The Ashokan Watershed Stream Management Program (AWSMP) is hosting the 2023 Ashokan Watershed Conference (AWC) on July 29 at the Bearsville Theater in Woodstock. This year’s conference theme is “Learn Your Watershed Land.” Attendees will learn about the storied Ashokan watershed, and how they can be good stewards of the landscape that nearly 10,000 New Yorkers call home and that ten million more rely on daily for clean drinking water. The event is free and open to watershed residents and visitors.
The full-day conference has two parts. A two-hour morning session from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. is specifically for new landowners that have acquired property in the area within the last five years. Speakers from Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County, the Ulster County Soil and Water Conservation District, the Ulster County Department of Environment and the Catskill Watershed Corporation will welcome new landowners to the Ashokan Reservoir watershed, provide some insight into their new surroundings, and highlight the unique services and opportunities available to residents of New York City’s water supply watershed. Pre-registration is required to attend the new landowner’s session.
The afternoon session from 1 to 4 p.m. is a forum for residents and visitors alike to learn the land of the Ashokan Reservoir watershed. A diverse group of speakers will provide guidance on how landowners can manage their land for water quality protection and landscape health. Representatives from the Department of Environmental Conservation, Cornell Master Forest Owners (MFO) program and Catskills Regional Invasive Species Partnership (CRISP) will talk about stream and wetland permits, woodland management and how landowners can identify and manage invasive plant species on private property.
The Saturday program will also have speakers focused on landscape-scale issues that concern all residents and landowners. These include an intimate look at the history of flooding from a lifelong Shandaken resident who has survived several significant floods since 1980, a look into the ancient geologic history and glacial legacy of the last Ice Age that still impacts daily life in the Catskills, and the release of a new film produced by Cooperative Extension that follows the Esopus Creek from its humble beginnings at Winisook Lake to the mighty Ashokan Reservoir, highlighting the interconnectedness of river networks and their watersheds.
The conference keynote speaker is Evan Pritchard of the Micmac people and founder of the Center for Algonquin Culture in Rosendale. Pritchard will take listeners on an armchair pilgrimage to the source of the Esopus Creek in a talk titled “Honoring the Great Circle of Life: Indigenous Teachings About the Esopus Watershed.”
Concurrent with the main stage speakers there will be two hands-on workshops and several family friendly nature activities occurring on the Bearsville grounds that border the Saw Kill stream in the Village of Woodstock. Workshop attendees will get to see and feel invasive plant species with the director of the CRISP and talk trees during a woods-walk with the regional director of the Cornell MFO program and a long-time MFO volunteer from the region. The AWSMP’s youth educators will run nature activities like “Magnificent Macroinvertebrates” (stream bugs), “Fun with Fish,” and “Building Streams with Legos.”
More information on the AWC and registration links for the new landowners and municipal official sessions can be found on the conference webpage at https://ashokanstreams.org/ashokan-watershed- conference/.
For more information, contact the AWSMP at 845- 688-3047 or info@ashokanstreams.org. To learn more about stream programs, funding and stream projects in the NYC drinking water supply watershed go to ashokanstreams.org and catskillstreams.org.
Join the family! 
