It was brought to our attention that the article Progress on Tillson Lake in the Summer issue of 2019 may have presented only one facet of a multi-faceted issue.
As background, Tillson Lake was created when a private landowner dammed the Palmaghatt Stream in 1930. That dam is currently in need of repair, and initial assessments by the Palisades Interstate Parks Commission (PIPC), which administers the lake, placed the cost of repair at a number that the commission deemed unsupportable. The alternative PIPC proposed, in a letter to landowners in the area of the lake in March of 2018, was “removal of the dam and restoration of the lake back to a natural stream corridor.”
PIPC’s plan was to revise the Minnewaska State Park Master Plan to “provide for re-establishment of a natural stream corridor that is environmentally sound.”
This option may originally have been driven by the high cost of restoring the dam, yet a number of Gardiner residents feel that restoration of the Palmaghatt Stream corridor deserves objective, scientific evaluation as to its benefits when assessing what is best for the long-term environmental health of the Shawangunk Ridge. For more information about either approach, contact the Palisades Interstate Parks Commission or the Department of Environmental Conservation.