Projects:

Honk Falls, and a Free(er) Rondout Creek

We finish an 18-month project at the former Honk Lake, as the Rondout Creek returns to swift-running water in the Catskills.

It’s always satisfying to see a lakebed returned to a running stream. At the former Honk Lake in Wawarsing, New York, the old dam was lowered, effectively removing its ability to impound the Rondout Creek.

With the lake drained, and the creek running again, it wasn’t long before the herons, blackbirds and kildeer were searching the creek’s rocky edges for food This spring, the water by the new spillway was teeming with baby frogs.

We worked with contractor A. Servidone for this project, as they diverted half a mile of stream to allow work on the dam. The existing spillway and penstock was demolished, and a new cap installed.

Three river-cobble riffles were installed along the course of the stream to add oxygen to the water, and to create fish and insect habitat.

The effect of constructed riffles is to mimic naturally-occuring streams, where water speeds up and tumbles over stony obstructions, landing in a calmer pool below and making excellent fish habitat.

At the top of a willow live stake, buds appear. Live stakes are branches of trees that are cut while the trees are dormant and then planted directly in the soil.

Along the stone-armored shores of the newly-free river, hundreds of trees and shrubs were planted, and the underlying seed bank — there, under the lake, for who knows how long — began to sprout.

In the years ahead, willows, river birch, serviceberry, buttonberry and more species of a diverse and native forest will take the place of the old lake.

And despite the hatching out of millions of hungry and defoliating gypsy moth caterpillars, the newly-planted forest is growing.

Allman Environmental Services Photography worked with Servidone from the preconstruction to postconstruction stage of the Honk dam project. I’m looking forward to coming back in the fall to see how the new trees have developed over a single season.

In New York State — as elsewhere across the northeast — many dam removal projects are underway, returning streams and rivers to their natural, free-flowing state.

With several years’ experience in this area, Allman Environmental Services Photography is happy to provide photo and video documentation for dam decommissioning and stream rehabilitation projects.

Spillway of the Honk Falls Dam after rehabilitation. Lowering the spillway allowed the lake to drain, and the Rondout Creek to become a fast-moving creek again, before tumbling into the gorge below.

HONK FALLS DAM DECOMMISSIONING

• Contractor: A. Servidone/B. Anthony Construction
• Owner: New York City DEP

I’ve done extensive work throughout Massachusetts for the Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration, photographing and filming their dam removal and wetland restoration projects. 

This flyover came after photographing the DER’s work in the town of Falmouth at the lower Coonamessett  River watershed. It shows the marsh after dam removal and prior to revegetation, in 2020.

The dead tree stumps you see scattered across the marsh were deliberately left in place to provide shade for frogs, turtles and salamanders. The uneven, bumpy surface of the marsh floor creates diverse habitat for a wider variety of plant life.

As it passes through the preserve, the Coonamessett River is now narrower, longer and has eight new bends. There are now also deep pools for fish to live in and gravel riffles that support insects the fish like to eat.

While the muddy, bumpy, treeless expanse of marsh can be startling to see, what comes next — the growing trees, sprouting seeds, and return of vital habitat — can be seen in the vertical photo of the marsh.

Before and after: the Coonamessett restoration after dam and cranberry bog removal.

Vertical aerial photograph of the Coonamessett (former) cranberry bog area. Two areas are split by a boardwalk: to the left is the marsh before vegetation began to grow.

Aerial photography is almost always recommended for environmental projects, because an overhead view can show you the project in context to the wider surroundings. In most cases, we don’t charge extra for drone photography; a drone is just another camera in our bag.

Allman Environmental Services Photography is at all times FAA Part 107 licensed and amply insured. Let us know how we can help on your next project.