Fishkill Creek (also Fish Kill, from the Dutch ''vis kille'', for "fish creek") is a

tributary A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they ...

of the

Hudson River The Hudson River, historically the North River, is a river that flows from north to south largely through eastern New York (state), New York state. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains at Henderson Lake (New York), Henderson Lake in the ...

in Dutchess County, New York, United States. At U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
, accessed October 3, 2011 it is the second-longest stream in the county, after Wappinger Creek. It rises in the town of Union Vale and flows generally southwest to a small

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime enviro ...

on the Hudson just south of Beacon. Part of its watershed is in Putnam County to the south. Sprout Creek, the county's third-longest creek, is its most significant tributary. Whaley and Sylvan lakes and

Beacon Reservoir Beacon Reservoir supplies water to the city of Beacon, in Dutchess County, New York, United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. ...

, its largest, deepest and highest lakes, are among the bodies of water within the watershed. While the creek is not impounded for use in any local water supply, it remains a focus of regional conservation efforts as a recreational and aesthetic resource, especially since the lower Fishkill watershed has been extensively developed in the last two decades. It flows through several local parks and is a popular

trout Trout (: trout) is a generic common name for numerous species of carnivorous freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of which are members of the subfamily Salmoninae in the ...

stream. Industries and mills along it helped spur the settlement of the region.

Course

Clove and Sweezy brooks, themselves fed by tributaries named and unnamed draining the steep slopes on either side of the narrow upper Clove Valley in the town of Union Vale, drain the swamps of the valley into Pray Pond just north of the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

of Clove. Fishkill Creek is the pond's outflow. It follows Clove Valley Road ( County Route 9) closely at first, flowing almost due south alongside it, then swings westward into woods after receiving Christie Pond's outlet brook opposite Clove Cemetery. At a short loop in a swampy area where Bruzgul Road (County Route 21) crosses twice, it receives another tributary, doubles back to the north around a hill to receive another one and then returns to its southward course to widen into McKinney Pond. Once it crosses Bruzgul Road again, it is in Tymor Park, Union Vale's major community center. At the park's south end it flows into Furnace Pond, named for an iron mine that was once nearby, and then into the town of Beekman. It returns to the side of County Route 9, now Clove Valley Road, and crosses under the NY 55

state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either Route number, numbered or maintained by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered ...

just west of its intersection with Route 9. As that road climbs the side of a hill, Fishkill Creek crosses to its east side. It continues past Beekman's main park to the hamlet of Beekman, then is impounded into a new, unnamed lake near Green Haven Correctional Facility. Shortly afterwards it crosses into the town of East Fishkill. At the town line, south of the hamlet of Stormville, it receives the Whaley Lake outlet brook. It flows westerly through more woods and swamps to where it receives the Sylvan Lake outlet brook just east of the Taconic State Parkway. After crossing underneath, it parallels the parkway south on its west side, then turns west again and makes a northward bend around another hill to once again parallel County Route 9, now Beekman Road, for a short distance, then follows the hill's base to the south. From here it meanders under the Metro-North Beacon Line south of Hopewell Junction where it receives . It passes the Hopewell Recreation Center and then flows under NY 376. It parallels another state road, NY 82, through a wooded, undeveloped area for several miles to where it receives its longest tributary, Sprout Creek, at the Fishkill town line. It widens into a series of large pools south of Brinckerhoff, at the foot of Honness Mountain where NY 52 crosses. From here it flows more to the west-southwest, a wide stream paralleling Route 52 and the Beacon Line. It crosses under US 9 in a developed area just south of the

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

of Fishkill. It then turns to the southwest again and receives Clove Creek, a tributary that rises in Fahnestock State Park to the south and drains the Putnam County portion of the Fishkill watershed, just before it flows under Interstate 84. Beyond the interstate it continues southwest alongside the base of the northern slopes of Fishkill Ridge, the northernmost end of the

Hudson Highlands The Hudson Highlands are mountains on both sides of the Hudson River in New York (state), New York state lying primarily in Putnam County, New York, Putnam County on its east bank and Orange County, New York, Orange County on its west. They conti ...

