What We Do
The Saw Kill Watershed Community was formed in 2015 to unite area residents who are interested in protecting their water by maintaining the health of the Saw Kill and its watershed— for clean drinking water, flood protection, water supply, recreation, and ecological resources. The group includes residents, farmers, scientists, students, educators, sportsmen, historians, conservationists, municipal leaders.
With support from Bard College, the group is also affiliated with the Bard Community Science Lab and participates in monthly collection of water samples from the Saw Kill. SKWC maintains a close relationship with the Hudson River Watershed Alliance and our members regularly participate in Alliance workshops and conferences.
For more on what we do, please visit the Our Work section of this website.
Membership in the SKWC is open to all! (See the Get Involved section below.)
Our Leadership Team
The SKWC Leadership Team organizes and runs our projects, plans meetings and newsletters, raises and administers the grant money that funds us, and responds to community concerns and questions about the watershed. Current members are:
- Karen Schneller-McDonald, chair
- Sheila Buff, vice-chair
- Karen Raskin
- Prof. Eli Deuker
Amy Shein is our Amphibian Migration Project coordinator.
Attend a Meeting
Our in-person community meetings, held at the Elmendorph Inn in Red Hook (pictured above), are still on hold pending pandemic conditions. Instead, we’re hosting occasional online meetings and hope to bring back the regular in-person meetings as soon as possible.
Check this website’s homepage or our Facebook Page for upcoming events. And sign up for our newsletter and mailing list in the footer below to get event notifications directly:
Our community meetings include informative presentations about the Saw Kill watershed, nearby watersheds, water issues, and local projects, including water quality monitoring and research, water contamination impacts, wetlands, flooding, climate change impacts, plants and animals, land use, and recreation. Each meeting includes a community conversation where residents voice their questions and concerns about water-related issues.
Visit our Community Presentations page for a summary of meeting topics.
Get Involved!
In addition to attending SKWC meetings, there are other ways to get involved. See the projects listed under Our Work for more information about helping with the annual Amphibian Migration Project, Eel Monitoring Project, and Water Quality Sampling. You can also volunteer to contribute to our newsletter content — articles and photos are welcome!
Whatever you’re interested in, reach out through the contact form below and let us know how you’d like to get involved.
Contact Us
• Want to know more about what we do?
• Want to be on our email list for updates, announcements, and newsletters?
• Do you have a question or concern about the Saw Kill, its tributaries, wetlands, water quality, or anything else about the watershed?
We want to hear from you! Just fill out the form below: