Above: A map showing snow forecasts for Central New York, the Southern Tier and northeast Pennsylvania from the National Weather Service in Binghamton.
Snow is already falling across much of New York State, and is expected to keep falling throughout the evening and into Thursday. In some areas, sleet and freezing rain is expected in the mix along with snow. Forecasters warn that snowfall will be heavy at times this evening, possibly reaching rates of 1 to 3 inches per hour, so please be careful on the roads.
According to a recent NWS forecast, 8 to 10 inches are expected to fall in the Western Catskills and Twin Tiers, and 4 to 6 inches in the southern Catskills. Read more
New York State is currently accepting public comments on its latest draft of gas drilling regulations. Helen Slottje, a lawyer who has been prominent in the movement to pass town bans on gas drilling, is hosting a series of public forums this week on the revised regulations in an effort to gather more public comments from fracking opponents. The third and last of these forums will be held in Cooperstown tonight.
But here at the WP, we thought we'd put a more local spin on a favorite carol. While we're at it, we'd like to wish a very Happy Holidays and a Merry Christmas to our readers across the Catskills and beyond, and a big thank-you to all the local small businesses that have supported the Watershed Post's news efforts this year by advertising with us. Twelve of them are featured below.
As the last days of the holiday season wrap up, we hope you'll shop local, and support the small businesses that are the heart and soul of all our Main Streets.
On the first day of Christmas, the Catskills gave to me: An expert on forestry
Yesterday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency announced a plan to buy up to 33 properties in Ulster County that were "substantially damaged" by Tropical Storms Irene and Lee in 2011.
Through Ulster County, the property owners all applied for the voluntary program, called the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program. If and when the lands are purchased, all structures on them will be demolished and they will be maintained forever as open space, according to a FEMA press release.
The announcement about FEMA's plans in Ulster County is only the first step is the glacial buyout process, Ulster County Emergency Management director Art Snyder told mulitiple news outlets yesterday. Ulster County put together a proposal for federal buyouts of 38 properties back in February, and this announcement is just preliminary approval of the plan.
According to the Times Herald-Record, Snyder says that most of the homes on the list are in Shandaken:
Roughly 24 of those buyout-eligible homes are in Shandaken, Snyder said, while four are in Wawarsing, two are in Ulster, two are in the Town of Kingston, and one is in Olive.
“We put in a budget for it, but they haven’t said what has been granted,” Snyder said. “They also haven’t said which properties they have accepted at this time. All they’ve done is release the public notice so that if anyone wanted to comment about the program, they would have an opportunity to do so.”
Elevations Above 1200 Feet Will Be Most Susceptible To These Pockets Of Freezing Rain...Which Could Lead To Locally Slippery Road Conditions. All Interests Should Use Extreme Caution When Driving Through These Areas...In Case Some Bridges...Overpasses And Other Untreated Road Surfaces May Be Slippery.
511-NY tweeted around 4:30pm that parts of both Route 28 and Route 10 were looking icy:
Weatherincdnt: snow and ice conditions on NY 10 both directions btw Town of Delhi; Town of Hamden Line and Montgomery; Schoharie Cnty Line Read more
By Ryan Trapani, Catskill Forest Association. (Pictured above in orange out in the field.)
During this time of year some of us are preoccupied in the pursuit of the white-tailed deer. Whether it is waiting patiently thirty feet in a tree or slowly stalking on the forest floor – one has ample time to observe his surroundings. Typically I elect the former – waiting patiently 30 feet in a tree. Up there one gains a vantage point offering a comprehensive view of the forest and its peculiarities. Where will the deer come from? Where will they go? Where is a good place for them to seek cover in, or simply commute through? What will they feed upon? These questions flow into each other like tributaries into a stream – ultimately creating a reservoir of potentialities, strategies and… what could be. Read more
Above: MARK Project director Peg Ellsworth, who serves on the Southern Tier Regional Economic Council, presents Gov. Andrew Cuomo with a gift basket of Delaware County goodies during the Governor's visit to the Southern Tier on Wednesday. Photo courtesy of Peg Ellsworth.
This week, New York State's ten new economic development regions are doing their best to impress, as Gov. Andrew Cuomo makes a statewide tour. The ten regions were created by Cuomo's administration in 2011 as public-private partnerships to plan economic growth in the state.
On Wednesday, Cuomo paid a visit to the Southern Tier Economic Development Region, a region that includes rural Delaware County as well as Broome, Chemung, Chenango, Schuyler, Steuben, Tioga and Tompkins County. Last year, in a round of competitive grants to the state's ten economic development regions, the Southern Tier won a total of $49.4 million in state grants -- an infusion of cash into the region's economy, but also the lowest award made to any of the regions. Read more
On his way from Montreal to a sold-out show at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, 
