Registration Now Open for the 2025 Schoharie Watershed Summit

TANNERSVILLE – The Schoharie Watershed Summit returns to the Hunter-Tannersville Jr-Sr High School (6094 Main St, Tannersville, NY 12485) on Saturday, April 12th, 2025. The Summit is a free, one-day conference offered by the Schoharie Watershed Stream Management Program (SWSMP) at Greene County Soil and Water Conservation District (GCSWCD), in partnership with the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

The first Summit – presented by the Schoharie Watershed Assistance Program in 2007 – was attended by approximately 120 people and focused heavily on turbidity issues. The turnout was indicative of the deep interest local and regional stakeholders have in learning about the status of stream management in the Schoharie basin, the different programs that are available to support local communities and landowners, and how to protect the quality of the community’s natural resources. With morning presentations, followed by afternoon training sessions, the Summit offers community members the opportunity to hear about relevant studies and projects, while simultaneously providing local officials with training opportunities that support the fulfillment of annual training requirements.

This year, morning presentations dive into how climate variability has been measured through time, and how last fall's drought impacted our region. They include: 

• Paleoclimatology – How We Know What Climate Was Like Before Direct Measurements
  Presented by Dr. John A. Rayburn of SUNY New Paltz
  A paleoclimate primer! This presentation explains how natural records reveal long-term climate trends and how variability in trends are analyzed.

• 14,000 years of temperature and hydroclimate variability in the Catskill Mountains: New paleoclimate records from Perch Lake, Andes, NY
  Presented by Dr. William J. D’Andrea of Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
  This presentation will cover how tree ring research suggests that the region has experienced much greater hydroclimate variability than is captured in the instrumental record, including prolonged drought conditions. Highlighting how documenting the full range of climate variability in the Catskills is important to anticipate possible future climate changes.

• Drought Monitoring in the Northeastern U.S.
  Presented by Natalie Umphlett of the Northeast Regional Climate Center
  This presentation will cover how the Northeast Regional Climate Center at Cornell University plays a key role in drought monitoring in the northeastern U.S., and how they are working to assess the rapid onset drought, or flash drought, of the fall of 2024. 

Afternoon workshops include:

• Hot Button Land Uses with the NYS Department of State

• DHSES: Brief Overview of the Public Assistance Program with the NYS Division of Homeland Security & Emergency Services

• NYSDEC Permitting 101 with the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation

The program is offered free of charge and invites attendees from municipalities across Greene County and the Schoharie Reservoir watershed. Registration is required. For more information about the Schoharie Watershed Summit and for a link to the registration page, please visit https://gcswcd.com/. For more information, please contact amanda@gcswcd.com or 518-622-3620.

The Schoharie Reservoir watershed is part of the Catskill/Delaware Watershed for the New York City public water supply. The Schoharie Reservoir watershed includes the entirety of the towns of Windham, Jewett, Ashland, and Prattsville as well as the villages of Hunter and Tannersville. The towns of Conesville, Gilboa, Hunter, Lexington, Halcott, Jefferson, Stamford, and Roxbury are all partially included.