<FCFORMSHEADER>
<?xml version="1.0"?>

<!DOCTYPE FIRSTCLASS SYSTEM "firstclass.dtd">

<firstclass>

	<fcobject objtype="oForm" formid="141" objname="Mike Baden">

		<subject index="0" >Rondout Creek Watershed Council/Town of Rochester Watershed Management Workshop</subject>

		<field id="3" index="0" type="number">-946408813</field>

		<tonames index="0" >rochesterny_news@mm.windigicert.com</tonames>

		<tonames index="1" >RochesterNY_News</tonames>

	</fcobject>

</firstclass>

</FCFORMSHEADER>
Dear Friends and Community Stakeholders,

On February 22, 2010, the Rondout Creek Watershed Council and the Town of Rochester will host the second Watershed Management Workshop from 6 - 9:00 p.m. at the Rochester Community Center: to address a management strategy for protecting the health of the Rondout Creek Watershed and to gather recommendations and feedback from a wide range of stakeholders. This feedback will then be incorporated into the Rondout Creek Watershed Management Plan.  Your participation and perspective will be greatly appreciated and valued.
The Rondout Creek Watershed Council (RCWC) is a coalition of multiple stakeholders, formed in 2007 to implement a grant from the NYS DEC Hudson River Estuary program to OSI /Hudson Basin River Watch and Hudson River Sloop Clearwater to incubate a watershed protection group in the Rondout Creek Watershed.  RCWC’s accomplishments in 2008-09 included:
·	The creation of a multi-stakeholder watershed awareness and protection group, 
·	A detailed delineation of the central Rondout Creek Watershed (Rondout reservoir to the Eddyville dam), 
·	 A daylong watershed awareness seminar and community trainings on monitoring stream healthLaura Finestone, 
·	The completion of a municipal questionnaire that was used to draft a State of the Rondout Report,
·	And the use of an iterative process to craft an Intermunicipal Agreement (IMA) between the towns of Wawarsing, Rochester, Marbletown and Rosendale for the development of a Rondout Creek Watershed Management Plan. 
Three of the four~Towns have adopted the IMA; the fourth is underway. The RCWC’s water resource protection efforts are being closely coordinated with the NYC Department of Environmental Protection initiative in the upper Rondout, tidal Rondout and neighboring watersheds.

An introductory panel will provide a brief watershed awareness presentation that will describe the flow of water through a watershed, the impact of impervious surface, the range of major pollution sources, the value of stream monitoring in predicting stream quality, which is an indication of watershed health, and how this fits into what other watersheds in the region are doing.
The key watershed protection topics for the Rondout Creek Watershed Management Plan:
1.	Watershed Education and Awareness; forming strategic partnerships
2.	Stormwater Management:  Stormwater regulations and best practices
3.	Floodplain Management:  Preserving or re-establishing riparian buffers, minimizing impervious surface, utilizing controlled releases or diversions to prevent flooding wherever possible, floodplain mapping, avoiding construction in floodplains, buyouts and emergency response.
4.	Vegetation Management (ecological issues), which includes riparian buffers, wetlands, agriculture, forests and biodiversity protection.
Attached please find an agenda for the workshop and related background information. We sincerely hope you will join us.~ Your participation is invaluable.~ If you are unable to attend, please send a representative to report back and assure a well-rounded, diverse and inclusive process. If you know of anyone else that should be invited, please let us know or invite them directly and copy us so we know to include them on the list.~~
Please contact Victor Melendez to R.S.V.P. at~victor@clearwater.org~or by calling 845-265-8080 x 7144.

Victor Melendez, RCWC Coordinator