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53-672: East Branch may refer to: East Branch Delaware River , Delaware County, New York East Branch Handsome Brook , Delaware County, New York East Branch Township, Marion County, Kansas East Branch (Newtown Creek) , estuary between the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, in New York City See also [ edit ] All pages with titles beginning with East Branch Branch (disambiguation) West Branch (disambiguation) North Branch (disambiguation) South Branch (disambiguation) [REDACTED] Topics referred to by

106-493: A native of the area, published "A Summer Voyage", recounting a solo boat trip down the East Branch from Arkville to Hancock. There are many variant names for the river that include: Papaconck, Papakonk River, Papotunk River, Pepachton River, Pepacton Branch, Popacton River, Popaxtunk Branch. The East Branch Delaware River rises in eastern Delaware County , from a small pond next to a gas station on Route 30 just below

159-503: A number of summits and patrols were regularly made along railroad lines to catch cinder fires before they got too big. It also changed the way the region was seen by visitors. An era dominated by hotels such as the Catskill Mountain House at North-South Lake which catered to the well-to-do and socially prominent was passing its prime, and in its place outdoor recreationists were becoming interested in dry-fly fishing

212-536: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages East Branch Delaware River The river was impounded just north of Downsville in the mid-20th century to create Pepacton Reservoir , part of the New York City water supply system supplying drinking water to the City. It is a popular destination for fly fishing for brown trout . In 1881 John Burroughs ,

265-628: Is in the Catskill Mountains in the U.S. state of New York . It consists of 700,000 acres (280,000 ha; 2,800 km ) of land inside a Blue Line in four counties: Delaware , Greene , Sullivan , and Ulster . As of 2005, 287,500 acres (116,300 ha) or 41 percent of the land within, is owned by the state as part of the Forest Preserve ; it is managed by the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). Another 5%

318-416: Is owned by New York City to protect four of the city's reservoirs in the region that lie partially within the park and their respective watersheds . There are bobcats , minks and fishers in the preserve, and coyotes are often heard. There are some 400 black bears living in the region. The state operates numerous campgrounds and there are over 300 miles (500 km) of multi-use trails. Hunting

371-416: Is permitted, in season, in much of the park. It has approximately 50,000 permanent residents, bolstered somewhat by second-home ownership on weekends and in the summer, and attracts about half a million visitors every year. The park is governed by Article 14 of the state constitution, which stipulates that all land owned or acquired by the state within cannot be sold or otherwise transferred (absent amending

424-938: The Adirondack Park , the Catskill Park does not include all the land generally considered to be part of the Catskill Range. However, all but two of the 35 Catskill High Peaks are inside the Blue Line . The area was used by the Mahican and Esopus Native Americans primarily for hunting. Later it was heavily exploited by the Dutch, English, Irish, and Germans; local industry included logging, bluestone quarrying , leather tanning , wintergreen and blueberry harvesting, trapping, fishing, and later, tourism. The old-growth hemlock and northern hardwood forests on

477-611: The Ashokan Reservoir . In 1905 the state approved the creation of water supply commissions at various local governmental levels , as well as one at the state level to resolve disputes, like the one rapidly brewing between the city and the Catskill communities over its plan to condemn land for the construction of two reservoirs, Ashokan and what is now Schoharie Reservoir , plus the Shandaken Tunnel to connect

530-804: The Interstate 87 section of the New York State Thruway up the Hudson Valley , and the upgrading of Route 17 from a two-lane road into a freeway , along much of the park's southwestern border greatly increased access to the Park during the 1950s and '60s, although the latter encountered fierce opposition from trout fishermen over some of the original bridges along the Beaver Kill, which would have destroyed some favored holes. New York City built three more reservoirs partially within

583-597: The Long Path past it. George Pataki , who had been elected governor in 1995, decided to put the project on hold citing financial considerations. The site, locally referred to as the "road to nowhere," was maintained, but had little to do except stop and picnic and follow the short nature trail that has been cut through the nearby woods. Finishing the project was a cornerstone recommendation of DEC's 1999 Public Access Plan, which again followed an Adirondack lead and proposed ways to increase public knowledge and awareness of

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636-467: The trout streams, hunting and hiking the mountains. In 1892, the state spent $ 250 to build a trail up Slide Mountain, which had only recently been proven by Arnold Henry Guyot to be the range's highest peak and was thus attracting a great deal of tourist interest. It would be the first hiking trail built at public expense in New York's Forest Preserve, and is still the most heavily used route up

689-577: The Adirondack Park. The former was similar in philosophy to those the federal government had already been designating in National parks and forests in the West, but slightly less restrictive; the latter is an even less restrictive category that exists only in New York's Forest Preserve and allows for greater human impact. The practical effects are discussed below under Management. A Master Plan

