Alliance backs designation as ‘inland waterway’
Sergei Krasikov’s laps across Fishkill Creek come with caveats.
After a rainstorm, wait several days for the runoff carrying potential pollutants to clear before swimming. Protect your nose and eyes, and shower afterward.
Back on land, Krasikov is co-chair of the Fishkill Creek Watershed Alliance and part of a movement to protect the creek not only for flora and fauna but as a place of respite and recreation. The creek extends for 33.5 miles between Union Vale in northeast Dutchess County and the Hudson River. Featuring gorges and waterfalls, it is the main branch of a 193-mile watershed that spans 14 municipalities in Dutchess and Putnam counties.
Born in July 2023 from a collaboration between conservation advisory committees in Beacon and East Fishkill, the alliance’s first major project is getting the creek designated by the state as an “inland waterway,” said Krasikov, who chairs Beacon’s committee.
If legislation sponsored by state Sen. Rob Rolison, whose district includes Beacon, becomes law, Beacon and other municipalities through which the creek passes would become eligible for funding through the state’s Local Waterfront Revitalization Program (LWRP) and the Environmental Protection Fund.
The programs provide grants for planning, design, land acquisition and other waterfront projects for designated coastal water bodies, such as the Hudson River, and inland waterways. Beacon adopted a Local Waterfront Revitalization Program for its riverfront and Fishkill Creek in 1992 and updated it in 2011, but the creek lacks designation as an inland waterway.
“This designation opens the door for the towns along the Fishkill Creek and its tributaries to access vital resources,” Rolison said.
Along Beacon’s portion of the creek, several sections of its Greenway and Heritage Trail have already opened. Along the Beacon Line, an unused railroad line envisioned as the route for a rail trail between Beacon and Hopewell Junction, several vacant parcels have been identified, Krasikov said.
For 2 miles, the rail line follows Fishkill Creek, where the alliance envisions places to kayak, swim or relax. “There is a potential for pocket parks — connecting two together and giving people a chance to experience being by the water and enjoying the beautiful creek,” he said.
New York’s designated inland waterways include Wappinger Creek in Dutchess County and Lake Carmel, Lake Mahopac and Lake Nimham in Putnam. With the Hudson River designated as a coastal waterbody, Beacon has used LWRP grants on such riverfront projects as the kayak deck at Long Dock Park.
Other beneficiaries include the City of Poughkeepsie, which received a $765,000 grant in 2023 to develop strategies to improve biodiversity, water quality and public space along the Fall Kill Creek. That same year, Nyack received $417,000 to install an Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant shoreline walkway and to buttress its waterfront against storm surge and other impacts of climate change.
In December, Kingston received $167,000 to update its 1992 waterfront plan and earlier was awarded $552,000 to demolish two condemned, city-owned houses in a flood zone and build a parking lot, boardwalk and pier.
With “lingering concerns” about water quality, one of the goals of the Fishkill Creek Watershed Alliance is to study the lower creek’s health, said Krasikov. The alliance successfully lobbied to have the middle and upper segments included in an ongoing state water-quality study that covers “everything, from agricultural runoff to biological markers to industrial pollutants,” he said.
Additional tests for the creek are being designed in partnership with faculty at Bard and Vassar colleges, and Riverkeeper is interested in collaborating with the alliance to measure bacteria indicating fecal matter from sewage, said Krasikov.
The alliance is also collaborating on a “watershed characterization” study with Clarkson University’s Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries, the Hudson River Watershed Alliance and Siena College. That research will provide a snapshot of current conditions, Krasikov said.
“In the summertime, the creek is a great asset, especially during heatwaves,” he said. “The temperature drops easily by 10 degrees when you get closer to the water.”
The Town of Fishkill has recently renovated two parks that allow access to the Fishkill Creek for kayaks and other water sports: Jean Van Pelt park on Washington Avenue and Doug Phillips Park on Route 52, just east of the Chief Nimham statue. I look forward to this law passing and doing even more for our community.
Albra is the Town of Fishkill supervisor.