You and Your Watershed
Welcome to the Council's teacher resource page, a work in progress. We understand how difficult it is to find watershed education materials that dovetail with the New York State Teaching Standards. If you need something in particular, contact us.
Need Materials for your classroom? Download banners and posters below or mail this completed form to us for a Teacher's Goodie Box.
Banners, Posters and Materials:
- Water's Journey Banner (5'-banner from HSNY, CWC, DEP and WAC)
- The Hydrologic Cycle (11x17 poster from NOAA, WAC)
- Water Trivia Questions
Websites, Resources, and Downloads of Interest:
- Council's Watershed Forestry Program Education Page (bus tour grants and other teacher-friendly opportunities to connect students with their water and the watershed communities working on their behalf)
- NYC Watershed Environmental Education Association Resource Guide
- Catskills Watershed Educator (CWC)
- NYC DEP Environmental Education
- Catskill Center Watershed Education
- US EPA Nonpoint Source Toolbox for Environmental Education
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Education
- USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) Soils Education
- USDA NRCS-Montana Conservation Education
- USDA NRCS-Missouri Lesson Plans (Pre-K through Grade 3)
- U.S. Department of Agriculture Youth Resources
- NYC H2O
- The Water Page (water conservation tips)
- Farms and Food (A Teaching the Hudson Valley Resource Guide)
- Take Root! A Training for Garden Educators (Cornell)
- School Gardening: Best Practices (LSU Ag Center)
- Steps to Growing a Successful School Garden (LSU Ag Center)
Videos of Interest:
What is a Watershed? video produced by Missouri & Mississippi Divide Resource Conservation & Development Inc.
Watershed Trivia: Water & Land: Finite Natural Resources: making the connection between clean water and working landscapes.
(Answers in green)
1.
66% of your body is made up of water. On average, you use 125 gallons of water per day.
2.
The NYC Watershed is also our regional viewshed and foodshed. The NYC Watershed contains 19 reservoirs and 3 controlled lakes. In Ulster County reservoir, the Ashokan Reservoir holds 122.9 billion gallons in the Catskill/Delaware Watershed. The smaller watershed located west of the Hudson River is the Croton Watershed.
3.
Like water, land is a finite natural resource. Over 500 farms covering 120,000 acres participate in the WAC's Agricultural Program protecting water quality for 9 million New York residents downstream.
A Whole Farm Plan helps a farmer minimize water pollution and improve his farm business. The ten water quality concerns that a WFP addresses include:
- Parasites & Phosphorus: Animal Waste
- Pesticides: Mixing and Loading Areas
- Phosphorus: Fertilizer Storage
- Parasites: Animal & Manure Management
- Nutrient Management
- Nutrients: Concentrated Sources
- Sediment: Diffuse
- Pesticides: Field & Animal Application
- Fuel Storage
- Other: Toxic Materials
4.
The NYC Watershed spans 1,932 square miles. Over 21,000 acres are protected by WAC's conservation easements, one approach to protecting farmland for future generations.
How else can you keep farmland in a working landscape?
- Buy local products from a local farmer.
- Become a member of a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture).
- Support agricultural land protection plans in your town.
- Rent or lease your land to a farmer looking to expand his acreage under production.
- Protect farmland for future generations by placing a conservation easement on your property.
Why might you place a conservation easement on your land?
- To expand the farm.
- To purchase new equipment.
- To provide an exit strategy for an older family member.
- To provide for estate planning purposes.
- To reduce debt on the farm.
- To protect water quality.
- To protect against urban sprawl and development.
- To promote affordable farmland for future generations.
- To leave a legacy.
5.
The Catskill/Delaware Watershed contains six reservoirs.
Can you name this local water body that feeds into the Ashokan Reservoir, pictured to your left? Schoharie
6.
Can you name this local water body that feeds into the Rondout Reservoir, pictured to your left? Pepacton
Can you name the other four reservoirs? Ashokan, Cannonsville, Neversink, Pepacton, Rondout, Schoharie
7.
The NYC watershed is 85% forested; 75% of that is privately owned.
The Watershed Agricultural Council's Forestry Program works with three public, outdoor "classrooms." Can you name this 240-acre Ulster County model forest? Frost Valley
Can you name the three other model forests located in Greene, Delaware and Putnam Counties? Siuslaw, Lennox and Clearpool Model Forests
Why might you create a Forest Management Plan for your woodlands?
- Improve wood quality for timber harvests.
- Properly plan for timber harvest roads.
- Attract wildlife.
- Provide habitat corridors for migrating species.
- Reduce incidence of forest fires.
- Shade mountain streams to lower water temperatures for fish-friendly environments.
- Help control erosion of soils and streambanks.
- Protect water resources for humans and fisheries.
- Protect against flooding.
- Forestry is the preferred land use in the New York City watershed.
