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Sharon Pickett
Phone: (914)244-3271 ext. 27
Email: spickett@tnc.org

Eastern New York Chapter’s Delaware River Basin Program Presented with Coastal America’s Partnership Award

Cuddebackville Dam Removal Project Recognized

Philadelphia, PA — November 8, 2006 — Coastal America today presented The Nature Conservancy, the Conservancy's Delaware River Basin Program, and its partners with their Partnership Award, recognizing the outstanding conservation work accomplished by the Cuddebackville Dam Removal Project.

The partnership, including Orange County, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and the Conservancy was responsible for the first removal of a dam for
ecological reasons in New York State.

 

River Birch, Neversink River © Hardie Truesdale

River Birch, Neversink River
© Hardie Truesdale

The remains of the old Cuddebackville dam located on the Neversink River
The remains of the old Cuddebackville dam located on the Neversink River.
© Mark Godfrey

Late afternoon light on the Neversink river just below the Cuddebackville Dam

Late afternoon light on the Neversink River just below the Cuddebackville Dam.
© Mark Godfrey

The dam removal has restored spawning and rearing habitat for migratory fish on the Neversink River. The Neversink supports the world’s largest and healthiest population of the federally endangered dwarf wedgemussel. By removing the dam and restoring access to high quality fish habitat, The Nature Conservancy not only improved habitat for this and other threatened mussel species but increased recreational fishing opportunities for the public.

In a letter from the White House, President Bush congratulated the team on their hard work and dedication to preserving our coastal environments. He stated, "Through your partnerships with public and private organizations as well as Federal, State and local governments, you are furthering our shared commitment to cooperative conservation, enhancing our coastal ecosystems and helping maintain important natural resources for future generations."

In accepting the award, the chapter’s Executive Director Katie Dolan said, "This dam removal turned out to be complicated -- requiring lots of technical skill, creativity, and sheer determination to take down the dam without jeopardizing the downstream fresh water mussel beds. As a result of the years of work together, the team forged a strong, lasting partnership. The Conservancy now works around the country with the Army Corps on numerous projects and we look forward building upon this partnership with other important dam removals in our region."

George Schuler, Director of the Delaware River Basin Program added, "Conservation at its heart is about people working together for a common goal. The partnership on this project exemplified the true partnership. Every individual and agency brought specific skills or expertise to the project enabling us to accomplish something as a team which we could never have achieved as individual agencies and institutions."

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The Delaware River Basin Program’s on-the-ground work is focused on a carefully selected group of sub watersheds: the 435-square mile Neversink River, the 300 square mile Beaverkill-Willowemoc system and Oquaga Creek watershed. Conservancy scientists are also involved, at a much broader scale, in developing ecologically sustainable water management policy for the Delaware River Basin and with migratory fish conservation issues throughout the Basin and increasingly across the Atlantic region. The Program is one of eight landscape scale conservation projects of the Eastern New York Chapter of The Nature Conservancy.

Coastal America is a unique partnership of federal agencies, state and local governments, and private organizations. The partners work together to protect, preserve, and restore our nation's coasts and estuaries by sharing information, pooling resources, and combining management skills and technical expertise across a wide range of local, state and federal partners. Partner agencies include Department of Agriculture, Department of the Air Force, Department of the Army, Department of Commerce, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of the Interior, Department of the Navy, Department of State, Department of Transportation, Environmental Protection Agency, and the Executive Office of the President. In 1997 Coastal America established this Awards Program to recognize outstanding team efforts to restore and protect the coastal environment. Since then, the Coastal America Partners have presented Partnership, Spirit and Special Recognition Awards on an annual basis. The Partnership Award recognizes outstanding efforts to protect, preserve and restore coastal resources and to increase public awareness and education.

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The Nature Conservancy is a leading international, nonprofit organization that preserves plants, animals and natural communities representing the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 15 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Visit us on the Web at www.nature.org.