. It detours slightly to the north near Glenham and then resumes its southwesterly course as it flows into the city of Beacon, where it passes through the eastern section of the city in a narrow valley with the Beacon Line running along its shore. There are many rapids and waterfalls as it descends more sharply to the Hudson. Here it receives its last tributary, Dry Brook, which drains

on the ridgetop. South of the Wolcott Avenue ( NY 9D) bridge, the shores become wooded again as it flows over Tioronda Dam and under the remains of Tioronda Bridge. Below here the creek's

opens up, and after being split by a small island it flows under a

causeway A causeway is a track, road or railway on the upper point of an embankment across "a low, or wet place, or piece of water". It can be constructed of earth, masonry, wood, or concrete. One of the earliest known wooden causeways is the Sweet T ...

carrying Metro-North's Hudson Line and empties into the Hudson south of Denning Point.

Watershed

Fishkill Creek's watershed is the second largest in Dutchess County after Wappinger Creek to the north. It includes almost the entire towns of Beekman and Union Vale, large portions of East Fishkill and Fishkill, sections of

LaGrange Joseph-Louis Lagrange (born Giuseppe Luigi LagrangiaWappinger and small areas in Pleasant Valley and Washington. The Whaley Lake basin, which also includes and Nuclear lakes, is in Pawling. In Putnam County the largest town represented is Philipstown, whose northwestern section (the Clove Creek watershed) drains into the Fishkill. A small portion is in

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, with an even smaller portion in Putnam Valley marking the watershed's southernmost point. To the north is the Wappinger Creek watershed. The Ten Mile River basin, the only portion of New York that drains into the

Housatonic River The Housatonic River ( ) is a river, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 in western Massachusetts and western Connecticut in the United ...

, is to the east. On the southeast are the headwaters of the Croton River, an important part of New York City's water supply, with smaller tributaries of the Hudson like Melzingah Brook and Surprise Brook rising on the southeast. The creek's valley is mostly low-lying level land, with the exception of the area above its headwaters in Union Vale. Most of its descent takes place either in its uppermost 10 miles (16 km), above Poughquag, or its lowermost 5 miles (8 km), below the village of Fishkill, both stretches of which account for each of its total drop. The average elevation within the watershed is above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

.Burns, David; Vasilakos, Lisa and Oestrike, Rick; , Dutchess County Environmental Management Council and Fishkill Creek Watershed Committee, June 2005, 2. Retrieved April 20, 2010 To the south and east are hiller regions of the Taconic Mountains, part of the Highlands Province

physiographic region Physiographic regions are a means of defining Earth's landforms into independently distinct, mutually exclusive areas, independent of political boundaries. It is based upon the classic three-tiered approach by Nevin M. Fenneman in 1916, that separ ...

of the

Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, are a mountain range in eastern to northeastern North America. The term "Appalachian" refers to several different regions associated with the mountain range, and its surrounding terrain ...

. The highest point in the Fishkill's watershed is South Beacon Mountain, also the highest peak of the

, a few miles from the creek's estuary, which is almost at sea level. In Union Vale, near the creek's source, Clove Mountain rises to . There are of tributaries within the watershed. The longest is Sprout Creek, which flows south ''Management Plan'', 87. from Millbrook to Hopewell Junction. Within the watershed, there are also around of ponds or lakes. The largest of these is Whaley Lake, at also the largest lake in the county. The next-largest lake in the watershed, Sylvan Lake, is the county's deepest.''Management Plan'', 22. NY 292 near Whaley Lake

Water bodies and

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

s cover about 9.8% of the total watershed area. Forests cover 50%, the largest

land use Land use is an umbrella term to describe what happens on a parcel of land. It concerns the benefits derived from using the land, and also the land management actions that humans carry out there. The following categories are used for land use: fo ...

category in it. Most are concentrated in the northern, eastern and southern extremes. Residential and agricultural uses account for 21% and 10% respectively. Residential use is heaviest along the lower Sprout Creek and the lower section of Fishkill Creek from Fishkill to Beacon. Agricultural use is most common on the fringes of the more developed areas near the streams.''Management Plan'', 14. There are many parks and

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewood ...

