In 1972, three Wurtsboro neighbors unified to save what other people saw as useless land; swampland that reportedly stunk and harvested nothing but mosquitoes. The area was the freshwater wetlands called the Basha Kill. The neighbors were Elizabeth Pollock, Rudy Zurl, and Alan Tucker. The catalyst was, according to History of the Basha Kill Area Association, by Elizabeth (Buff) McAllister, when the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) purchased the 2,800 acres of wetland where about 160 property owners lived, through the Environmental Bond Act. Many of the residents were opposed to the sale, but Elizabeth Pollock, Rudy Zurl, and Alan Tucker, while not being opposed to the sale, wanted to

ensure the land was properly maintained by the state.

Pollock was quoted as reasoning, "When the public owns the land, they ruin it." She was in her 70s at the time. She, Zurl, and Tucker formed the group, Basha Kill Wetlands Citizens Committee, that is now the Basha Kill Area Association or simply, BKAA.

On Saturday, July 23 of this year, over 100 current BKAA members gathered at the Town of Mamakating Park to celebrate the organization’s 50 years of volunteer community service and environmental activism. Down the length of the park pavilion, placards displayed project after project that attempted to building developments in the environmentally fragile wetlands area.

Starting with a "big thank you for the gift from Sherry Li," past presidents, board members, consultants, and MEEC director Jackie Broder listed off the many thwarted projects. (Sherry Li was part of one of the groups that wanted to develop the area as “China City.”) Attendees heard of how, along with scientific consultants, local government, town, county, and state organizations, the BKAA sifted through site plans and thwarted each project. BKAA members and Jackie Broder organized the catered event that included live music from local band Breakneck Annie.

Of the current BKAA president, Paula Medley, Broder said, "You don't say ‘no,’ because you know what she's asking doesn't compare to the work she's already doing."

The Power Of The BKAA

Past presidents kept the movement strong at 400 members. With Medley's leadership, it has increased to 800. The group is active with volunteers working on everything, including administrative tasks, planning events like the anniversary celebration, artistic work, clean up, trail maintenance, activism, science, and education. Mainstays of the group include the annual Basha Kill Clean Up, since 1982, nature walks since 1991, the Nature Watch eagle observation, at least 10 years of visitor education initiatives started by Maryallison Farley and water testing started by Linda Lou Barttle, now carried on by Frank Coviello.

The BKAA has sparked a movement within the community, forcing lawmakers and policy makers to take notice, forging relationships and connections within the town itself, as well as neighboring communities, local government, state and even national government.

BKAA, as a long-standing tradition, works with other area organizations like the Deer Park Alliance, the Friends of the Shawangunk, and the Mamakating Library, which co-sponsors many of BKAA’s programs. Through each calendar year the BKAA sponsors several programs, making them free of charge for attendees.

The BKAA also publishes a quarterly magazine, the Guardian, now in its fourth decade of printing (also occasionally digitally reprinted at NewsAtomic.com). The publication, featuring member-written articles, showcases current group events, brings attention to calls for activism, and announces the many classes and scholarships.

The BKAA works with local schools, an education angle that's been in practice since member and teacher, Louise Briggs, started it in 1982. The education extends to the larger community of all ages with the help of the Mamakating Library, the MEEC, and other advisory boards like the aforementioned Deer Park Alliance. The BKAA also awards several significant scholarships to local school students, including homeschoolers.

It's not just nature advocates who fight for the Basha Kill. Its value is prized by outdoor sports enthusiasts of all kinds, including for hunting and fishing. The wetlands supply drinking water. It is part of the Delaware River Watershed and fed from the surrounding lakes, namely Masten Lake and Wilsey Brook, and Shawangunk Ridge runoff. Under the administration of Janet Lybolt, the Town of Mamakating is working with consulting hydrogeologist Kathy Beinkafner, Ph.D., (a long-standing consultant to the BKAA) to designate it as an aquifer; a noted important source of water. With economic disparity growing, environmental justice, like access to natural surroundings and open space, and clean drinking water, is crucial to our area.

