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Home My WebLink About2007-01-09Town of Dryden Conservation Board is January 9, 2007 Members Present: Crab Schutt, Chair; Timothy Woods; Nancy Munkenbeck, Stan Marcus, Charles Smith, Milo Richmond, Dan Karig, Steve Bissen, Members Absent: None. Others Present: Mary Ann Sumner, Town Board Liaison; Dan Kwasnowski, Environmental Planner and Conservation Board Coordinator; Patty Millard, Recording Secretary. The meeting was called to order at 7:30 pm. USGS — Todd Miller Presentation on Aquifer Study by Todd Miller from USGS - Paraphrased. Background: Study started as an outcome of work we started for the Landfill Screening Process for the County in the 80's. We were asked to collect some well data for that study so aquifers could be identified and hence the landfill would re sited on or near those areas. However, that never came to fruition as a report and the study ended and the search ended. All the well data we collected for that, was put on file and it's been stored there for a decade and a half until Kate Hackett came along. She overheard that we had done this, had all this information that we had collected and she said, let's get it out there. So we pulled the well data, located the wells, and came up with a reconnaissance level map of the county for the year 2000. From that, Kate put on a program to sell to the County Legislature a program to study reaches of the aquifers of about 5- 10 miles each. We've looked at 17 different reaches over a 20 year long program. The first 2 at the start were Dryden, Virgil Creek, and the Town of Caroline embarked on the Upper Six -Mile Valley. We are currently in 2 other aquifers, Willsevville Creek Valley that is Lower Six -Mile Creek, and we started in the 'town of Danby. The scope of work for a typical aquifer study like this includes well drilling, seismic refiraction which can measure how thick the unconsolidated material is that fills the valley, it can find the top of the bedrock in the valley to give us a maximum thickness of depth to aquif..ers. We used a new technique that can date ravel using 1 measuring chloral floral carbon content in the water. The biggest boon to our investigations has been since 2000, the state legislation passed a bill that requires well drillers to file their well records with the state, so we now have access to information when new wells are drilled. That type of information was never before required and was not freely offered by drillers because knowing where to find water could give them a competitive advantage over another driller, so they didn't necessarily like to share that information. One item that was demonstrated was the potential to track the movement of an oil spill. By entering the data gathered during this study, they can tell things like how fast an oil spill will travel and in which direction; and also find where things like high nitrate concentrations are coming from. C� CB 1)1419 =2007 Page 2 of 4 Josli Bopdon — G18 In tern Dan Kwasnowski had .1osh working on 1nappIng subwatersheds in the Town of Dryden. If you know what the sub +atershed size is, you can get a pretty rough idea of haw big the strearn should be — sometimes it's diverted through ditches. We're trying to focus ire on starting a baseline of information to say what iY, a stream, what isn't a stream, Fventu ail y the goal is to develop an off cia] map o regulated stream #h at are included in the ]E iparian Buffer PTO araIn. If somebody comes to us with a project e can teli where it is on the map in Tel al.ion to a stream (s) and tell what level of protection should be afforded to that strum .for that project. Phis map gives us so much useful in�l'ornrta.tion. It's going to help uq ereal.e a basis for what protections we should use where. For example, headwater streams we deed more protection but less for small streams. Nanc }v Munkenbeck; Are you going to come up wl.th thus definition for head wacer iii terms of distance from the inain stream and area of recharge? Dan asno ski; That's what we, the Conservation Board, is going to have to do, Tim Woods. What does this particular map show us with the colors? Dan Kwa snowski0 `M, colors — the yellow, those arc slopes, teat's contour lines, The green, tha t's kind ofthe shape file as i #'s developed soar, o the shape file is a layer. The aerial photo L s a layer, the contours are a layer, the water is a layer, and this green layer is the shape Vi le of all the subwatcrshcds that we've been able to assign so far- Nancy: o you make the green layer and the others were existing databases? Dan : That's rialit. Tim W: But it's actually shoving us what? Date K: "fhe delineation of the sub watersheds. Let ine pick an easy, one, The stream network here and this stream ne twork here and there's a red line that goes around it - -- that's the basin that fee -cis that stream, Tini W: So the red lines are the delineations, Dan K: Yes. And the black ink — that's where I've drawn on top of it Nancv0 And the green is area that you feel is Far enough away that it's not prianary, Dan K: N0. It's stric-t]y for data developmcilit- That's how far we've gotten, I Nvas hoping to get sornc, feedback Prom you guys on the table on this Wisp, 1 can actually send this oUt. Tint; 1=iow does this tie in With your stream classes map? Wficn you put those red boundarICN in; what is that sho��iljg US, C 01 -09 -2007 Page 3 of 4 IRW Day, K: "Phis is a good }joint- Thil s is the reap froni the open space inventory. The reds and blues and cyreens are , A T , and there's a mzw one coining out, and the black ones are not regulated by 17L . They aare by Army Corps of Engincers..And so that was kind c f the point was -that - this doe c;n't seeitn to be sufficient as far as wMershed, water quality, long term impacts, and stuff Tike that- Aquifer recharge and whatnot, And so how do you start deciding what streams are regulated and what aren't, Some are literally little things through sornebody's yard- Naiicv: Are. you suLT aesting that streams tliat are regulated by Army Corps but not DEC are that significant but less regulated? Dan K: Yes. I think. DEC's regulations for the stye -am Is that they regulate are inuch more stringent; embankment, proteetlon c�FQorridors- ��+ith this information; we Can SGt a rninirnunl watershed site, Discussion of trout streams and how the are classilied as trout streams. Charlie Smith: Dan, with your background in GIS, do you think you've been able to get map accuracy that's good enough for iLegulatory purposes. Dan : Yes. That's why I did it by hand. Charlie Smith: What if someone with a background in G 1S challenges this map? 0 Diu : If the town adopts this as an oflC Ana . then that °s it.. ,it's an official ma for the p p- p Town, AL'St like our road mop. And that is a question that's come up. MaryAnn S unincr: Keeping it updated is an issue too, There's nothing that says how recent the map should be, Craig: Those watersheds don't Change unless a culvert or something like- that is changed. verall they shouldn't change- Naney: Are you going to present this to us at the next nice ting with it forinatted in what you feel is a workablc manner and we wi l I sit and say good job or ,say let's work on it sonne in ore? Dan : No. We have to tweak it more still. Each one of these sets of polygons could have a table associated with it and we have to figure out what love want those tables to say- Charlie Smith: When you say buffer, do you mean from the middle of the stream out, from the side? Dan l : e have to decide that. 1 #pink it's nOn-na]Iy middle of the stream, Nan Qy9 Js stream bank d efi ned as something that's scoured? What's #hc de fin jtion for streani hank? C B 01419 -21117 Page 4 of 4 ]fan K. lt2s whatever yo LL want it I.o be, That's what we have to Fi ure out_ Also. b usiri acershed size instead ofstreain size, it'll make it easier can us, Nancy Munkcnbeck: Motion to adjourn, Copy of a resume that was handed in thi s week. was given to the board. Dan K Town Board wants to ha u ve a mlti -hoard meeting on either January 2 3Et1 or 25111 Milo Richmond seconded the motion to adjourn. Everyone ��oted in favor. Motion adjourned at 9;45 pm Respectfully Submitted, Patty Millard 1 Recording Secretary.