s within the watershed. The largest is Clarence Fahnestock State Park in Putnam County; however only a portion of that park is within the Fishkill Creek basin. The largest protected area entirely within the watershed is the Sharpe Reservation straddling the county line. The Fishkill Ridge Conservation Area, on that mountain, is the largest within the area open to the public. Publicly protected areas in the watershed include James Baird State Park off the Taconic Parkway and the Taconic-Hereford Multiple Use Area nearby. Union Vale's Tymor Park near the creek's source is the largest local park. The Innisfree Garden landscape in Pleasant Valley, near the north end of the watershed, is irrigated with water pumped from Tyrrell Lake. In addition, of the

Appalachian Trail The Appalachian Trail, also called the A.T., is a hiking trail in the Eastern United States, extending almost between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine, and passing through 14 states.Gailey, Chris (2006)"Appalachian Tra ...

runs along the southern fringe of the watershed, much of it on other protected lands or corridor owned by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

.''Management Plan'', 67. Of the municipalities predominantly within the watershed, East Fishkill is the most populous, with more than 25,000 residents as of the 2000 census. The town and village of Fishkill are the next largest with almost 22,000. Beacon, the third-most populous community in the watershed at almost 14,000, has the highest

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

in the watershed with 2,892 people per square mile.''Management Plan'', 65.

Climate

Based on weather reports from the Institute of Ecosystem Studies (IES) near Millbrook and Dutchess County Airport in Wappinger, both just outside it to the north and west respectively, the watershed has the

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

typical of much of the Northeast. Temperatures tend to vary considerably over the year, with periods of unusual extremes of heat or cold possible.''Management Plan'', 61. The average annual temperature recorded over a 30-year period at the airport is . Monthly means range from in January to in July. Average annual precipitation is , with minimum monthly means varying from in February to in May. An average of of snow falls in the watershed each year, with January's snowfall being the highest monthly mean. There are 6,267 annual heating degree days and 645 cooling degree days. IES has measured precipitation acidity in the area since 1984. Rainfall in the area has an average pH of 4.27, with averages falling to 4.00 in July but rising to 4.54 in November. This means the rain in Dutchess County and the watershed is ten times more acidic than the natural 5.2 reading for precipitation.

River modifications

There are 13 dams along the creek. Five are located in Beacon,''Management Plan'', 34. most built to serve past industry there (one is still used for

hydroelectric power Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

generation. The highest, near the city's downtown section, is tall. Three are in Beekman and two are in Fishkill, the latter built by

Texaco Texaco, Inc. ("The Texas Company") is an American Petroleum, oil brand owned and operated by Chevron Corporation. Its flagship product is its Gasoline, fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owned the Havoline motor oil brand. Texaco was an Independ ...

for a research facility it ran in the area from 1931 to 2003. The dams along the upper Fishkill impound the stream into old mill ponds, such as Furnace Pond in Tymor Park, just above the site of an old iron smelter, giving the pond its name. The dams prevent the upstream movement of fish at all stages of the creek. Tioronda Bridge from west

The oldest extant bridge over the creek is Tioronda Bridge, just above its estuary in Beacon. It was an iron bowstring truss bridge built shortly after the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

that carried South Avenue across the Fishkill. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1976, but it had deteriorated so much that by the end of the 20th century it had been closed even to pedestrians. In 2006 the city dismantled it, preserving the bowstring trusses for possible reuse on a rebuilt bridge. The abutments remain in the stream, carrying some utility pipes only.

Wildlife

The creek and its watershed support a great diversity of species. As a

fishery Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life or, more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a., fishing grounds). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish far ...

, it is stocked with brown trout, and has a significant

brook trout The brook trout (''Salvelinus fontinalis'') is a species of freshwater fish in the char genus ''Salvelinus'' of the salmon family Salmonidae native to Eastern North America in the United States and Canada. Two ecological forms of brook trout h ...

population as well. The estuary supports a largemouth and

smallmouth bass The smallmouth bass (''Micropterus dolomieu'') is a species of freshwater fish in the Centrarchidae, sunfish family (biology), family (Centrarchidae) of the order (biology), order Centrarchiformes. It is the type species of its genus ''Micropterus ...

population.''Management Plan'', 61–2. Some plant and animal species found near the creek and in its watershed are on the state list of

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

threatened species A threatened species is any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which is vulnerable to extinction in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensatio ...

. The former include the bog turtle, wild hydrangea and live-forever. Threatened species in the creek and watershed include the

bald eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche ...