Attesting to the outreach work with local government, current Mamakating Town Supervisor Michael Robbins, board member Matt Mordas, planning chairman and friends of MEEC board member Lorrence Green, former Town Supervisor Janet Lybolt, former Sullivan County District 2 Legislator Kathy LaBuda, and Mamakating Library Director Peggy Johansen were in attendance during the celebration. Other local community group members were represented, like Sullivan Renaissance.

What’s In The Land

And what of that so-called useless land? Some opposing residents in 1972 saw the swampland as a mistake. Possibly remembering periods when the glacier-formed valley at the foot of the Shawangunk Ridge and the foothills of the Catskills was used as farmland.

But being formed by glaciers, it was a natural spring, changing from swamp to lake depending on the seasons. It sits parallel to Route 209, what locals know as the oldest road in America, a time-honored passageway for Native Americans as they seasonally migrated to the Hudson River. The People, as they referred to themselves, would camp during spring or summer months in the valley, making use of the fish, wildlife, and medicinal plants that held great significance. The tradition stands strong with residents, organizations, tourists, outdoors people, sportspeople, migratory birds, fauna, flora, insects, and pollinators of all types. Through millennia, known by several names used as one word or two — the Basher, Travelers' Spring, the Basha Kill — as Jackie Broder says, is a, "series of events of nature and people."

BKAA members worked through the COVID pandemic hosting classes, workshops, and trail walks. Trails were open to the public and members even turned out for the Bashakill Clean Up day and even started a new ongoing program reported on in the Shawangunk Journal, the Amphibian Migration Crossing, and worked with the New York/New Jersey Trail Conference beginning the Invasive Species Strike Force.

Projects Gone By

Starting with the Shawanga Lodge/Village project; a 10-year development proposal, the group, with "strong leadership" of Elizabeth Pollock, deeply opposed the 650-unit development that was planned for the head of the Bashakill, with plans to dispose of the effluent (sewage waste) into the wetlands. When the group proved that this would greatly adversely affect the water quality, the project later evolved to include a shopping center, 125-room hotel/motel, and a manmade lake. The group fought hard in their first battle, and working with the DEC put a damper on the project.

Unfortunately, the projects for development, usually promising jobs and lower taxes, but sheltering dumping into the fresh water drinking source and destroying the homes of vast wildlife, come back on repeat.

Some projects pass the scrutiny, like the recent Delaware River Solar (DRS) reported on in the Shawangunk Journal in coverage of the town planning board meetings. Town planner Adriana Beltrani worked with BKAA members to ensure the project adhered to regulations in the new comprehensive plan, ensuring no herbicides or pesticides would be used.

Paula Medley agrees that the strength of the organization is in its members. And persevering brings results. True to her example, Bob Muller said at the celebration, "Without Paula Medley [the Basha Kill] would probably be a parking lot."

It's not always the most vocal who forward the movement. The BKAA has existed for 50 years and continues to grow through quiet dedicated work, almost all of it with no monetary reward. Every small effort moves the group forward.

Environmental activism involves diplomacy, networking, administration, writing, educating, meetings, public hearings, scientific consultants, grant writing, art, being a perpetual quick study, legwork, collecting garbage, taking samples, public speaking, just about every form of communication, and of course the occasional celebration.

The BKAA has survived economic ups and downs, many government administrations, and most recently a pandemic. Through it all, membership has grown and the organization continues to expand its reach through program development. Leading the way are men and women (but, mostly women) forging through the quagmire of requested variances, incomplete site plans, revised applications, subdivisions, and attempts to use the Basha Kill as a dumping ground. The organization, a welcoming group, has many mature members of the community; people in their sixties and beyond, active in vibrant ways, from environmental activism to leading hikes up the Shawangunk Ridge.

The 50-year celebration showed a mix of all ages enjoying an afternoon of going over the group's accomplishments.

Looking Ahead

The group plans to continue the battle. Remembering back 50 years ago, former US Representative Benjamin Gilman was quoted as saying that the Basha Kill is, "...The finest wetlands north of the Everglades."

Now voters need to decide again as New York State visits another bond act, the Environmental Bond Act of 202022, which aims to issue $4.20 billion in general obligation bonds for projects classified as climate change mitigation, flood-risk reduction, water infrastructure, and land conservation and recreation. To view more on this bill visit the following link: bit.ly/3QjCPhA.