March 29: Reservoir Training!

Posted on March 22, 2016 by Erik Baard

neversink cove

Neversink Education Training at LaGuardia Community College

Learn about our city’s beautiful drinking water system, a wonder of nature and engineering! Share that new knowledge with NYC youth and kids!

LaGuardia Community College, Room C463.

Directions: https://www.laguardia.edu/About/Visit/

Please share this to build our volunteer base for this program!

Come get trained to be a Watershed Docent, a volunteer who’ll help introduce NYC school kids and other youth to our drinking water supply. This is NOT paddling skills training and you needn’t be an expert paddler; this is a night to learn about our drinking water system and the Neversink Reservoir itself. This program will activate HarborLAB’s second boat fleet on the Neversink Reservoir in the Catskills. This program is made possible by the NYC Department of Envionmental Protection, the Catskill Watershed Corporation, and HarborLAB volunteers.

Please email harborlab@gmail.com with the subject line “Neversink Training” to participate. Additionally, please join and share here: https://www.facebook.com/events/968029069940341/

Volunteer candidates will be screened by our volunteer co-managers and ED.

(If you received Red Cross certification funded by HarborLAB’s sponsors you have a special responsibility to this program. Please make every effort to ensure its success.)

Neversink Reservoir Fleet Arrives!

Posted on May 29, 2014 by Erik Baard

Neversink Reservoir Fleet received by Forst Valley YMCA and funded by Catskill Watershed Corporation with support from NYC Department of Environmental Protection.

Neversink Reservoir Fleet received by Frost Valley YMCA and funded by Catskill Watershed Corporation with support from NYC Department of Environmental Protection.

HarborLAB’s fleet for Neversink Reservoir program fleet of ten kayaks (Ocean Kayak Malibu 2 XL tandems) and five canoes (Old Town Saranac 160), life vests, and paddles have arrived! Many thanks to the Catskill Watershed Corporation for the grant that purchased these boats and the NYC Department of Environmental Protection for its support of the program! Many thanks to Johnson Outdoors for making this great community amenity affordable!

The Frost Valley YMCA received the boats, for which we’re also grateful. HarborLAB is working to arrange safety training and environmental educational programs with the Frost Valley YMCA.

We need volunteers and sponsors to make the most of this opportunity! Email support@harborlab.org or volunteer@harborlab.org to help, with the subject, “Neversink.” THANKS!

Happy World Water Day!

Posted on March 22, 2014 by Erik Baard

Raise a glass of water in a toast to water! Remember to drink local tap water, and strive to protect and improve that blessing for future generations.

We’re endowed with water riches in New York City, so please take the chance to celebrate World Water Day by supporting the UN’s efforts to help people who must struggle for the most basic necessity. “Like” the official UN World Water Day fan page Facebook to keep up with water education, resources, and fun all year.

For those wishing to more intensively study water issues, we recommend the powerful local brain trust of the Columbia Water Center.

Spring rains and snowmelt are filling the Neversink Reservoir, where HarborLAB will pioneer public paddling programs this summer! We’re very grateful to the NYC Department of Environmental Protection and Catskill Watershed Corporation for this opportunity to serve. We also give great thanks to our sponsor, the UN Federal Credit Union, for its generous sponsorship of HarborLAB!

Neversink Reservoir. Photo by the Catskill Chronicle.

Neversink Reservoir: FREE Kayaking and Hiking Permits!

Posted on February 10, 2014 by Erik Baard

Get your free five-year access permit to paddle and hike our reservoir system!

Link here:

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/recreation/access.shtml

If you want to volunteer for HarborLAB’s Watershed Wonder Tours (aka ReservoirLAB), or even just participate, you’ll need this permit. Our watershed programs at the Neversink Reservoir begin Memorial Day, but we’d like volunteers, and potential partners and participants, to square this paperwork away early.

It’s quick and easy! Learn more from the full NYC Department of Environmental Protection Neversink Reservoir brochure and the watershed boating website. Watershed Wonder Tours are made possible by NYCDEP permission and a grant from the Catskill Watershed Corporation.

After completing the form, please email edu@harborlab.org with the subject line “Watershed,” telling us that you’ve applied for your permit and how you’d like to help. We also have a Facebook event for the permits. We’ll have educational partnerships fostered by the NYCDEP and perhaps eventually community “walk-up” days with educational and activity booths promoting other water ecology causes.