, Blanding's turtle,

least bittern The least bittern (''Botaurus exilis'') is a small heron, the smallest member of the family Ardeidae found in the Americas. This species was formerly placed in the genus ''Ixobrychus''. Taxonomy The least bittern was Species description, forma ...

, pied-billed grebe, stiff-leaf goldenrod, swamp cottonwood and blazing star. Several

salamander Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All t ...

and turtle species are also species of concern. Eurasian watermilfoil, an

invasive species An invasive species is an introduced species that harms its new environment. Invasive species adversely affect habitats and bioregions, causing ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage. The term can also be used for native spec ...

, has been seen in some areas.

Geology

The creek flows through two distinct geological regions within the Highlands: the Mid-Hudson Valley and the

. Both have different types of

bedrock In geology, bedrock is solid rock that lies under loose material ( regolith) within the crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet. Definition Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface material. An exposed portion of bed ...

, impacting the nature of the stream and allowing for differences in

aquifer An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing material, consisting of permeability (Earth sciences), permeable or fractured rock, or of unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, or silt). Aquifers vary greatly in their characteristics. The s ...

development.''Management Plan'', 55–56. The Mid-Hudson Valley region underlying most of Fishkill Creek consists of

sedimentary Sedimentary rocks are types of rock formed by the cementation of sediments—i.e. particles made of minerals (geological detritus) or organic matter (biological detritus)—that have been accumulated or deposited at Earth's surface. Sedime ...

rocks such as

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of Clay mineral, clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g., Kaolinite, kaolin, aluminium, Al2Silicon, Si2Oxygen, O5(hydroxide, OH)4) and tiny f ...

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

s, siltstones and dolomitic

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

s that formed during the

Cambrian The Cambrian ( ) is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 51.95 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran period 538.8 Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the Ordov ...

and

Ordovician The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and System (geology), system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era (geology), Era, and the second of twelve periods of the Phanerozoic Eon (geology), Eon. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years f ...

periods of the Paleozoic Era, roughly 450–540 million years ago. These rocks become modified into

metamorphic Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock to new types of rock in a process called metamorphism. The original rock (protolith) is subjected to temperatures greater than and, often, elevated pressure of or more, causi ...

equivalents as a result of the formation of the

, which left large

thrust fault A thrust fault is a break in the Earth's crust, across which older rocks are pushed above younger rocks. Thrust geometry and nomenclature Reverse faults A thrust fault is a type of reverse fault that has a dip of 45 degrees or less. I ...

s in the area, the further east one gets from the Hudson. Shales become

schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock generally derived from fine-grained sedimentary rock, like shale. It shows pronounced ''schistosity'' (named for the rock). This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a l ...

s, limestones become

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is ty ...

s, and sandstone become

quartzite Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock that was originally pure quartz sandstone.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition, Stephen Marshak, p 182 Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tecton ...

s in the eastern regions of Dutchess County. These rocks create better aquifers than their sedimentary counterparts. In the Hudson Highlands, the stream's bedrock is primarily metamorphic gneiss, with some

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

and

amphibolite Amphibolite () is a metamorphic rock that contains amphibole, especially hornblende and actinolite, as well as plagioclase feldspar, but with little or no quartz. It is typically dark-colored and dense, with a weakly foliated or schistose ...

. These are older rocks, formed in high temperatures and pressures more than a billion years ago in the Pre-Cambrian. These generally make poor aquifers, although individual houses can use one if they overlie a fault where

groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and Pore space in soil, soil pore spaces and in the fractures of stratum, rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available fresh water in the world is groundwater. A unit ...

collects.

History

The

Iroquois The Iroquois ( ), also known as the Five Nations, and later as the Six Nations from 1722 onwards; alternatively referred to by the Endonym and exonym, endonym Haudenosaunee ( ; ) are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Ind ...

tribes of the area called the stream ''Tioronda'': "Little stream that flows into big water". Dutch settlers called it ''Vis Kill'' (Dutch for "fish creek") for the abundant fish in the stream. When control of the area passed to the English, it was

Anglicized Anglicisation or anglicization is a form of cultural assimilation whereby something non-English becomes assimilated into or influenced by the culture of England. It can be sociocultural, in which a non-English place adopts the English language ...