742-553: The Adirondacks, whose preservation was motivated by a desire on the part of the state's businessmen to prevent the Erie Canal from silting up and thus becoming unnavigable. At the same time Ulster had lost a lawsuit against the state and had been ordered to pay the back taxes. Two Assemblymen from the county (one of whom, Cornelius Hardenbergh, was a descendant of Johannes Hardenbergh , the original crown grantee of much of

795-488: The Adirondacks. It took in as its area of study not just the Park but everywhere that could possibly be considered part of the Catskill region: all four counties of the Park, as well as Schoharie , Otsego and two towns in the southwestern corner of Albany County . It was the state's first-ever effort to look at what resources the Catskills had and what could be done with them. The Adirondack commission's recommendation for

848-465: The Catskill Park consisted of all lands within the Blue Line, not just those owned by the state. Shortly afterwards, a new section was added to Article 14 to allow the construction of reservoirs on up to three percent of the total land in each park. The City of Greater New York , having merged in 1898, began looking for new water resources the very next year, and its existing system of reservoirs in

901-564: The Catskills have a warm summer humid continental climate ( Dfb ) with some isolated locations in valleys with hot summer humid continental climate ( Dfa ). The plant hardiness zone on Slide Mountain at 4,180 ft (1,270 m) is 5a with an average annual extreme minimum temperature of -16.6 °F (-27.0 °C). The plant hardiness zone in Margaretville at 1,000 ft (300 m) is 5b with an average annual extreme minimum temperature of -10.6 °F (-23.7 °C) Under

954-528: The Catskills in 1708) who had been elected because of their firm stands against paying the taxes, lobbied their fellow legislators heavily to pass a second version of the Forest Preserve Act, one that not only forgave the county's tax debt in exchange for the lands at issue, but required that the state would henceforth pay whatever local property taxes were required on the land as if they were intended for commercial use (i.e., logging). That provision

1007-696: The Conservation Department, which had been managing the Catskills and Adirondacks, with several other agencies to create the new Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), which exists and manages the Forest Preserve to this day. An idea that the Catskill Center had been pressing for was realized in 1973, when the state created a Temporary Commission to Study the Future of the Catskills, similar to one that it had set up in

1060-551: The Delaware's watershed, from the east just outside Arkville . This confluence also puts the Catskill Park Blue Line in the middle of the channel. Route 30 remains parallel as the East Branch returns to the southwest, flowing through the small village of Margaretville , the first significant settlement along the river, where NY 28 joins Route 30. The two roads remain alongside for the next few miles as

1113-451: The East Branch widens into Pepacton Reservoir . A short distance from the north end of the reservoir, Route 28 leaves Route 30 at the hamlet of Dunraven cleared to make room for the reservoir. Pepacton Reservoir continues, with the Blue Line along its north shore, carrying the river through the towns of Andes and Colchester as its course moves more to the west. Route 30 crosses it midway along its length. The Downsville Dam just north of

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1166-606: The Master Plan. It would designate more of the wild forest areas as wilderness and establish some more rules for the use of wilderness, such as limits on group size. The most controversial aspect, however, was its decision to limit mountain biking to designated trails and ban them from wilderness areas. While this had been done everywhere else where wilderness protection existed, mountain bikers and their organizations have lobbied hard for an exception, arguing that bicycles are not machines and do not deserve to be banned from use of

1219-624: The Park's resources. Some were implemented (such as improving and extending the trail system, which occurred later that year when a trail across Mill Brook Ridge was completed as part of the Finger Lakes Trail , linking the trail network on the lesser peaks in the Delaware County section of the park with the long-established system in Ulster and Greene counties), some have not been. Also in 1999, Governor Pataki designated most of

1272-592: The Park: Neversink , Rondout and Pepacton . In 1957, the Blue Line had expanded to its present configuration, taking in not only the lands almost to the Kingston city limit and Thruway at the east, but more of Sullivan and Delaware counties in the west. Trails and other recreational resources remained underused, however. In 1966 the Catskill Mountain 3500 Club , a peak bagging organization,

1325-476: The addition of 121,000 acres (49,000 ha; 490 km ) to the state's holdings. The economic collapse of the late 1920s and 1930s made a lot of desirable land available at low prices, and with the notably aggressive Robert Moses in charge of the state parks, valuable properties like the Devil's Path Range, the summit of Slide Mountain and Windham High Peak became part of the Forest Preserve. From 1926 to 1931

