Streamside Acquisition Program Helps Local Communities

Getting the Facts Straight

The Catskill Center is releasing a new fact sheet that articulates the multiple community benefits of its Streamside Acquisition Program, or SAP. The SAP aims to protect water quality in streams in the northeastern Catskills through the purchase and protection of streamside lands. By doing that, the SAP also helps to mitigate future flooding, which has devastated parts of our communities in recent years. The SAP only purchases eligible properties, and only if the property owner is interested in selling. 

Key points in the fact sheet include criteria for eligible properties, such as that lands be within the drainage basin of the Schoharie Reservoir. Another important part of the program is that the SAP focuses on lands outside of areas formally identified by municipalities as areas intended for future growth. The SAP will not reach out to landowners in these areas unless invited to do so by the municipality through a formal resolution. Honoring community goals is important.

“We regularly reach out to town officials to ask how the SAP can complement community goals,” said Lee Alexander, Streamside Acquisition Program Director. “Some towns have asked us to prioritize floodplain protection, while others have worked with us to help create streamside trail networks. We love working collaboratively with towns to implement the SAP in ways that enhance community goals while also protecting water quality.”

Besides helping to ensure community flood resilience by keeping undeveloped wetlands and floodplains from being developed, the SAP preserves the tax base, as the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYC DEP) pays property taxes on lands acquired through the program. The SAP focuses on properties that make the biggest difference in protecting water quality: floodplains, wetlands, and lands within 300 feet of streams. SAP staff encourage landowners to keep their more developable lands in private hands.

The Catskill Center runs the SAP in partnership with the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYC DEP). It is one of many programs required by regulators, such as the New York State Department of Health, to help protect the City’s drinking water at its source. The SAP furthers the mission of the Catskill Center to protect and foster the environmental, cultural, and economic well-being of the Catskill region.