Post-Sandy Kensico Reservoir Cleanup could be Done by Winter

The Kensico Reservoir’s “forestry management project” – announced in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy – has cleared hundreds of fallen trees in the last several months.

However, it still has plenty to pick up.

The New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) recently announced significant progress for the project that aims to remove fallen and damaged trees from four sites comprising roughly 49 acres around the reservoir, which is located in the towns of Armonk, Harrison, and Mount Pleasant. The DEP has removed approximately 90 tractor-trailer loads of fallen and damaged trees – the equivalent of roughly 765,000 board feet of wood.

“The area around Kensico Reservoir was hit hard by Hurricane Sandy and the removal of fallen and weakened trees will limit erosion and protect water quality in the reservoir,” DEP Commissioner Carter Strickland said in a press release.

“Our team has moved aggressively, but carefully, to complete this project to ensure high quality drinking water while also improving public safety for the residents of Westchester County,” he added.

Since the project began in March, DEP has completed more than half the work, including the removal of all damaged trees from a 27-acre site located along Nannyhagen Road. The remaining, smaller sites are expected to be complete by the end of winter.

Over the next several months, crews will remove the remaining trees at smaller sites along Route 120 and West Lake Drive. The majority of the fallen trees were Norway spruce, which were planted nearly 100 years ago when Kensico Reservoir was built. The average height of the trees in some areas was more than 100 feet, and each of them weighed thousands of pounds.

Town officials in Mount Pleasant and North Castle have supported the forestry project because it will improve public safety, ensure roads stay open during emergencies, and greatly reduce the chance of power outages caused by falling trees, the DEP said.

The DEP plans to replant the site next year, once all the fallen and damaged trees are removed. That reforestation plan calls for planting 300 trees and 200 shrubs per acre, including native evergreens and hardwood trees that will diversify the forest and help it withstand extreme storms in the future.

An 8-foot high, woven-wire deer-exclusion fence will surround the plantings. Higher than average deer populations in this part of the county frequently feed on young trees, preventing natural forest regeneration, the DEP said.