1378-563: The city and Westchester County would not be able to keep up with demand for much longer. The city at first turned to land in Rockland County now part of Harriman State Park , but found a group of speculators called the Ramapo Water Company had beaten them to the water rights. It was thus essential to go even further north, and only in the Catskill Park could it find the land to condemn around Esopus Creek and create

1431-399: The commission considered the same recommendation for the Catskills, it ultimately decided against it in its final report in 1975 (it did try to promulgate a master land use plan, but that was rejected). What it did recommend was a master plan for the state land in the Forest Preserve, important since management was divided (and still is) between two different DEC regions, which had never been on

1484-570: The constitution, which has been done on several occasions), may not be used for logging and must remain "forever wild." The park boundary stretches from near the Hudson River just west of the city of Kingston in the east to the East Branch of the Delaware River near Hancock at its westernmost. Its northern extreme is at Windham and its southernmost point is between the hamlet of Napanoch and Rondout Reservoir . In contrast to

1537-475: The divide with the Hudson River watershed southwest of the hamlet of Grand Gorge and flows initially SSW, through the town of Roxbury . Its upper course winds through a narrow valley containing the river and Route 30. Just past the Middletown town line, the river flows through Wawaka Lake and then receives Dry Brook , whose tributaries drain the town of Halcott , the only part of Greene County in

1590-734: The east. Here Route 30 ends at the Route 17 expressway, slowly being converted into Interstate 86 , parallels the river, crossing back and forth. At the Hancock town line, the Blue Line turns to follow it south, taking the East Branch out of the Catskill Park. A few miles below that, at the village of Hancock , it turns south and joins the West Branch to create the Delaware's main stem. Not including tributaries of Pepacton Reservoir Right Left Catskill Park The Catskill Park

1643-521: The end of the decade as what hikers there were tended to bypass the Catskills in favor of the Adirondacks and higher peaks in northern New England . Unlike those regions, no lasting organizations of hikers and other passive outdoor recreationists were ever formed around the Catskills (a brief attempt to create a Catskill Mountain Club in the late 1920s sputtered out after a few years). The New York - New Jersey Trail Conference now updates and maintains many of

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1696-475: The establishment of a park-wide land use agency, the Adirondack Park Agency had been implemented in full, only to arouse great fury in that region as it issued zoning regulations far stricter than some towns had already enacted and mounted battles against longtime local residents over relatively small infractions. Catskills residents were worried that a similar solution awaited them. While

1749-406: The food provided by those lands; the lesser quality lands were wasted, producing nothing except destructive fires. A team of forest experts, led by Harvard professor Charles Sprague Sargent , had visited the region when the original Forest Preserve bill was being studied and recommended against including the Catskills in its protections, as its forests "guard only streams of local influence," unlike

1802-424: The loopholes that loggers and officials on the state's Forest Preserve Advisory Board had been using. Article 14 has survived several other major constitutional revisions. The park's creation meant an increase in state resources focused on the region. First came fire protection, a move greatly welcomed by the local governments and one that was to make a long-lasting impact on the region, as fire towers were built on

1855-423: The many Eastern hemlocks growing there at the time, took the trees, made their money and then left the region without paying taxes. The lands left behind were, if still good quality, often snapped up for use as private hunting and fishing clubs for wealthy businessmen from outside the region, whose determined enforcement of trespassing and poaching laws stirred resentment among the local populace long accustomed to

1908-447: The mountain today. That year had also seen the delineation of the Adirondack Park to the north, as the state sought to focus its land-acquisition efforts, by designating particular towns for inclusion, drawing a line in blue ink around them, a custom that continues on all official state maps today. Twelve years later, in 1904, it was decided to do the same with the Catskills. But this Blue Line used not existing municipal boundaries but

1961-408: The old Hardenbergh Patent survey lots , watercourses and railroad rights-of-way , creating a finer, more focused park that gave some of the towns on its periphery areas where they could be assured land would not be subject to Article 14. A similar revision would follow suit in the Adirondacks, and future expansions of both parks would follow this model. In 1912 the law was again amended to say that

2014-547: The park. For the next 50 years, within the Blue Line, the state continued to acquire land (first through the State Parks Council and successor agencies, later through the Conservation Department). As time and money permitted, the state developed trails , lean-tos and towers in a piecemeal manner. Bond issues approved by voters in 1916 and 1924 for a total of $ 12.5 million led ultimately to

2067-404: The same page nor known what the other was doing. It further recommended, following contemporary trends in public-land management (and a recommendation a special legislative committee had made back in 1960), that at least four of the growing tracts, or "management units" of Forest Preserve be formally designated as either wilderness areas or wild forests , again following a distinction drawn in

2120-429: The same term This disambiguation page lists articles about distinct geographical locations with the same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=East_Branch&oldid=1134341840 " Category : Place name disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

