Fishkill Creek

Tributary of the Hudson River in southern Dutchess County, New York

Fishkill Creek (also Fish Kill, from the Dutch vis kille, for "fish creek") is a tributary of the Hudson River in Dutchess County, New York, United States. At 33.5 mile (54 km) 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 on the Hudson just south of Beacon. Part of its 193 square miles (500 km2) 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, 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 stream. Industries and mills along it helped spur the settlement of the region.

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 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. 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 Whortlekill Creek. 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. Beyond the interstate it continues southwest alongside the base of the northern slopes of Fishkill Ridge, the northernmost end of the Hudson Highlands. 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 Beacon Reservoir on the ridgetop.

Fishkill Creek's 193 square miles (500 km2) 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 and Wappinger and small areas in Pleasant Valley and Washington. The Whaley Lake basin, which also includes Little Whaley 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, with an even smaller portion in Putnam Valley marking the watershed's southernmost point. To the south and east are hiller regions of the Taconic Mountains, part of the Highlands Province physiographic region of the Appalachian Mountains. The highest point in the Fishkill's watershed is 1610 feet (491 m) South Beacon Mountain, also the highest peak of the Hudson Highlands, a few miles from the creek's estuary, which is almost at sea level. from Millbrook to Hopewell Junction. Within the watershed, there are also around of ponds or lakes. The largest of these is Whaley Lake, at

Water bodies and wetlands cover about 9.8% of the total watershed area. Forests cover 50%, the largest land use 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. There are many parks and protected areas 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, 20 mile (32 km) of the Appalachian Trail runs along the southern fringe of the watershed, much of it on other protected lands or corridor owned by the National Park Service. 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 in the watershed with 2,892 people per square mile.

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 typical of much of the Northeast. Temperatures tend to vary considerably over the year, with periods of unusual extremes of heat or cold possible. 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. most built to serve past industry there (one is still used for hydroelectric power generation. The highest, near the city's downtown section, is 40 feet (12 m) tall. Three are in Beekman and two are in Fishkill, 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. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places 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.

The creek and its watershed support a great diversity of species. As a fishery, it is stocked with brown trout, and has a significant brook trout population as well. The estuary supports a largemouth and smallmouth bass population. Some plant and animal species found near the creek and in its watershed are on the state list of endangered or threatened species. The former include the bog turtle, wild hydrangea and live forever. Threatened species in the creek and watershed include the bald eagle, Blanding's turtle, least bittern, pied billed grebe, stiff leaf goldenrod, swamp cottonwood and blazing star. Several salamander and turtle species are also species of concern. Eurasian watermilfoil, an invasive species, has been seen in some areas. The Mid Hudson Valley region underlying most of Fishkill Creek consists of sedimentary rocks such as shales, sandstones, siltstones and dolomitic limestones that formed during the Cambrian and Ordovician periods of the Paleozoic Era, roughly 450–540 million years ago. These rocks become modified into metamorphic equivalents as a result of the formation of the Appalachian Mountains, which left large thrust faults in the area, the further east one gets from the Hudson. Shales become schists, limestones become marbles, and sandstone become quartzites in the eastern regions of Dutchess County. These rocks create better aquifers than their sedimentary counterparts. 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 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. During the Revolutionary War, the Fishkill south of the village of Fishkill was a key location for the Continental Army. Troops were on continuous alert should the British Army try to push up through the Highlands to the south and retake the Hudson Valley, 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 passed through the area frequently. In 2009 the graves of as many as 700 soldiers were discovered at the site. As industrialization 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 $17.4 million ($ in contemporary dollars) and provide storage capacity of 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. Recent biological and chemical testing indicates water quality 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. A further 64 permits have been issued for groundwater discharge. The largest facilities to have SPDES permits on the Fishkill itself are the former Texaco 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 compounds at the site and considers them to be progressing according to schedule. 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 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.