Franklin

Upcoming Events in Franklin

Franklin Garden Lecture - Totem Farm Garden: Designing a Garden with Rooms

June 1, 2013 - 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Franklin Garden Lecture: Unusual Plants for Zone 4/5

June 22, 2013 - 7:00pm - 9:00pm

Community Announcements

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BioMass Open House in Franklin

By Kiraly
11/7/12 - 4:21 pm

Cornell Cooperative Extension of Delaware County will offer an open house on 11/17 at the Franklin Town Hall to highlight renewable biomass pellet fuel and two devices that work well with biomass heating pellets. The LEI Bio-Burner and the Harmon P43 pellet stove will be working and on display. EnviroEnergy, LLC, manufacturer of grass heating pellets, will be in attendance to show how their product works in various heating appliances. EnviroEnergy grass pellet fuel is being used to heat the Catskill Watershed Corporation, the Catskill Center, the Pine Hill Community Center, the town garages in Andes, Hunter and Jewitt, the town offices in Hunter, the Ashokan Center and the 4-H Camp Shankitunk Dining Hall. A research project funded by the Catskill Watershed Corporation has made it possible to test certain indoor stoves and outdoor hydronic furnaces at these locations to determine if the grass biomass pellets can be used as a fuel much like wood pellets. The open house will be held from 10am – 1pm at the Franklin Town Hall at 12480 Co Hwy 21, Franklin, NY.

Tornado warning issued for Delaware, Sullivan counties

By Lissa Harris
5/22/13 - 1:33 pm

The National Weather Service in Binghamton has issued a tornado warning for south central Delaware County and northwestern Sullivan County, effective from 1:09pm to 1:45pm.

From a message posted on NY-Alert:

At 108 PM EDT...National Weather Service Doppler Radar Indicated A Severe Thunderstorm Capable Of Producing A Tornado 9 Miles West Of Roscoe...Moving East At 25 Mph. * The Storm Capable Of Producing The Tornado Will Be Near... Roscoe By 130 PM EDT... Hazel By 135 PM EDT... Livingston Manor By 140 PM EDT... Parksville By 145 PM EDT... When You Can Do So Safely...Please Report Hail...Or Damaging Winds To The National Weather Service By Calling Toll Free At 1-888-603-1402...Or By Email At Bgm.Stormreport@Noaa.Gov.

Update: A second tornado warning was issued for Sullivan County at 1:39pm, effective til 2:15pm: Read more

Severe thunderstorm watch issued across New York State

By Lissa Harris
5/21/13 - 1:53 pm

The National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center has issued a severe thunderstorm watch, effective until 9pm, for 45 counties in New York State as well as northwest Connecticut, western Massachusetts, and southern Vermont.

The NWS warns that thunderstorms in the region may be accompanied by large hail -- up to two inches across - and winds of up to 70 miles per hour.

The alert was issued at 1:40pm. Included in the severe thunderstorm watch are all five counties of the Catskills region: Delaware, Greene, Schoharie, Sullivan and Ulster.

A Facebook page to keep an eye on as the storms develop: Hudson Valley Weather, whose readers often submit reports of conditions on the ground when severe weather develops.

Let us know, too: Post your weather reports in a comment below, or email them to editor@watershedpost.com. (If you've got hail, send us photos!) Read more

Emerald ash borer found in Delaware and Otsego counties

By Lissa Harris
5/20/13 - 4:35 pm

Above: A state Department of Environmental Conservation map showing emerald ash borer distribution in New York State. For a larger version, visit the DEC's website.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) announced Monday that emerald ash borer has been found for the first time in Delaware and Otsego counties. The emerald ash borer, a Asian beetle that was first found in the U.S. in 2002, is poised to virtually eliminate ash trees from Northeastern forests, including New York State's more than 900 million ash trees, if allowed to spread unchecked.

The beetles were recently found in an area near the village of Unadilla, which lies on the border between Delaware and Otsego counties. The infestation was reported by a timber harvester working in a private woodlot, the first report of the insect from a commercial woodlot. Read more

Earthquake in Canada rattles upstate NY

By Lissa Harris
5/17/13 - 10:39 am

Above: A screenshot of the USGS's "Did You Feel It" map for an earthquake that struck northwest of Ottawa on Friday morning.

Update, 10:43am: The USGS has revised their initial 5.0 estimate for the earthquake down to 4.4.

A 4.4 earthquake that struck northwest of Ottawa, Canada at 9:43am on Friday, May 17 was felt far and wide.

Dozens of upstate New Yorkers are chiming in on the National Weather Service in Binghamton's Facebook wall to report feeling tremors. Reports of the quake are also flooding in on Twitter. A few:

Read more

Tkaczyk proposes ban on out-of-state fracking waste

By Lissa Harris
5/16/13 - 12:38 pm

State senator Cecilia Tkaczyk, an outspoken opponent of hydrofracking, is proposing new legislation that would prohibit out-of-state drillers from disposing of fracking waste in New York State.

On Wednesday, Tkaczyk held a press conference about the proposed bill. In a prepared statement, Tkaczyk argues that if New York State is still on the fence about whether to allow hydrofracking, it doesn't make much sense for the state to accept toxic waste from Pennsylvania drill sites. From the statement:

Senator Tkaczyk’s bill would ban “the treatment, discharge, disposal, transportation or storage of high volume hydraulic fracturing waste products in New York State.” While this type of fracking is not currently being conducted in New York, landfills and treatment facilities in the state are accepting tens of thousands of tons of fracking waste from sites in Pennsylvania. Read more

Snow today, hard freeze on the way

By Lissa Harris
5/13/13 - 1:56 pm

Proof that there really are only two seasons in the Catskills -- winter and the Fourth of July. Photo taken at 1:45pm on Monday, May 13 at the Watershed Post's headquarters in New Kingston.

As if the snow falling out of the sky wasn't warning enough: Gardeners across the region should be alert for fast-dropping temperatures. A freeze warning has been issued by the National Weather Service covering a large swath of eastern New York and western New England.