ANNUAL MEETING – Thursday May 22, 2007

PLACE: Suffern Free Library - Community Room
210 Lafayette Ave. (Rte. 59),
Suffern, NY 10901

10:30 A.M. Environmental Reports, elections, presentation on US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement by Connie Coker Chairwoman, Rockland Legislative Environmental Committee

11:15 A.M. Program: Overview on asthma trends in the State and County,
Speaker: E. Oscar Alleyne, MPH, Epidemiologist Rockland County Dept of Health

*PLEASE JOIN US- LUNCH WILL BE PROVIDED*

Nominating Committee - Faith Leigh, Chair
In accordance with Article X of the By-Laws, the following slate is proposed:
President - Dorice Madronero
Second Vice President - Diane Gruskin
Director Orangetown - Catherine Dodge
Director Stony Point - Doris Metraux Assistant
Director Ramapo - Julius Levine

Directors at Large
Bill Chase, Cynthia McKenney, Jeanne Nelson, Robert Nelson, Doris Ulman

Continuing in Office
First Vice President-Faith Leigh,
Third Vice President-Chuck Stead,
Treasurer-Eloise Litman,
Secretary - Helen Hannigan,
President Emeritus-Betty Hedges,
Directors:Michael Diederich,Frank Leonard,Joan King,Geoff Welch

Honorary Members
Earl Gordon, Ira Hedges, Elly Wane

RCCA MEMBERSHIP 2007

Special thanks to our members, those renewing and those joining for the first time. Your dues and contributions provide the income for this nonprofit, volunteer organization. Your support is most encouraging and greatly appreciated.

RCCA Board Members

May Day in Stony Point

In a May 1st article, the local press reported our State Attorney General had gone to court. There, he obtained a weeks extension for the coal-burning Lovett plant.

The Mirant owner had been given four years in which to either clean-up coal-burning Lovett or begin getting out of the polluting plant located on the Hudson in Stony Point. The courts seven days of grace seemed grotesque that when considering North Rockland youngsters completed high school (including vacations) and graduated at the end of a four year period.

These objections are being made from our Haverstraw home. Here in the village, winds flow down river from the Stony Point site and also up and overhead from Mirants Bowline Plant on our shore. Some of whatever falls becomes contained within the High Tor-Low Tor Mountain range. What falls downward lands on the Haverstraw Middle School playing fields and on the playgrounds of the Neary Elementary School.

The prospect for a safe sky covering North Rockland seemed remote, considering a New York Times report which had also appeared on May 1st. Developing a “clean-coal technology” would seem to be emerging as “one of the challenges of the century” for experts in the field, the Times reported.

Solutions being studied were presented to a Senate committee in Washington only last month. These include separating carbon monoxide from coal and then finding a secure place to store it. There are also thoughts about freezing gases as they come out of smokestacks. Changing the very air which is used in the coal-burning process is another idea, etc.

May Day! May Day!

Frank Leonard Haverstraw Director

Happy Trails in Orangetown

The Town of Orangetown was pleased to open the first phase of the Joseph B. Clarke Rail Trail as the New York Department of Transportation opened the pedestrian bridge which provides the necessary connection over NYS Route 303. The trail was formally acquired by the Town of Orangetown in 1997 after many years of research and negotiation between the Town, its Parks Development Advisory Committee and Conrail. Almost immediately the Town began efforts to place the project on the State’s Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) as a walkway/bikeway project. The trail is also earmarked linkage from the southern end of Rockland County to Bear Mountain. The trail was named for a former Superintendent of Parks and Recreation for the Town, whose initial vision for this trail was finally realized shortly after his retirement.

The current work being performed on the trail is divided into two phases. The first phase, which stretches about 2.5 miles, is the section of the hamlet of Tappan to the hamlet of Orangeburg. This phase also provides a connection in Sparkill to the “River Trail”, which extends northward from Sparkill through Piermont, Grandview and South Nyack before terminating in Nyack. Parking for this portion of the trail is available in three locations: the southern terminus off Oak Tree Road in Tappan, the Sparkill Park and the Greenbush office complex on Greenburg Road in Orangeburg. The second phase, which is due for construction in 2008, will proceed north from Orangeburg and end in the hamlet of Blauvelt. A major portion of the second phase will also involve a pedestrian bridge, which will need to be constructed over the existing West Shore freight line. This project has been positively received by many.

