DEC Grant For Flood Mitigation, Waterway Reconnection In Philipstown

PUTNAM COUNTY, NY — The Walter Hoving Home, Inc. has been awarded $200,000 to replace a culvert on Avery Road in Philipstown known to be a local flood hazard during heavy storm events on Philips Brook.

It's one of two grants recently awarded for projects to restore aquatic connectivity, reduce local flood risks, and improve water quality in Hudson River tributaries. The other is in Rensselaer County.

Funding for these projects is administered by NEIWPCC, a regional commission that helps the states of the Northeast preserve and advance water quality, in partnership with DEC’s Hudson River Estuary Program and supported by New York State’s Environmental Protection Fund.

The $343,852 will jumpstart the implementation of two projects to restore aquatic organism passage and habitat connectivity, Interim DEC Commissioner Sean Mahar said in the announcement. "We commend our partners at NEIWPCC and the towns of Stephentown and Philipstown for their partnerships in advancing these critical projects.”

The Walter Hoving Home, Inc. was awarded $200,000 for the culvert replacement project on Avery Road. The project will result in shovel-ready stamped engineering plans, permit materials, and construction documents. Replacement of the culvert will remove an additional constriction just downstream of a current Hudson River Estuary Program-funded dam removal project with observed eel presence, DEC officials said.

Trout Unlimited, was awarded $143,853 for a culvert removal and replacement project on Calvin Cole Road in Stephentown that will reconnect three and a-half miles of high-quality upstream habitat for aquatic organisms. In addition, the replacement project will mitigate chronic flooding issues for the town. The site was identified as a priority in the Town of Stephentown Road Stream Crossing Management Plan funded by the Hudson River Estuary Program in 2021.

See DEC’s video “Dams & Culverts: Reconnecting Our Waterways” demonstrating culvert right-sizing and dam removal on YouTube.

The Hudson River Estuary Management Program helps communities conserve and protect the Hudson River and its valley. Created in 1987, the DEC program focuses on the tidal Hudson and its adjacent watershed from the dam at Troy to the Verrazano Narrows in New York City.

New York State continues to advance resiliency initiatives and investments that are helping to protect communities. Gov. Kathy Hochul’s comprehensive resiliency plan includes $5.5 billion in water quality infrastructure funding since 2017, the $4.2 billion Clean Water, Clean Air and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act of 2022, and another year of record funding of $400 million for the State’s Environmental Protection Fund. They are just a few of the many actions underway to provide municipalities with resources needed to adapt to and mitigate climate change’s impacts.