How is the Sawkill?

An interdisciplinary series of presentations on Woodstock’s beloved waterway

Featuring contributions from Judy Abbott, Candace Balmer, Julia Blelock & Arlene Weissman, Joel H. Dubois, Jill Olesker, Beth Reichheld, and Jennifer Zackin. Hosted by the Woodstock Land Conservancy

During this event, explore what we understand about the Sawkill through the perspectives of local scientists, stewards, artists, and community members, followed by a community Q&A. Afterward, we’ll invite attendees to join a free stream literacy program, where volunteers will learn to survey stream features at three reaches of the Sawkill beginning in May. This event serves as the kickoff for Mapping the Sawkill, a year-long series of workshops and art that will culminate in an exhibition at WAAM, facilitated by local artist Jennifer Zackin.

Program Guide

Pt 1

Opening remarks from WLC’s Miranda Javid and Mapping the Sawkill’s Jennifer Zackin

Judy Abbott - Reciprocity and Care: Indigenous Stewardship of Waterways

Beth Reichheld - Introduction to the Sawkill Watershed

Joel Dubois - Baseline Condition of Sawkill

Q and A with Beth and Joel, proctored by Candace Balmer

Pt 2

Julia Blelock + Arlene Weissman - The Sawkill as Drinking Water

Jill Olesker - Narrative Experiences Remembered with the Sawkill

Q and A with Julia and Jill, proctored by Candace Balmer

During intermission and after the event: Sign up to receive updates about the Stream Stewards Program and the Drinking Water Source Protection Plan

Special thanks to Mountain View Studio for donating the use of this space.

Presenter Bios

Judy Abbott is a Hudson Valley–based painter whose work explores the spiritual and cultural dimensions of landscape, with a particular sensitivity to the histories embedded in the land. A graduate of the Philadelphia College of Art, she has developed a practice shaped by close observation of place and an awareness of both environmental and Indigenous relationships to landscape. Her long engagement with the American Southwest, including her exhibition Painted Journeys on the Colorado Plateau, reflects this focus, as does her participation in The Artist as Native, a landmark exhibition examining artists’ connections to land and identity. Abbott is the recipient of multiple Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grants and the Bergen College Native American Heritage Award, and her work is held in collections such as the Museum of Northern Arizona and the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art. Through her paintings, she seeks to honor the “spirit of place” and the layered human and ecological stories that shape it.

Candace Balmer, Regional Director based in New York, has been with RCAP Solutions since 1997. She leads community development and training efforts across NY, NJ, and PA, specializing in helping small rural communities plan, fund, and manage water and wastewater projects. She has supported hundreds of communities through project planning and implementation, stakeholder education, and operator training. She is a skilled technical educator on community water and wastewater systems, onsite septic systems, and private wells. She is a charter member and former Chair of the NY Onsite Wastewater Treatment Training Network and previously served on the Lower Esopus Watershed Partnership Steering Committee. Her earlier roles include Associate Director of the Pollution Abatement Technology Program at Westchester Community College and Project Engineer at Environmental Resources Management, Inc. She holds an M.S. in Environmental Engineering, a B.A. in Anthropology, and an A.A.S. in Water Quality Monitoring.

Julia Blelock grew up in Woodstock and learned to swim at Apple Rock—which used to border the Sawkill. She is a current member of the Woodstock Environmental Commission (WEC) and a past WEC Chair. She is also Co-Chair of Woodstock’s Drinking Water Source Protection Program (DWSP2).

Arlene Weissman has lived in Woodstock for the past 28 years and moved upstate to work as a land steward for New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). For the DEP, she eventually supervised all land acquisition projects in the watershed, including conservation easements. She is currently Co-Chair of the DWSP2 and Vice-Chair of the Woodstock Environmental Commission.