to ''Fishkill Creek'' (the addition of "Creek" creates a bilingual tautology, as kill is the Dutch word for creek, though this is not common knowledge to English speakers). In the late 17th century, two New York City merchants, Francis Rombout and Gulian Verplanck, bought , most of it in the creek's watershed, from the local Indians. Verplanck died before the transaction could be finished, and with his share divided among his heirs the land became known as the Rombout Patent. In 1709 his daughter Catheryna and her husband Roger Brett became the first European settlers in the Fishkill valley. She administered the subdivision and sale of the patent lands from her house, which still stands near downtown Beacon, the oldest continuously occupied house in Dutchess County. They also built the first mill on the creek in 1717. The upper Fishkill was settled around the same time. Henry Beekman, after boundary disputes with the Rombout patentees were resolved in their favor, obtained a crown grant of his own in 1703 for the lands now in the towns of Beekman and Union Vale. In 1710 the first settlers put down roots. One of them, six years later, was Zacharias Flagler, ancestor of Henry Morrison Flagler. Vanwyckhomesteadfishkill2006

During the Revolutionary War, the Fishkill south of the village of Fishkill was a key location for the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies representing the Thirteen Colonies and later the United States during the American Revolutionary War. It was formed on June 14, 1775, by a resolution passed by the Second Continental Co ...

. Troops were on continuous alert should the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

try to push up through the Highlands to the south and retake the

Hudson Valley The Hudson Valley or Hudson River Valley comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The region stretches from the Capital District (New York), Capital District includi ...

, a move that could have cut the colonies in half. At the junction of two major overland routes, it was also the site of a key supply depot, and a large encampment of soldiers was located on on the south of the creek, about where the interchange of Interstate 84 and US 9 is located now.

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

passed through the area frequently. In 2009 the graves of as many as 700 soldiers were discovered at the site. As

industrialization Industrialisation (British English, UK) American and British English spelling differences, or industrialization (American English, US) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an i ...

began in the 19th century, factories joined the mills in tapping the Fishkill for waterpower. They also discharged their wastes into the stream. In 1853 businessmen in Matteawan, now part of Beacon, dammed Whaley Lake to control water levels downstream, expanding the lake to its present size. In the early 20th century the watershed was among the many considered by a state commission for an expansion of the New York City water supply system, which was being strained by the city's rapid growth. The commission postulated that a reservoir near Stormville could be built for a cost of $17.4 millionBurr, 18. ($ in contemporary dollars) and provide storage capacity of .Burr, 22. The Fishkill had the advantage of being immediately to the north of the Croton River watershed in Putnam and Westchester counties already tapped by the city, so it would not be necessary to build a long aqueduct to bring water to the city from the new reservoir. " s waters can be secured more quickly than those of any other supply of equal amount" in the state, the commission wrote in its 1904 report. The city ultimately decided not to use the Fishkill and instead acquired the land to build Ashokan Reservoir on Esopus Creek in

Ulster County Ulster County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. It is situated along the Hudson River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 181,851. The county seat is Kingston. The county is named after the Irish province of Ulster. The count ...

, across the Hudson. In the later 20th century, after the industrial use of the lower watershed had declined somewhat, the area saw explosive population growth. Former farmlands were redeveloped as residential subdivisions, and southeastern Dutchess County became an

exurb An exurb (or alternately: exurban area) is an area outside the typically denser inner suburbs, suburban area, at the edge of a metropolitan area, which has some economic and commuting connection to the metro area, low housing-density, and rela ...

an area of New York City. This increased runoff and other discharges into the stream.

Conservation

The main stem of the Fishkill is not used as a water supply, although some of its tributaries are, such as Beacon's Dry Brook, impounded by the city for

. Nor is it navigable due to its many dams. It has nevertheless been a focus of local conservation efforts both as a local scenic and recreational resource and as an indicator of the health of the aquifers around it. In 1975, just as development of the lower watershed was beginning to accelerate, the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on Mar ...

closed the Hopewell Junction stream gauge. The Beacon stream gauge had already been shut down in 1967. There has thus been no consistent data on streamflow, a frequent measure of development's impact on a stream, since then. At the time of their respective closures, the Beacon station showed a slow decline in discharge, while the Hopewell Junction station showed an increase. A 1992 study predicted that if current demographic and hydrologic trends continue both the Fishkill and Sprout could expect to have an annual weeklong dry period by 2035.''Management Plan'', 15–16. Recent biological and chemical testing indicates

water quality Water quality refers to the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of water based on the standards of its usage. It is most frequently used by reference to a set of standards against which compliance, generally achieved through tr ...