Additional information on the trail is available through the Orangetown Parks and Recreation Department at (845) 359-6503 or recreation@orangetown.com

Catherine Dodge Orangetown Director

Ramapo River Watershed Conference Report

The 12th Annual Ramapo River Watershed Conference was held Friday, April 27, 2007 at Ramapo College of New Jersey. RCCA was once again a sponsor. Presentations covered aspects of regional global warming with Dr. Klaus Jacob a Special Research Scientist at Lamont-Doherty giving a detailed look at the range of impacts including rising sea levels that will directly affect the Hudson River shore. There could be a possible increase of range of 2 to 20 feet. Only mankind’s substantial lowering of greenhouse gas emissions would keep us in the lower range.

John Mickelson from the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) at Columbia University’s Earth Institute offered a presentation on Digital Geospatial Approaches for Assessing Vegetation Dynamics in the Northeast that showed some beloved Fall foliage local hardwood trees, such as maples, will not longer be able to survive in this area as a result of increased warming. Their range is predicted to shift northward to Canada.

Two RCCA board members, Chuck Stead and Geoff Welch, offered reports at the conference: Chuck Stead reported on his observations of Ford paint sludge in Torne Valley. In the 1960’s young Chuck saw the sludge while checking his animal traps. Years later Chuck provided a narrative of his childhood observations to the NYSDEC, which helped to determine a timeline and locations of sludge pits. Ford Motor Company signed a consent agreement with the NYSDEC to fund the clean-up.

Geoff Welch gave a slide tour of conditions in the Masonicus Brook, which has its headwaters in a wetland in Airmont, NY and flows through Mahwah, NJ. The brook eventually joins the Mahwah River, which in turn joins the Ramapo River. It is contaminated by commercial development and highway runoff from Route 17. The degraded water reaches Winters Pond, in Mahwah’s Constitution Park, where a variety of wildlife is threatened by the pollution.

Kelly Nolan of Hudson River Watch reported on Rapid Stream Assessment Results for the Ramapo River Watershed in New York.

This conference surely reminded us that we must be ardent stewards in order to reverse the decline of the biodiversity and water quality in the Ramapo River Watershed.

Geoff Welch Ramapo Director

Congratulations to Bob and Jeanne Nelson

On April 23rd, notable not only for Bob’s birthday, he and Jeanne Nelson received the County Executive’s Outstanding Volunteer Award. A shadbush tree was also planted at Kennedy Dells Park to honor their work. S. Hazard Gillespie, president of the Tappan Zee Preservation Coalition nominated them for the award.

Their community activism is surely noteworthy. They are members of the Committee for Responsible Riverfront Development and board members of the Tappan Zee Preservation Coalition; Jeanne is a founding vice president of the Tappan Zee Preservation Coalition, Bob worked to establish the Hopper House museum-gallery and still serves on the Hopper House Foundation board.

RCCA is fortunate to have them on the Board. As an educator Jeanne takes special pride and interest in her role as co-chair of the Eleanor Burlingham Committee that oversees the selection of the award recipient. Over the years, Jeanne has been very involved in addressing County and regional transportation issues by participating in many meetings and conferences. Bob serves as RCCA liaison faithfully attending PIPC Board meetings. His engineering background is an invaluable resource for us in reviewing environmental impact statements, power plant applications and countless other documents.

The Nelsons continue to give tirelessly of their time and talents enriching the efforts to preserve Rockland’s environment and the arts. Their work is most deserving of the County Executive’s Outstanding Volunteer Award, our congratulations to Bob and Jeanne.

Photo by Geoff Welch

Bob and Jeanne are joined by Allen Beers (left) and County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef (back row)

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