Friends of Tillson Lake to hold benefit concert

By Laura Fitzgerald
Posted 10/24/18

Friends of Tillson Lake, Inc. will host a benefit concert on Oct. 28 to support the effort to save Tillson Lake.~NEWLINE~~NEWLINE~The concert will feature music by Soul Purpose, dancing, …

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Friends of Tillson Lake to hold benefit concert

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Friends of Tillson Lake, Inc. will host a benefit concert on Oct. 28 to support the effort to save Tillson Lake.

The concert will feature music by Soul Purpose, dancing, refreshments, raffles and door prizes with merchandise provided by local businesses. Proceeds will fund Friends’ expenses in its efforts to conserve the lake, such as lawyer fees, Hudsonia’s biodiversity and fish assessment and payment for wetland delineation.

The Palisades Interstate Park Commission (PIPC) recently put the State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) process of the dam removal and habitat restoration on hold and will commission a cost study to fix and upgrade the dam.

“We’re hoping that as a result of the study they come up with a reasonable, realistic amount to upgrade the dam and that they request that amount from the state legislatures,” Friends of Tillson Lake president Morey Gottesman said.

PIPC Executive Director James Hall said the study will take at least six months to complete, after which the state will have to decide if it can fund repairs for the dam through the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historical Preservation.

“Once we have the information we’re still going to be in the same place in figuring out whether the state is going to fund the repairs or we have to seek out other lower-cost alternatives such as removal,” Hall said.

The PIPC planned to drain Tillson lake and demolish the dam that created it because they can’t obtain the funding to upgrade the dam. Pressure from concerned citizens, Friends of Tillson Lake, and county and state legislatures—including Senator John Bonacic, Assemblyman Kevin Cahill and U.S. Congressman John Faso—has forced the PIPC to reconsider.

“I think they [PIPC] expected pushback, but I don’t think they expected this much pushback,” Gottesman said. “I think they didn’t realize that Gardiner tends to be a town of activists on both sides of the aisle.”

Hudsonia also recently completed a biodiversity and fish assessment of Tillson Lake, examining the habitats in and adjoining the lake, discerning the lake’s importance to biological resources and identifying potential effects of the proposed dam removal and wetland restoration.

The assessment found the presence of an unusual gravelly delta off the Palmaghatt Kill, the presence and potential for rare plant species and habitat that supports birds of conservation. While this still needs to be confirmed, there may be American eel in the lake, which can migrate from the Hudson River. Dam removal might facilitate their migration upstream, but a simple eel ladder could also allow eel to bypass the dam.

The assessment concluded dam removal would cause the loss of most of the recreational value of the lake, the loss of the gravelly stream delta habitat and the loss of potentially rare plants.

The lake bed, left after the dam removal, would likely proliferate invasive plants and require perpetual management, the assessment said. Nutrients could concentrate in the pond, causing harmful algae blooms could occur. Some of the sediment now trapped in the lake could erode into the Palmaghatt Kill and be transported to the Shawangunk Kill, where it will probably cause damage to the river.
The only potential benefits of dam removal would be easier migration for eels, freshwater mussels and other fish.

The assessment concluded the PIPC’s restoration report is brief and vague. Hudsonia Executive Director Erik Kiviat said given the unpredictability and frequent failure of wetlands restoration projects, a restoration proposal is of questionable ecological value and sustainability.

“It’s not at all clear that dam removal is a good idea,” Kiviat said.

Karen Schneller-McDonald, president of Hickory Creek Consulting and Wetlands Water Specialist, concluded the western half of the lake and adjacent habitats meets criteria for federal and state-regulated wetlands.

Morrey Gottesman, president of Friends of Tillson Lake, said the organization will petition the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to designate the western portion of Tillson Lake as a wetland, which will give the state additional jurisdiction over the wetlands and require additional environmental protections from the PIPC.

“We’re thinking it would make it less desirable for them to remove it, to remove all those wetlands, but it certainly would not stop them should they determine that they can’t upgrade the dam,” Gottesman said.

The concert will be from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Greenhouse Barn, 2187 Bruynswick Road, Wallkill. To buy your tickets, email info@savetillsonlake.org and include your name, email address, mailing address, telephone number and number of tickets requested. People may also send a check to Friends of Tillson Lake, Inc. at PO Box 228, Gardiner, NY 12525 or go to the Village Market in Gardiner for tickets. Tickets are $25 if payment is received before the 27th, $30 at the door and $7 for children.