| Watershed Post

Up to two feet of snow expected in Catskills during storm

Above: Projected snowfall totals in the Catskills and Hudson Valley by Hudson Valley Weather.

Update, 1/26: We are tracking live updates on the progress of the storm through the Catskills and Hudson Valley. Click here to follow along.

The forecasters at the National Weather Service and Hudson Valley Weather say that up to 24 inches of snow could hit the Catskills during Winter Storm Juno (yes, it has a name) on Monday, Jan. 26 and Tuesday, Jan. 27.

We're getting off easy. The predictions for New York City are dire.

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Hundreds line up for free driftwood

Above: Tyler Borchet, center, searches the driftwood pile at the Jan. 23 driftwood giveaway in Olivebridge. Photo by Julia Reischel.

Driftwood is the Catskills version of the iPhone -- people line up around the block to get it.

Hundreds waited in below-freezing weather in the Ulster County hamlet of Olivebridge on Friday, Jan. 23 for a chance to pick through a pile of free driftwood being given away by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection.

The NYC watershed agency removes driftwood from the shores of its Catskills reservoirs every year. To get rid of the driftwood, the agency used to burn it. But this year, it tried something new: giving it away to the public.

Above: The line for driftwood. Photo by Julia Reischel.

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NYC Department of Environmental Protection

This weekend: The Livingston Manor Ice Carnival

Above: The royal court at the 2011 Livingston Manor Rotary Ice Carnival. Photo via the Livingston Manor Rotary Ice Carnival's Facebook page.

For 56 years, Livingston Manor's Rotary has thrown a huge party in the depths of January. The annual Livingston Manor Ice Carnival is held for a full three days at venues around the Sullivan County hamlet.

On Friday, the Ice Carnival King and Queen will be crowned at the annual dance at the Livingston Manor Central School Gym. On Saturday, snow sculptors of all expertise levels are invited to compete in a "New York Landmarks" snow sculpture contest, held in the Rotary Park on Pleasant Street. (Organizers promise that "prominent VIPs" will be the judges, so bring your "A" game.)

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Livingston Manor Rotary Ice Carnival

DEP: Artists, come get our driftwood

The New York City Department of Environmental Protection is hosting an odd event this Friday, Jan. 23: A driftwood giveaway.

The DEP has a driftwood glut on its Ashokan Reservoir, one of the city's upstate lakes that supplies NYC's drinking water. A portion of the reservoir's west basin is dubbed "Driftwood Cove" because of the large amount of wood that piles up along its shores after washing down the Esopus Creek through the Catskills, according to a DEP press release.

For years, the DEP has given its driftwood away to artists, who use it in sculptures and crafts. But in that past, the DEP has also burned some driftwood, which has disappointed some artists who wanted as much of the wood as they could get.

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Toddler drowns in bathtub in Loch Sheldrake

A toddler vacationing at a camp in Loch Sheldrake reportedly drowned in a bathtub the morning of Tuesday, Jan. 20, according to multiple Sullivan County news outlets.

A sergeant answering the phone at the Fallsburg Police Department said that no one was currently authorized to discuss the incident, but that a press release would soon be issued.

According to reports from Yeshiva World News, JPUpdates and MidHudson News, the child, Benzion Zisha Lieberman, was the youngest of four children. The family is reportedly spending the winter in a weatherized home at Evergreen Estates Day Camp in Loch Sheldrake, and lives the rest of the year in Florida.

From JPUpdates:

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Shandaken gets one more chance to weigh in on Belleayre Resort

Above: The first of a three-part video from the Shandaken Planning Board's public hearing on Crossroads' proposed Belleayre Resort project. Source: Town of Shandaken's YouTube channel.

For the past fifteen years, the public debate surrounding the Belleayre Resort project, a 629-unit luxury resort slated to straddle the line between the towns of Shandaken and Middletown next to the Belleayre Ski Center, has been fierce and bitter.

But at a public hearing held Monday, Jan. 12 by the Town of Shandaken's Planning Board, at which the board took public comments about resort developer Crossroads Ventures' application for a special use permit from the town, little of that public acrimony was on display. There was plenty of standing and sitting room among the crowd of roughly 50 people who gathered for the hearing. Just 14 people spoke, there was little heckling, and the meeting lasted only about an hour.

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Ulster County makes new move toward eviction of Catskill Mountain Railroad

Above: Families board a Thomas the Tank Engine train in Kingston during a Catskill Mountain Railroad event in September. Photo via the Catskill Mountain Railroad Facebook page.

Ulster County is preparing to file more litigation in an attempt to evict the Catskill Mountain Railroad from county-owned train tracks, according to Ernie Hunt, the spokesman for the railroad, and Ulster County Legislator David Donaldson.

Hunt said that the railroad’s lawyers received notice on Tuesday, Jan. 13 that Ulster County would soon appeal a September decision by Ulster County Supreme Court Judge Richard Mott that prevents the county from evicting the railroad.

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New Brooklyn bar named after Livingston Manor

Above: A Southside cocktail made with Warwick Gin at Livingston Manor, a new bar in downtown Brooklyn. Photo via the Livingston Manor website.

Livingston Manor, the Sullivan County hamlet, meet Livingston Manor, the new bar in downtown Brooklyn.

The bar, which opened in December, is named after the town, and is meant to bring the Manor's "small town ethos" to the city. One of the bar's owners, Matt Roff, spent summers in the Catskills, according to an article in Brooklyn Magazine:

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Follow us on Instagram

Above: An ice-covered plant, photographed by John of Catskills Photography and shared in the Watershed Post's Flickr pool and on our new Instagram account.

Sharing and regramming photos on Instagram is one of our New Year's resolutions. So far, we're sticking to it. We're posting photos from our news stories and sharing images from the amazing photographers among our readers and neighbors from around the Catskills.

Follow us and share your photos with us on Instagram by clicking here.

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This weekend: Grand opening party for the rebuilt Phoenicia Library

Above: The Phoenicia Library's snazzy new sign, via its Facebook page.

After the Phoenicia Library burned down on March 19, 2011, it took almost four years for it to rise from the ashes. But rise it did, with the close-knit Shandaken community raising $800,000 to support the rebuilding project with state grants, insurance monies, bake sales, restaurant fundraisers, and large donations from neighbors.

The library re-opened in its totally restored 48 Main Street building on Jan. 2. The structure now boasts a state-of-the-art design that cuts its energy costs to the bare minimum, and a lot of exciting architectural and technological bells and whistles. From a press release from the library's director, Liz Potter:

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