Management of New York City Water Supply Lands: A Component of a Comprehensive Watershed Protection Program

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Management of New York City Water Supply Lands: A Component of a Comprehensive Watershed Protection Program"

Aubrie Anthony
6 years ago
Views:

1 Management of New York City Water Supply Lands: A Component of a Comprehensive Watershed Protection Program John R. Potter New York City Department of Environmental Protection 71 Smith Avenue Kingston, NY <jpotter@dep.nyc.gov> The New York City Department of Environmental Protection has the responsibility of delivering a dependable supply of high quality drinking water at a low cost to the people of New York City and surrounding communities. It manages a surface water supply system that yields an average of 1.3 billion gallons per day of unfiltered drinking water to approximately nine million consumers. This system depends on a 2,000 square mile watershed that spans eight upstate counties in New York State. This watershed area of 1.26 million acres is about twice the size of Rhode Island and is 73% forested. Figure 1 shows the watershed region in relationship to the City including the three major parts of the system: the Delaware system (about 1,000 square miles of drainage area) which includes impoundments on the two upper branches of the Delaware River, one on the Neversink River, and one on the Rondout Creek; the Catskill system (about 600 square miles) which includes reservoirs on the Esopus and Schoharie Creeks; and the Croton system (about 400 square miles) which has multiple impoundments on the Croton River and its tributaries. The City of New York currently owns over 107,000 acres of land, including its 33,000 acres of reservoirs (with a 578 billion gallon available storage capacity), in the three parts of the watershed. This land holding is 8.6% of the total area. It has also purchased Watershed Conservation Easements on 3,492 acres of private land which is 0.3% of the total area. Although the City owns a sizable portfolio of lands and easements (and although New York State has protected an additional 20% of the area in State Forest Preserve), the extent of private land ownership and residency by over 207,000 people within the watershed necessitates other special measures that together with City ownership constitute a comprehensive watershed protection program. A series of complex negotiations between the City, United States Environmental Protection Agency, upstate communities, New York State agencies, and environmentalists resulted in a filtration avoidance determination (a waiver from the filtration requirements of the federal Surface Water Treatment Rule), a water supply permit from New York State, and a memorandum of agreement between the parties which was finalized in

Figure 1: New York City's Water Supply System http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/watershed/home.html. For the past seven years, various programs and deliverables defined by this determination, permit, and agreement have ensued.

2 Figure 1: New York City's Water Supply System For the past seven years, various programs and deliverables defined by this determination, permit, and agreement have ensued. These include a new set of Watershed Rules and Regulations with landuse restrictions, an enhanced water quality monitoring effort, a major land protection program, and numerous Water Quality Partnership Programs such as wastewater upgrades, stormwater retrofits, sand/salt storage upgrades, stream restoration projects, whole farm planning, and forest management assistance. More information about this comprehensive watershed protection effort and its many components is available at: Land Ownership Land ownership is considered an important part of the City s strategy for protecting its water supply. First, it is important to support necessary infrastructure such as the Ashokan Reservoir pictured in Figure 2. 2

Figure 2: View looking north over the east basin of the 8,000 acre Ashokan Reservoir (128 billion gallon capacity) located in the Catskill Mountains, Ulster County, New York This was the original

3 Figure 2: View looking north over the east basin of the 8,000 acre Ashokan Reservoir (128 billion gallon capacity) located in the Catskill Mountains, Ulster County, New York This was the original purpose of land acquisitions starting with the construction of the Croton system in 1842 and continuing into the twentieth century with the completion of the Delaware system in The second important role that land ownership plays is to buffer the water supply from land uses that could have undesirable impacts. The City s presumption is that the control of harmful activities in the watershed is best achieved when the City has actual ownership (or other direct control) over activities on the watershed land. The protection of land through land ownership is best explained with an understanding of the land protection continuum that exists within the New York City watershed. Table 1 provides a representative explanation of where City lands and easements fit into this continuum with an estimate of the approximate percentage of the watershed within each category. The continuum begins with primitive on the one side (characterized by an essentially unmodified natural environment with minimal on-site management) proceeds through working lands (characterized by a cultured landscape and occasional modifications to the natural environment for economic purposes) to uncommitted on the other side (characterized by an uncertainty about the future land-use or a currently strong cultural element, intensive use, and/or high predominance of impervious surfaces i.e., developed). Each category (and the gradations within each) fulfills the different needs of the different types of landowner. Together they provide a range of values that is important to the people and communities that depend on these lands. The resulting land-use pattern and its potential future manifestation has been an important focus of the overall watershed protection program. 3

