Cleaning Up Fall Kill Creek
Out of the environmental problems facing the Hudson Valley, the pollution of Fall Kill Creek remains one of its biggest issues.
The 38-mile stream, which begins in Hyde Park and runs south into the City of Poughkeepsie has been deemed a Class-C Stream by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. This classification puts it second to last in water quality and stream health leaving serious concerns not only about the water source itself but surrounding areas it provides freshwater with.
Emma Butzler, a senior at Marist College majoring in Environmental Science, was tasked with researching the Fall Kill watershed this past summer after receiving funding for a proposal to do her own research on water quality. Spending a majority of time in the section of the creek that runs through the City of Poughkeepsie, Butzler walked up the stream to collect data every 50 meters. What she discovered paralleled the Class-C stream grade given by the State of New York.
“I’m worried about heavy metal, chlorides, and high levels of human feces that have been found within the Fall Kill. Not only is it a hazard for wildlife but for human health as well,” said Butzler. “The stream is already used heavily in different ways by residents, and to think how much more it could be used if it had high water quality.”
After collecting clear and substantial evidence of poor water quality Butzler approached her advisor with a plan to begin solving some of the issues plaguing the stream. Through her senior capstone project, she’s decided to put on an organized cleanup of the Fall Kill Creek this coming spring, either in April or May. The project has two major goals to help turn around the health of the watershed.
“First we want to spatially quantify and analyze trash or illegal dumping hotspots and choke points to help city managers create efficient policy and address trash accumulation,” said Butzler. “Second, I want to organize a community-wide cleanup. The goal would be to include as many people as possible. Local high schoolers, Marist students, Vassar students and of course and most importantly the community residents of Poughkeepsie.”
Butzler sees the cleanup as the first step in the right direction for improving the water quality of the creek, while the data collection could be used to find strategies that could be more effective in the long term. However, both would go a long way in improving the health of the surrounding environment of the Fall Kill watershed. Regardless of this, the cleanup is a massive undertaking for one person but she’s confident with the right planning the project is more than possible.
“I think with enough planning, organization, and maybe a bit of funding, a community cleanup would be very feasible,” said Butzler. “I think that a community cleanup would go a long way in improving water quality but trying to solve the trash issue throughout data collection would hopefully be a bigger step toward solving the main issues that have plagued the Fall Kill.”
An organized clean-up has been done before in Fall Creek by Mario Johnson, the current Director of the Upward Bound Program at Marist College. Johnson helped supervise and secure a federal national emergency grant after Hurricane Irene in 2011 to clean up a 3.4 mile stretch of the Fall Kill Creek.
“We took out tons and tons of debris and garbage,” said Johnson. “It was an amazing transformation of cleaning it out. You could literally see the water turn clear and watch the wildlife come back.”
Johnson has extended his expertise to Butzler, advising her on some of the challenges he encountered while conducting such a massive project.
“Plan your work, work your plan,” said Johnson. “Safety should always be the utmost priority. You don’t want to see anyone slip and get hurt because it can be dangerous at times. I pointed out a couple of specific places to Emma along the stream that can be more dangerous than other spots.”
Although the project was done on a tight schedule Johnson found the work to be more than rewarding, emphasizing how he wasn’t the only one who enjoyed the process of cleaning out the creek.
“I think everyone who worked on the project really loved it,” said Johnson. “Seeing people work together as a team to clean it up and watching the environment change and hearing thank-yous from people in the community made it such an amazing experience.”
Butzler hopes to build a similar culture to Johnson’s cleanup crew, channeling help from various connections through her research project in the summer. She plans on using groups such as the Cary Institute of Ecosystem studies, local high school students who accompanied her on her data collection, the Fall Kill watershed coalition, and both Dutchess Community College and Marist College. Drawing upon these groups for assistance will be essential as the cleanup approaches.
“I’ve reached out to a lot of interest groups for help,” said Butzler. “Most of them have gotten back to me and they seem very excited to participate in the project.”
Despite several months of preparation and waiting to go, she’s looking forward to not only removing the trash and limiting the pollution in the creek but sees the cleanup as an opportunity for the community to rally together and connect with the environment around them.
“There is something special about having a diverse range of people coming together on a common goal. Especially if the goal is something we all have in our backyards,” said Butzler. “It gives people an appreciation for a resource when they get to interact with it. I’ve gained so much appreciation for this area and the local community through my project and I want to share that feeling.”