Joel H. DuBois has more than 28 years of service in the environmental field. His background consists of a unique blend of experiences that include stream assessment, watershed management, natural channel design and restoration, water quality monitoring, biological sampling, and construction management. His educational background includes a B.S. degree in Environmental Studies from State University of New York at Buffalo. His relevant continued education features the full suite of geomorphic training offered by Wildland Hydrology (David Rosgen), erosion control and floodplain management training sequences as well as various water resource modeling and computer aided design courses. His professional work experience includes the lead role in the assessment, design, construction management, and monitoring of numerous large scale natural channel design projects located within New York State. Furthermore, he has initiated numerous watershed assessments, monitoring studies and management plans throughout Catskill Mountain region of New York State. These investigations have been used to prioritize stream channel restoration and stream corridor management initiatives to realize multi-objective project goals.

Beth Reichheld served as director of the NYC DEP Stream Management Program (SMP) for 30+ years, working with county soil and water conservation districts (SWCDs) and communities to develop and implement an ecosystem-based approach to managing rivers and floodplains throughout the Catskills - an approach reducing erosion and flood risks, protecting infrastructure and improving fisheries habitat and water quality. The SMP, SWCDs and communities have built a science-based and proactive stream stewardship ethic with those living and working in the Catskills and implemented stream restoration projects on dozens of miles of Catskill streams. Beth has served on Woodstock zoning and comprehensive planning committees, helped develop the wetland and watercourse ordinance and served on the WLC board for several years. Before coming to the Catskills in 1992, Beth earned her bachelor's degree in biochemistry from Bowdoin College and master's degree in forest science from Yale.

Jill Olesker has been a storyteller and educator as well as a gatherer of oral histories for over 35 years. She has worked in schools, nature centers, botanical gardens, libraries, Forests and beside Rivers. She has performed as a part of many diverse community events. And created various workshops working solo and collaboratively. She has been in love with Rivers, Streams, and other waterways since she was a young child. She grew up in Manhattan overlooking the Hudson River and has felt connected to waterways ever since. Out of this grew her most recent exploration- The Water Stories Project. She is collaborating with various people and groups to nurture the reciprocal relationship we have with Waterways. She is passionate about helping people interact with and connect to nature and their imaginations through the arts and the ancient traditions of storytelling.

Jennifer Zackin is a multimedia artist based in New York’s Hudson Valley. For more than twenty-five years, she has explored the intersections of craft and industry, abstraction and tradition, and art and climate change. Her practice encompasses sculpture, installation, performance, collaboration, ceremony, photography, collage, and drawing. Her projects have included communal weaving events, wrapping trees in brightly colored rope, cultivating medicinal herbs in a community garden, and building absorbent from salvaged materials to help clean toxic spills. In her recent series of sculptures titled Vortex Weaving, Zackin hand-knots and weaves colorful strands on ready-made looms constructed of salvaged materials. Zackin’s work has been exhibited in museums nationally and internationally, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT; Spertus Museum, Chicago, IL; Rose Art Museum, Waltham, MA; Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH; Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA; Contemporary Art Museum, Houston, TX; Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Høvikodden, Norway; ICPNA, Cusco, Peru, Alianza Francesa, Lima Peru and the Zacheta National Art Gallery, Warsaw, Poland. She has received commissions from the Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY; the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) for "TAPS" on Governors Island in NYC; Socrates Sculpture Park, Queens, NY; River Valley Arts Collective at The Al Held Foundation, Boiceville, NY and MASS MoCA at the Berkshire Botanical Garden, Stockbridge, MA. She is the recipient of numerous grants, fellowships and residencies, including Arts Mid-Hudson, Art Omi, Ghent, NY; the Atlantic Center for the Arts, New Smyrna Beach, FL; and the Skowhegan School for Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, ME.

The Woodstock Land Conservancy is committed to the protection and preservation of the open lands, forests, water resources, scenic areas and historic sites in Woodstock and the surrounding area. Accredited by the Land Trust Accreditation Commission, the Conservancy protects and stewards hundreds of acres of land in the eastern Catskills area. Learn more at https://www.woodstocklandconservancy.org/.