Table 1: Land Protection Continuum in the New York City Watershed Land Protection Category Management Setting Area Primitive New York State Forest Preserve Legislatively mandated forever wild lands

4 Table 1: Land Protection Continuum in the New York City Watershed Land Protection Category Management Setting Area Primitive New York State Forest Preserve Legislatively mandated forever wild lands (public land) with passive recreation objectives and no active ~20% Other Open Space (public or quasi-public land) Working Lands City of New York Water Supply Lands (quasi-public land) City of New York Watershed Conservation Easements (easement on private land) Watershed Agricultural Council Watershed Conservation Easements (easement on private land) Uncommitted Private Land benefiting from Water Quality Partnership Programs (private land) Private Land vegetation management Primarily parks or nature preserves with primarily passive recreation objectives and limited vegetation management Active vegetation management for water supply, ecological protection, and community benefits goals Active vegetation management permitted to limited degree on predominantly vacant, forested land with development rights removed Active farming and other vegetation management permitted with development rights removed No direct protection or control on management as with an easement, but guidance and support in the way of whole farm plan, forest management plan, and/or stream management plan Management subject to market forces with limited controls from local bylaws and/or Watershed Rules and Regulations ~1% ~9% <1% <1% ~22% ~47% Figure 3: A view of the Platte Kill from a 72-acre Delaware County property purchased in April 2003 by the City of New York for watershed protection The protection of areas in the watershed through land ownership has been viewed by the City as one of the most effective means of watershed protection. The purchase of undeveloped private lands through the City s Land Acquisition Program has added considerably to the ownership of water supply lands over the past seven years. This willing seller program seeks to purchase lands whose 4

5 maintenance in an undeveloped condition will help protect water quality from future degradation. With such a considerable amount of watershed land in private ownership, it is necessary for the City to target its acquisitions to properties that are situated in the landscape such that they have the highest contributory value to the overall watershed protection effort as possible. Thus, all new City land purchases must meet certain land feature criteria such as a 300 foot proximity to a stream; presence of wetland, floodplain, or steep slope; or a 1,000 foot proximity to a reservoir. Since large portions of the private lands in the watershed meet these criteria, further prioritization guides land acquisition towards those particular basins and sub-basins with short travel times to distribution and/or with water quality data suggesting an existing threat. It is important to note that the City sees land ownership as just a part of sound watershed management which as a whole is an ongoing and evolving process of guiding land-use so that it helps protect water quality, but also accounts for the sometimes competing needs and priorities of all parties involved. Those involved include not only the many water consumers and watershed residents, but also the visitors to the watershed and water supply distribution areas, public officials mandated with protecting resources and public health, the environmentalists concerned with the protection of the area s ecological communities, and others. The City s acknowledgment of this reality is evidenced by the strong reliance on the work of partnership organizations to help implement watershed protection programs. These include private, community-based, non-profit organizations such as the Catskill Watershed Corporation and the Watershed Agricultural Council as well as County Soil and Water Conservation Districts. There is common ground between the watershed organizations and communities and the City that includes support for a working landscape model of watershed management that sees both private and public lands managed for economic benefit and high water quality including when necessary the implementation of pollution prevention measures. Land Holding The extent of the role that local watershed communities play in the management of City water supply lands is suggested by the fact that the City owns greater than 1,000 acres in 23 separate municipalities. There are City water supply lands in a total of 47 towns across eight counties in the watershed region. Figure 4 illustrates the City s ownership pattern near the Schoharie Reservoir where four towns (Gilboa, Roxbury, Prattsville, and Conesville) and three counties (Schoharie, Greene, and Delaware) meet. Activities such as road maintenance and intake dredging, as well as view management and recreational use offerings, impact each community to a greater or lesser degree. Successful management, however, requires a constant attention to local concerns and the diversity of opinion (and even competing interests) of those involved. 5

Figure 4: City land ownership near the Schoharie Reservoir, Schoharie County, New York (green parcels are City-owned, red parcels are under contract, and cross-hatched parcels are conservation

