Watershed? Let’s start with the basics. What is WATERSHED? It’s a land area that channels or “sheds” springs, rainfall and snowmelt into a specific waterbody. Every body of water has a watershed, even a puddle in your yard. 

The 193-square-mile (500 km2) area of Fishkill Creek watershed spans 11 municipalities in Dutchess County and 3 in Putnam County. There are 338 miles (544 km) of tributaries within the watershed. The mainstem of Fishkill Creek runs for 33.5 miles. The longest tributary is Sprout Creek, which flows south 18.5 miles (29.8 km) from Millbrook to Hopewell Junction. Within the watershed, there are also around 1,575 acres (637 ha) of ponds or lakes. The largest of these is Whaley Lake, at 252 acres (102 ha) also the largest lake in the county. The next-largest lake in the watershed, Sylvan Lake, is the county's deepest.

What’s in the name? Iroquois people called the future Fishkill Creek “Tioronda”—“little water that flows into big water” —because it drains into the Hudson River. The name is still used in Beacon for one of the streets running along the creek as well as a bridge. About 1000 A.D. The Munsee tribe, part of the larger Lenape confederacy, settled in the area of Beacon. They called the creek Mettawan, a “trout stream.” When the Dutch came they took a clue and renamed it Vis Kyl, or Fish Creek. After the British took control of Hudson Valley, the creek was renamed Fishkill Creek. 

Watershed organizing: A volunteer group was formed in the early 2000s, Fishkill Creek Watershed Association. In partnership with the Dutchess County Environmental Management Council they inventoried the natural resources of the stream and watershed to produce a management plan. It focused on protecting groundwater, which many residents surveyed had expressed the greatest level of concern about. Recommendations made were to expand and maintain riparian buffers along the stream while protecting it against encroaching land use, and to find a way to balance groundwater withdrawals and discharges. The group ceased operation shortly after publishing the report and for almost 20 years there was no watershed-wide organizing. Our new group, Fishkill Creek Watershed Alliance, is continuing that work. Reports from the 2000s work can be accessed in our Resources page.

Issues:

• NPS (Nonpoint Source) Pollution - that does not originate from a single discrete source

• Dams

• Development Encroachment on riparian buffers and wetlands

• Legacy and current industrial pollution

• Loss of native vegetation and spread of invasive species

• Erosion and flooding