has been improving in the upper watershed (above the village of Fishkill) but remains low below it, particularly in the creek within the city of Beacon, with an improvement just above the estuary. There are 25 State Pollution Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) permits issued by the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) within the watershed, four of which are on the Fishkill itself.''Management Plan'', 25–26. A further 64 permits have been issued for groundwater discharge. The largest facilities to have SPDES permits on the Fishkill itself are the former

facility at Glenham, between Beacon and the village of Fishkill, and Green Haven. Chevron, which took over the former from Texaco, closed it in 2003. The Environmental Protection Agency has been monitoring cleanup efforts of the

volatile organic compound Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are organic compounds that have a high vapor pressure at room temperature. They are common and exist in a variety of settings and products, not limited to Indoor mold, house mold, Upholstery, upholstered furnitur ...

s at the site and considers them to be progressing according to schedule. An ongoing concern is the

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

facility in East Fishkill, which dumps its wastewater into Gildersleeves Brook, a tributary of . In 2002, the company introduced a new method of chip manufacture on 300 mm

silicon Silicon is a chemical element; it has symbol Si and atomic number 14. It is a hard, brittle crystalline solid with a blue-grey metallic lustre, and is a tetravalent metalloid (sometimes considered a non-metal) and semiconductor. It is a membe ...

wafers. Within four years the plant had become the state's top water polluter by pounds of pollutants in the the plant releases into the creek every day, as production expanded due to demand for the chips, which power the

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). It is the successor to the PlayStation 2, and both are part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. The PS3 was first released on ...

video game console, primarily

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

and

nitrate Nitrate is a polyatomic ion with the chemical formula . salt (chemistry), Salts containing this ion are called nitrates. Nitrates are common components of fertilizers and explosives. Almost all inorganic nitrates are solubility, soluble in wa ...

s. In 2004 the company settled a suit brought by local residents who argued that a contractor's dumping of perchloroethylene had led to an increase in cancer and other diseases. Researchers have so far been unable to determine if some phenomena reported downstream, such as increased lead levels in

crustacean Crustaceans (from Latin meaning: "those with shells" or "crusted ones") are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of arthropods that are traditionally a part of the subphylum Crustacea (), a large, diverse group of mainly aquatic arthrop ...

s, are the result of the IBM discharges. In 2005 the Fishkill Creek Watershed Committee, in partnership with the Dutchess County Environmental Management Council, inventoried the natural resources of the stream and watershed to produce a management plan. It focused on protecting groundwater, which many residents surveyed had expressed the greatest level of concern about. Recommendations made were to expand and maintain

riparian buffer A riparian buffer or stream buffer is a vegetated area (a " buffer strip") near a stream, usually forested, which helps shade and partially protect the stream from the impact of adjacent land uses. It plays a key role in increasing water quality ...

along the stream while protecting it against encroaching land use, and to find a way to balance groundwater withdrawals and discharges. It also called for research into alternatives to the use of impervious surfaces, such as asphalt, which increased runoff at the expense of groundwater.''Management Plan'', 115–16.

Lists

Bridges

Communities

* City of Beacon * Town of Fishkill ** Glenham ** Village of Fishkill ** Brinckerhoff * Town of East Fishkill ** Hopewell Junction ** Stormville * Town of Beekman ** Poughquag * Town of Union Vale

Dams

*Tioronda Dam *Wolcott Avenue Dam *New York Rubber Company Dam *Braendly Fishkill Dam *Glenham Dam *Texaco Dam *Sydeman Dam *Greenburg Henderson Dam *McKinney Dam *Furnace Pond Dam *Pray Pond Dam There are also two unnamed dams in the town of Beekman.

Tributaries

Left

* Dry Brook * Clove Creek * * Whaley Stream

Right

* Sprout Creek *

References

External links

Fishkill Creek Watershed Committee
{{authority control Rivers of New York (state) Tributaries of the Hudson River Rivers of Dutchess County, New York Rivers of Putnam County, New York