6 Figure 4: City land ownership near the Schoharie Reservoir, Schoharie County, New York (green parcels are City-owned, red parcels are under contract, and cross-hatched parcels are conservation easements) Figure 4 also reveals some interesting aspects about the pattern of ownership that is developing for water supply lands. While a thin buffer of land was typically acquired at the time of reservoir construction (the Schoharie Reservoir was completed in 1927), surrounding lands were left in farms or (often) steep forested tracts. Over time, considerable subdivision has occurred in many areas of the watershed. Recent land acquisitions while clustering near intake structures due to acquisition priorities have also resulted in a somewhat scattershot distribution especially farther up in the basins. There are 893 separate clusters of City-owned land. Thirty-seven of these clusters exceed 1,000 acres in size (56% of land area), while 437 are less than ten acres (1% of land area). The average parcel cluster size is 126 acres. What this means for land management is an explosion in the length of City boundary, number of neighbors, and road frontage -- with associated challenges for each. For example, there are nearly 7,000 tax lot parcels that directly adjoin City property, and each is a potential source of encroachment, oil spill, septic system contamination, concern about falling trees (planned or unplanned), objection to a recreational guest, or question about a City activity (or lack thereof). The City s terrestrial land holding is predominantly wooded with over 61,000 acres of forest cover. Preliminary forest inventory results indicate an average of 180 trees per acre with predominant species being red maple (Acer rubrum), eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis), and northern red oak (Quercus rubra). Approximately 57% of these trees are considered to be in good condition capable of maintaining a healthy and vigorous growth over the next ten years. The remaining 43% are in poor condition and are either impaired 6

7 by pathogens, are significantly damaged or rotten, or exhibit a form that would prohibit maintenance of a healthy, vigorous condition over the next ten years. Age class distribution of City forest stands is a particular concern for the holding as a whole. There is some indication that due to the pattern of development of the water supply system and subsequent failure to tend or initiate regeneration episodes, there is a homogeneity of age classes especially in particular basins. For example, 72% of the stands on City lands in the Ashokan basin were initiated in the thirty year period from 1905 to These 70 to 100 year old stands are dominated by tree species that typically live for years which suggests a period of mortality and stand turnover during the next 20 to 40 years that will impact large and noticeable areas of land and water resources. Table 2 summarizes plot data randomly collected from City forest stands across the entire watershed. While some stands do have multiple age classes, the period of stand initiation refers to the years that the majority of dominant, overstory trees germinated and became established at the particular site. Table 2: Age-class of forest stands on City water supply lands Period of Stand Initiation # of Plots Percent Before % 1860 to % 1880 to % 1900 to % 1920 to % 1940 to % 1960 to % Since % TOTAL % There are many other characteristics of the City s water supply land holding that are of significance. The integral nature of local communities, the pattern of parcelization and general condition of forest vegetation are described above as examples of some of the issues facing the City in the management of its lands in the watershed. These and other considerations such as the condition of riparian buffers, impacts from recreational use, and extent of newly acquired agricultural land are all addressed in the City s recent efforts at land management planning. Management Planning There is a presumption that the control of harmful activities in the watershed is best achieved when the City has actual ownership of land. It is important to note that this can only be the case if those lands are subsequently well-managed. This is even more apparent when consideration is given to the need to meet multiple objectives such as encouraging preferable land uses on public land through modeling them on City land as part of a working landscape approach. While simply buying land and locking it away is one 7

8 potential strategy (that could be preferable from a water quality perspective than many other possible alternatives), the opportunity exists to leverage the ownership of water supply land to meet a wider range of goals. This wider range of goals derives from thinking at a different scale -- a watershed management scale. Efforts to protect the water supply through land acquisition are worthy as a protection measure even if the City never took an active management approach to its lands, however a comprehensive land management planning strategy that builds even further on the land protection foundation will benefit the water supply to a much greater degree. Such a planning strategy has been proceeding with recent completion of a draft General Land Management Plan that identifies broad goals for the City s land holdings. The four major goals for management of City water supply lands are to: protect public health, maintain ecosystem integrity, provide community benefits, and promote increasing knowledge. In addition, the draft plan calls for City land managers to meet land ownership responsibilities and to use a land planning process. This plan (while currently under internal review) will be the framework in which additional land management efforts will be directed on City lands. The General Land Management Plan includes goals and objectives which will be familiar to many watershed managers such as minimizing point and non-point sources of pollution of surface and ground water and maintaining over time a diverse, vigorous, different-aged forest cover as the predominant vegetation type. These types of protection measures will lead to on-site improvement projects like riparian buffer plantings, road infrastructure re-locations, and forest stand thinnings that will directly benefit water quality. Other goals tend more towards maintenance of the important relationships that the City has within the watershed community and especially where such goals might meet multiple needs. For example, the City seeks to encourage widespread public participation in its deer impact control strategy and thereby provide benefits of recreational hunting to the local watershed economy as a by-product. This popular, regional activity is now available on over 32,000 acres of City water supply lands. The opportunity was appreciated by more than 6,300 hunters in While the community benefits from recreational use are important, there are also results that are desirable for a water quality including control of deer herds that are overbrowsing understory vegetation. Likewise, the potential water quality problem of an unbalanced age-class distribution across City forest stands can be resolved through active regeneration of younger stands, which in turn provides a wood by-product. Harvesting wood on City lands helps keep the rural economy the loggers, truckers, and mills in business which means that private landowners will continue to have land-use options apart from residential development. In addition, since the production of timber is not the driving force of forest management on City lands, harvest activities are structured in a careful and deliberate 8