2173-408: The state legislature was considering the bill that created the Adirondack Park, Ulster County was trying to get out of paying delinquent property taxes that, under the law passed over its objections six years earlier, it owed the state. The lands, mostly around Slide Mountain had come into the county's possession when loggers looking to extract tannin for use in tanning leather from the bark of

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2226-575: The state opened its first four public campgrounds within the park. New Deal programs during the Great Depression such as the Civilian Conservation Corps made labor available to build trails and replant forests. The state's Conservation Commission was able to compile the first of a series of "Catskill Trails" booklets. However, the trails built by the state rapidly fell into disuse, Raymond H. Torrey would note by

2279-475: The steep mountainsides and remote valleys were sufficiently inaccessible that they survived the logging, tanbarking and charcoal industries of the 18th and 19th centuries. Inhabitants of the region often tell visitors the Park was created to protect New York City's water resources. However, the park itself was created 30 years before the first reservoir ( Ashokan ) was built, before the city had started looking north to fulfill its growing water needs. In 1885, as

2332-471: The summits of the High Peaks as Bird Conservation Areas, in recognition of the importance of their boreal forests as summer habitat for Bicknell's thrush , only recently declared to be a separate species. It was the first such designation within either Forest Preserve, and the Adirondacks would this time be the one to follow suit a few years later. In 2003, DEC released its long-awaited draft update to

2385-610: The trails in Catskill Park, including many around Slide Mountain (Ulster County, New York) . The most important change during this time period was the amending of Article 14, in 1948 to allow for the construction of Belleayre Mountain Ski Center and thus encourage skiers to come to the Catskills, following the lead taken in the Adirondacks by the creation of Whiteface and Gore ski areas. It remains in operation and several other private ski areas such as Hunter Mountain and Windham Mountain have followed its lead. The construction of

2438-449: The two. The city prevailed, and construction of Ashokan began the next year, requiring the removal of several small hamlets and many residents in the process (some, such as Shokan , West Shokan and Olive Bridge, survive on its banks). The Esopus was dammed in 1913 and started sending water to the city two years later. Land claims continued to be resolved in area courts until 1940. It was the first of several city reservoirs in and around

2491-474: The village of that name marks the reservoir's southern end. Below the dam and its spillway the river narrows again, to where routes 30 and 206 cross just outside the village. It continues winding through a wider valley alongside Route 30 to East Branch, where the East Branch's most significant tributary, the Beaver Kill , a world-renowned trout stream that rises in western Ulster County , flows in from

2544-462: The wake of the Woodstock festival , the Catskills were among the many places whose campgrounds and trails began to see many backpacking enthusiasts of the counter-culture. Previously underused trails began to finally see serious usage, almost to the point of overuse. On Earth Day in 1970, Governor Nelson Rockefeller signed legislation that recognized growing environmental concerns by combining

2597-623: The wilderness. DEC missed its target date of 2004, to coincide with the park's centennial celebrations, for the release of the final version. The revised master plan was adopted in August 2008. The Interpretive Center project was completed and unveiled on July 1, 2015. A nature trail opened near the center in 2016. According to the Köppen climate classification system, the Catskill Mountains have two climate zones. The vast majority of

2650-479: Was begun and pursued under the administration of Governor Mario Cuomo . A site was found on New York State Route 28 near the hamlet of Mount Tremper. It was cleared and roads were built to facilitate the eventual building. The Palisades Interstate Park Commission was to operate it (to get around the restrictions of Article 14) and the New York–New Jersey Trail Conference made plans to route

2703-423: Was developed and implemented in the early 1980s. DEC got busy finally clarifying what user groups (in addition to hikers, snowmobilers , horseback riders and cross-country skiers ) were allowed on which trails, and marking them appropriately. Advocates for the Catskills wanted to build an Interpretive Center, that would educate visitors about the park and its purpose, as a focus for regional tourism. This project

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2756-634: Was formally incorporated after having existed informally for several years – the first organization devoted to, among other things, speaking for the Catskill hiking community. Three years later, in 1969, the Catskill Center for Conservation and Development was founded. By the early 1970s, the Borscht Belt era was ending, as the restrictions on Jewish guests at other hotels and resorts that had given rise to it fell victim to civil rights laws , and younger generations of Jews in any event felt more assimilated than their parents and grandparents had. In

2809-427: Was later applied to the Adirondacks as well; it remains in force today and makes the difference between survival and insolvency for many towns and other local governmental entities in both parks. As the timber industry kept making determined efforts to undermine the bill, its original sponsors took the occasion of New York adopting a new constitution in 1894 to enshrine it in that document, with language that plugged all

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