| Watershed Post

Old bikes, new bikes, red bikes, blue bikes: On Saturday, May 18, the New Paltz Middle School will play host to a huge sale and swap meet for all manner of two-wheeled devices.

Admission is free, and participants can buy or sell bicycles, gear, parts, or cycling apparel. Volunteers will be on hand at the swap meet to help price and tag items -- so if you have a bike to sell, bring it along.

Now in its sixth year, the New Paltz Bike Swap is a fundraiser for the Fats In The Cats bicycle club. Of each sale at the swap, 20 percent goes to the club's community work: Fats In The Cats builds and maintain local trails, promotes bicycling in the region, and holds a holiday bicycle giveaway for children.

6th Annual New Paltz Bike Swap. New Paltz Middle School, 196 Main Street, New Paltz. Saturday, 5.18.2013, 9am-3pm. Free admission. For more information, see newpaltzbikeswap.com.

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Tkaczyk proposes ban on out-of-state fracking waste

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.

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Crash that killed Prattsville town justice under investigation

Longtime Prattsville resident Donald Olson -- a Prattsville town justice, former clerk of the Greene County Legislature, and deeply involved member of the close-knit Prattsville community -- was killed in a head-on collision on Route 23 in Windham on Thursday, May 9. He was 71.

The driver of the second car, who was badly injured in the crash, has been identified as 48-year-old Kathleen McNeil-Blount, the Daily Mail reports. Nearly a week after the fatal crash, police are still investigating the horrific accident:

Police said Tuesday they are still trying to determine what caused a vehicle driven by Kathleen McNeil-Blount of Jewett to cross the yellow line and smash head-on into a car driven by Donald Olson, who was pronounced dead at the scene.

No charges have been filed, the paper reports.

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Apple blossoms in Monticello

Frost? What frost?

If the blossoms and buds made it through the last night's cold temperatures, they'll come out looking like these apple blossoms, shot by John of Catskills Photography in Monticello on May 5 and submitted to the Watershed Post Flickr pool.

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Snow today, hard freeze on the way

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.

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The tune that saved the Ashokan Center

Above: The Jay Ungar and Molly Mason Family Band performs "Ashokan Farewell" at the Folk Alley studio in 2011.

You know the tune. The first two notes give it away. By the third note, it has you already transfixed in some haunting memory, whether you've heard it a few times or a few hundred.

In a recent feature, New York Times reporter Dennis Gaffney tells the story of how fiddler Jay Ungar's bittersweet "Ashokan Farewell" -- a modern composition with the soul of a Civil War ballad -- rescued the Ashokan Center in Olivebridge from the brink of oblivion.

('Oblivion' being, in this case, New York City's watershed land acquisition program, which was poised to swallow the old SUNY New Paltz environmental education center until Ungar stepped in to broker a deal.)

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DEP: Boat rental businesses can store boats at reservoirs

On Thursday, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection announced that it would allow boat rental businesses to store rental vessels directly on the banks of the NYC reservoirs. The policy change will make things easier for rental companies, which had to store their boats elsewhere last season and schlep them to and from the lakes for every paddler.

The DEP, working with the Catskill Watershed Corporation, has purchased storage racks to house 120 rental boats, but it's unclear how they will be split up between the reservoirs.

Read the full press release about the change below:

DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ANNOUNCES PROGRAM FOR WATERSHED BUSINESSES TO STORE RENTAL KAYAKS AND CANOES AT NEW YORK CITY RESERVOIRS

Rental Boats Will be a Boost to Outdoor Recreation and Tourism Economy in Catskills

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kayaking

boating

New York Department of Environmental Conservation

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New Kingston sunrise

Rebecca Saunders caught this spectacular landscape shot of the New Kingston Valley from her front porch this week. We have view envy.

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This weekend: WJFF's Foodstock at the Villa Roma

Above: WJFF video promoting their 4th annual Foodstock Food and Fine Wine Festival.

Food, wine, and song will fill the Tennis Building at the Villa Roma Resort in Callicoon this Saturday as the fourth annual Foodstock Fine Food and Wine Festival brings together over 60 purveyors of fine comestibles. Local farmers, winemakers, bakers and chefs will bring their finest to the tasting festival for four hours of community-spirited tasting and browsing. From fudge sauce to garlic vinegar, from gourmet pasta and dairy to locally-produced woodworking and fresh flowers, this is a great opportunity to sample the creativity of Sullivan County chefs and producers, while grooving to the sounds of Poison Love with Dan Brinkerhoff.

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