Sloansville

This Memorial Day, bike the Catskills

By Andrea Girolamo
5/18/12 - 6:26 pm

Above: Cycling on some Catskills roads. Photo via the Catskill Mountain Cycling Club Facebook page.

Cyclists who ride the Catskills know this is a perfect place to get on the bike for a quick 20-miler. And what better time to do it than this Memorial Day weekend, when two of our local cycling clubs are offering planned rides for cycling enthusiasts?

'Tour de Pepacton'

Billy Allison, of the Catskill Mountain Cycling Club, is the organizing brains behind this year’s Tour de Pepacton, a ride to benefit Catskill Area Hospice & Palliative Care, on Sunday, May 27.  Read more

School elections today

By Lissa Harris
5/15/12 - 9:57 am

A reminder: New Yorkers go to the polls today to vote for school budgets and board members. To find your local polling place, check your school district's website.

Problems at the polls? Let us know at editor@watershedpost.com.

Thousands of rural post offices to reduce hours under new USPS plan

By Lissa Harris
5/10/12 - 11:33 am

Above: A Google map of New York State post offices that will have reduced hours under the new plan. Click on a red dot to get information about a post office's current hours and their planned reduced daily hours. Use the controls on the left to zoom in or out, or click and drag the map with your mouse. For a larger view, click here. Data from the United States Postal Service.   Read more

Gilboa dam sirens to be tested tomorrow

By Lissa Harris
5/8/12 - 10:04 am

At 12:30pm on Wednesday, May 9, the Gilboa Dam alert sirens will be tested.

Regular tests of the system will be held on the second Wednesday of the month henceforth, the Times Journal reports.

The sirens, which were heavily damaged during flooding from Tropical Storm Irene last year, were finally repaired in April, to the tune of $220,000. The Schenectady Daily Gazette reports that in light of last year's catastrophic floods, Schoharie County is considering activating the sirens for flooding, not just the risk of dam failure:

[Schoharie County Emergency Management Director Colleen] Fullford said she expects county officials to discuss whether to revise the siren plan in place. Up until now, the public has been told that the sirens will be activated when the Gilboa Dam is at risk of imminent failure or when there’s an emergency that could result in dam failure.  Read more

From the Publisher: Memorial Day. It's coming.

By Julia Reischel
5/7/12 - 4:23 pm

In the Catskills this year, Memorial Day is going to be epic.

For the first time in history, four of the six west-of-Hudson New York City reservoirs will be open to boating and paddling for the masses. A new bike event will bring the spirit of the Tour de France to the Pepacton. There will be festivals, parades, street fairs, and general partying all over the region.

And we're going to keep track of it all in our soon-to-be-published Catskills Memorial Day Guide.

Advertise in the Memorial Day guide by May 15. To advertise, check out our rate sheet and get in touch with me at sales@watershedpost.com or at 845-481-0155.

To get your event listed in the guide for free, click here to enter your event into our calendar system. (You need to register for an account with us first.)

Our goal is to list every single parade, barbecue, and get-together in the Catskills. Help us make it happen.

  Read more

Waitin' for a supermoon

By Lissa Harris
5/4/12 - 10:45 am

Above: A comparison of last year's "supermoon," on March 19, 2011, with a more average full moon from December 20, 2010. File from Wikimedia Commons.

Cross your fingers for clear skies this Saturday night, when a phenomenon called a "supermoon" should make for some stunning skywatching.

This Saturday evening, the moon turns full at 11:35pm. At midnight, the moon will reach its perigee -- the point at which it is closest to the Earth during its regular orbit of the planet, which takes 29.5 days. Full moon at perigee happens about once every 14 months.

Astronomer Joe Rao writes in the Christian Science Monitor that the best time to see Saturday's supermoon will be right around moonrise (which, here in upstate New York, should be just before 7pm):  Read more

Surprise, surprise: Romney wins New York primary

By Lissa Harris
4/25/12 - 2:58 pm

The AP reports today:

Mitt Romney did what was expected, easily winning New York's Republican presidential primary and padding his delegate lead in his all-but-inevitable march toward the party's nomination.

Romney easily outdistanced Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich on Tuesday and took home a big chunk of delegates in a race marked by low turnout around the heavily Democratic state. Rick Santorum stopped campaigning two weeks ago.

And then there were two: Ron Paul is still campaigning away, but Newt Gingrich is about to officially hang up his spurs, CNN reports.  Read more

Growing Benefits From Trees

By Catskill Forest Association
4/24/12 - 4:20 pm

We, the humans on this planet earth, can help our forest and its trees by thinning them out in order to give them more sunlight to flourish in. We also need to know when it is time to start some of these forests over by making very intensive harvests. (Sounds a little like gardening, doesn’t it?) Thinning and regenerating our forest will “grow its benefits” in providing a healthier environment, a more diverse habitat for the critters, a prettier open space and a better filter for water and air impurities such as carbon.

Who in fact owns the “forest”? – It’s you! 2/3rds of it is owned by small (average parcel size is less than 17 acres), non-industrial landowners and most of the rest is owned by us all, in the form of publicly owned land. It is our responsibility to steward it for the future generations of humans and critters!

If you want to help us in this effort, contact us at our office in the center of the Catskill Region – Arkville, NY [845-586-3054, M-F, 9-4] Ask for Jim, Ryan or Michele.

Join the Catskill Forest Association Today!   Read more

The Watershed Post's News from Local Businesses column carries news from local businesses in our directory. Visit this business's page:

Catskill Forest Association, Inc.

Tuesday is Republican primary day for New York State

By Lissa Harris
4/23/12 - 2:23 pm

Tuesday, April 24 is the New York State presidential primary -- but with frontrunner Mitt Romney coasting toward the 2012 GOP nomination, the press isn't too excited about it.

"Every four years, the New York primary becomes less significant," the New York Times kvetches. "What if they held an election and no one came?" asks The Atlantic. "Primary? What primary?" Gannett scoffs.  Read more

Flood watch in effect for much of Catskills region

By Lissa Harris
4/22/12 - 10:31 pm

Heavy rains forecast across much of the region for tonight and tomorrow morning mean a flood watch for the eastern Catskills, as well as western New England.

An alert from the National Weather Service warns that Greene, Ulster and Schoharie County could see flooding tonight, especially on east-facing slopes:  Read more

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