Champlain Canal, 1822
The following article, “INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. A Sketch of the Great Northern or Champlain Canal. Waterford, 28th Nov. 1822” was first published in The American Farmer of Baltimore, Maryland, on December 20, 1822.
On this day the last stone of the Northern or Champlain Canal, was laid by Governor Clinton, President of the Board of Canal Commissioners, in the presence of a great assemblage of people. [Read more…] about A Sketch of the Great Northern or Champlain Canal, 1822
Upper and Lower Lakes Wildlife Area Dam Rehabilitated
DEC and Ducks Unlimited have recently completed a major dam rehabilitation project at Upper and Lower Lakes Wildlife Management Area. Throughout the spring and summer of 2024 DEC released public notices to alert hunters that the renowned waterfowl hunting area would be limited for access during the water draw-down and rehabilitation project. [Read more…] about Upper and Lower Lakes Wildlife Area Dam Rehabilitated
Against the Flow: Spring Alewife Runs Were Once Immense
One of the most exciting rites of spring is the alewife run, an annual event where throngs of fish race upstream from the ocean to inland water bodies on a reproductive journey. These “river herring,” as they are categorized, actually spend most of their lives at sea.
Come spring, when the water warms to at least 5 degrees Celsius (41 degrees Fahrenheit), schools of alewives gather near river and stream mouths. [Read more…] about Against the Flow: Spring Alewife Runs Were Once Immense
Better DEC Oversight of Dams Recommended To Prevent Failures
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) should improve oversight and enforcement of compliance with the state’s dam safety regulations to guard against potential costly and life-threatening failures, according to an audit released by New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli.
“Dam failures are rare in New York, and we want to keep it that way,” DiNapoli said. [Read more…] about Better DEC Oversight of Dams Recommended To Prevent Failures
Noble Sissle’s Lucky Lake: An Interracial Catskills Lake Colony
To many historians, World War I Harlem Hell Fighters Band lead vocalist, composer, lyricist, bandleader, singer and playwright Noble Sissle (1889-1975) is the man most responsible for ushering in the Harlem Renaissance.
In Sullivan County, NY history however, he will be forever remembered as the celebrity name behind Lucky Lake, “America’s first and only inter-racial lake colony community.” [Read more…] about Noble Sissle’s Lucky Lake: An Interracial Catskills Lake Colony
Robert Moses’s Imperial Niagara and St. Lawrence Megaprojects
We recently passed the 50th anniversary of the release of Robert Caro’s Pulitzer-prize-winning book about Robert Moses: The Power Broker. Exhaustively comprehensive, Caro’s monumental tome nonetheless virtually ignores one of the most fascinating chapters of Moses’s career: his time as Chairman of the Power Authority of the State of New York (PASNY) from 1954 to 1962.
While heading PASNY, known today as the New York Power Authority, the legendary New York City builder oversaw the remaking of Niagara Falls and the St. Lawrence River for hydropower. [Read more…] about Robert Moses’s Imperial Niagara and St. Lawrence Megaprojects
Little Salmon River Watershed Dams Update
There are 5,736 state-regulated dams in New York State.
On August 28 the Tug Hill Commission facilitated an informational meeting at the village of Mexico office, focused on issues surrounding the dams in the Little Salmon River Watershed. [Read more…] about Little Salmon River Watershed Dams Update
John Apperson’s Battle To Protect Lake George’s Islands
Before Adirondack conservation leader Paul Schaefer began to organize his coalitions and, after a titanic ten year struggle, finally defeat through public referendum proposed big dams on the South Branch of the Moose River and elsewhere (1945-1955), Paul’s mentor John S. Apperson (often known as Appy) was waging another, longer, but less well known struggle concerning an actual, late 19th wooden and early 20th century concrete dam at the outlet of Lake George, built to power pulp, paper, and other mills in Ticonderoga, and to float logs down to those mills. [Read more…] about John Apperson’s Battle To Protect Lake George’s Islands
Naming the Great Sacandaga Lake
In April of 1930, the gates of the Conklingville Dam closed for the first time, beginning the process of flooding 27 miles of the Sacandaga Valley to create a new body of water that would provide both recreation and power to the region.
While it was already being called Sacandaga Reservoir, there was another name being considered, one that would honor the chief engineer of the project, forty-five-year-old Edward Haynes Sargent. [Read more…] about Naming the Great Sacandaga Lake
Naturally Reproducing Atlantic Salmon Returning to the Lake Champlain Basin
In 2019, for only the third time in 150 years, scientists found wild Atlantic salmon fry in the Boquet River, a tributary of Lake Champlain in Essex County. The long-term effort to restore self-sustaining, naturally reproduced populations of salmon to the Lake Champlain basin appears to be on the verge of success. [Read more…] about Naturally Reproducing Atlantic Salmon Returning to the Lake Champlain Basin
Historic Saranac River Dam Removal Projects Underway
Fish in the Saranac River are about to experience some new-found freedom. Deconstruction to remove the remnants of the Indian Rapids Dam and Frendenburgh Falls Dam in Plattsburgh is just about complete, which means fish will now be able to move more freely on that stretch of river. [Read more…] about Historic Saranac River Dam Removal Projects Underway
Hydro Power Initiative Launched in Glens Falls, NY
A new initiative is bringing Glens Falls residents and businesses the option to choose clean, locally-sourced electricity, with the City of Glens Falls as lead subscriber. The Glens Falls Community Hydro Project is a collaboration between the City of Glens Falls, Boralex, and Northern Power & Light. [Read more…] about Hydro Power Initiative Launched in Glens Falls, NY
Boquet River Farm Easement Protects Salmon Fishery
294 acres of farmland with more than two miles of natural forest along the Boquet River and associated tributaries, have been brought under a permanent conservation easement in a deal between the Adirondack Land Trust and the landowners, the Gillilland family.
The Boquet River, a major tributary of Lake Champlain that drops 2,700 feet over its 47-mile course from the Adirondack High Peaks to the lake, provides critical spawning habitat for salmon and other native fish. [Read more…] about Boquet River Farm Easement Protects Salmon Fishery