9 manner through contracts and other controls such that water quality is scrupulously maintained. The use of best management practices, and even extensive road re-locations away from water resources, ensure that harvests meet the primary goals of public health (water quality) and forest health. One result is that the demand for wood is met at least in part by a landowner that has the desire, motivation, and luxury to do a careful job. It is better for timber to enter the marketplace from forests well-managed for water quality than from lands where protection is not an issue for the landowner. This is the essence of the working landscape model of rural land-use and why it is such a powerful concept for long-term water quality protection. Tourism, agriculture, forestry, and recreation conducted in a sustainable manner are key elements of a healthy rural economy. A healthy rural economy is important for maintaining a land use pattern that is the most compatible with water supply protection. The next step for management of City lands is the development of specific Basin Management Plans for City properties within each of the twenty-one drainage areas in the water supply system. These plans will be the primary guide for coordinated management of the City s lands within a basin. They will include among other things an inventory of water resources, vegetation cover types, wildlife habitat, soils and geology, ecological site potentials, public access opportunities, areas of concern, threats to City goals, species of concern, roads and infrastructure, principal plant and animal species, and other significant natural resources. There will be an analysis of this inventory information which will look at basin land-use in general, water quality status, condition of vegetation, relevant trends, and other considerations to determine and prioritize projects and management activities. A series of management prescriptions and a schedule of management activities will result for each area. Figure 5:. Screen shot from the City s Watershed Land Information System In order to address the complexity of managing a widespread land holding with multiple objectives and considerations, the City has been developing a computer database called the Watershed Land Information System to help coordinate things. This is a geographic-based, client-server, relational database that is 9

10 distributed to remote field locations as well as used extensively in main offices. The key objects within the application are parcels, resources, people, activities, documents, and plans. These objects are interrelated and integrated through multiple views of the data. Figure 5 is an example of a screen shot from the application that shows some of the different functionalities of the system including diverse map views, organizational structures, attachment of surveys and photographs, cataloging of contacts, and tracking of management activities. Comprehensive land management plans and technology to help implement them are essential to guide activities, review land-use proposals, and learn from past initiatives and events. They are the tool for decision makers in the City to chart a course for a land asset that is worth hundreds of millions of dollars. They are also an opportunity to demonstrate to the public, water consumers, upstate communities, and other concerned groups that a thoughtful and responsible approach is taken with respect to the water supply and its source. Conclusion It is the combination of ecological considerations with people and economy that is at the root of New York City s Watershed Protection Program. Management of City water supply lands is one way for the City to achieve its community-based approach. Merely preventing a series of residential subdivisions from occurring close to a reservoir achieves the City s priorities for watershed protection. However, if City land managers can at the same time support and enhance the rural communities that have contributed high quality water for many years, then the watershed management cause is also advanced at a higher level and everyone comes out ahead with a sustainable future for both communities and ecosystems. More Information There are many places to learn more about the watershed protection efforts in the New York City Water Supply system. The New York City Department of Environmental Protection has a website dedicated to watershed protection: New York City Watershed Protection Program: At that website, there is a link page to the websites of many of the partners involved in the effort which can lead to differing perspectives and additional detail: Watershed Partners: Finally, additional information about the New York City Department of Environmental Protection and its many responsibilities is available at: Agency Homepage: 10

New York City s Watershed Protection Program. David S. Warne Assistant Commissioner New York City Department of Environmental Protection

New York City s Watershed Protection Program David S. Warne Assistant Commissioner New York City Department of Environmental Protection Presentation Outline Water Supply System Overview Watershed Program