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FCWC 2001 Summary of Activities
Advocacy Parkland Preservation Pesticides
Westchester Airport Water Quality Protection Energy
High School Outreach Higher Education Outreach Newspaper
Conferences Urban Issues Open Space
Education Web Site and listserv Transportation

Advocacy While progress has been made over the years on many fronts, there are a great many environmental issues that require continued vigilance and advocacy. FCWC had been active on several important issues this past year:


Parkland Preservation FCWC regards the protection of parks as one of its central missions. Notwithstanding strong holdings by the courts to protect dedicated parkland, there are constant incursions on parklands and attempts by municipalities to regard parks as free and available land to build on. Through lawsuits brought by FCWC and through articles in the press, FCWC has worked to save parkland for the use for which the land was originally set aside, as a sanctuary for nature, the restoration of the spirit and enjoyment by the population.


Pesticides FCWC led the effort for passage of the pesticide neighbor notification law in Westchester. The law had been passed in Albany as a local option, which required counties to "opt in" in order for the law to go into effect in any county. Working with other environmental groups, FCWC educated the county legislators about the wisdom of a bill, which will reduce pesticide runoff into our streams, rivers and Long Island Sound and will enable people to know when pesticides were going to be applied so that they could protect themselves, their children and their pets against exposure.

Transportation In order to address the related problems of congestion on the I-287 corridor and other Westchester roadways, ever increasing sprawl and the pollution caused by cars, FCWC has taken a leadership role over the last decade in fostering discussions of transportation planning; a series of five conferences has been commenced this year to gather community input on the I-287 corridor parallel to the Major Investment Study being conducted by the New York Thruway Authority on the future of the Tappan Zee bridge.

Urban Issues With the changing composition of the population in Westchester and the large percentage of Westchester residents living in more densely populated urban centers, FCWC turned its attention to a study of the urban environments in Westchester, including White Plains, Mount Vernon and Port Chester. The results of its study are being publicized in three issues of its newspapers, Westchester Environment, which are also being distributed in a Spanish translation.

Westchester Airport In connection with the proposed new master plan for the airport, FCWC supported the creation of a large buffer between the airport and the Kensico Reservoir which is directly adjacent to the airport and is the most important reservoir in a system which supplies water to 9 million people in New York City and Westchester. In addition, FCWC supported other environmental initiatives at the airport, urged the County Executive to prevent any expansion at the airport and is working on solutions to enable the County to enforce such a containment of growth.

Water Quality Protection FCWC urged positions on government with respect to many actions this year relating to the preservation of water quality, including: (1) a request to EPA to reconsider filtration of the Croton; (2) comments to EPA in connection with the filtration avoidance determination of the Catskill/Delaware system (3) comments to EPA urging dredging of the PCBs in the Hudson (4) comments to The Yorktown Town Board on the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the French Hills golf course; (5) comments to the NY Department of Environmental Conservation on the State Pollution Discharge Elimination System application for the Seven Springs golf course.

Energy With the proposed siting of the Millennium Pipeline through environmentally sensitive areas in Westchester such as Haverstraw Bay and the lake in the middle of Teatown Lake Reservation, FCWC has been urging a regional review of energy needs so that they can be addressed in a way that minimizes environmental impact. More recently FCWC has been working with other environmental groups to address the serious threats posed by the nuclear power plants at Indian Point.

Open Space FCWC has worked hard to foster open space acquisition and serves on the Advisory Board of the Westchester Open Space Coalition and as a member of the Region 3 DEC Open Space Committee. FCWC was gratified by the recent announcement that Davids Island, which it fought to protect for many years, will be preserved as a Westchester County park.

Education Educating the public has always been of primary importance to FCWC. This past year in addition to continued publication of its newspaper, Westchester Environment, and the organization of a series of conferences, FCWC started several new initiatives for outreach: (1) to high school and college students through the creation of a student council, organization of conferences and design of a school environmental audit; and (2) to its members through an expanded web site and Internet listserv reporting.

High School Outreach This past year FCWC founded a high school student council, the Westchester Earth Service Corps (WESC) in order to create a corps of student leaders in the environmental field. By creating a vehicle for students to come together and participate in a variety of activities to foster stewardship, conservation, water and air pollution prevention and mitigation, restoration and recycling, FCWC expects to attract a growing number of students to environmental commitment and to create a force for environmental protection within the students' schools and larger communities. Students from twelve schools are already participating in WESC activities. One of the activities developed with the students is an extensive environmental audit to be conducted at the school to educate administrators, staff and other students about how to make environmentally friendly choices.

Higher Education Outreach In order to unite the many colleges in Westchester in pursuing environmental protection, FCWC is cosponsoring, with Pace University's Dyson Campus, a conference on "Land Use: Planning for a Just and Sustainable Future". This conference will enable representatives from all local colleges to present papers and share ideas on this important issue and will give the environmental community an opportunity to hear about land use from new perspectives based on history, philosophy, religion and political science. FCWC is also encouraging students at institutions of higher learning to utilize the environmental audit developed with the high school students at their campuses.

Newspaper FCWC's bimonthly, Westchester Environment, has been a crucial and highly respected voice of the environmental community in Westchester for over 20 years. Its influence is considerable. This past year Westchester Environment has continued to provide a forum to educate government officials and the public about many important issues, including big box stores and border wars, the PCB dredging, regional planning and transportation development issues, energy deregulation, parkland protection, clean water infrastructure and protection, including the Mamaroneck beach closing and the county's sewer rehabilitation program,, urban environmental concerns, the Millennium Pipeline, the redevelopment of the Hudson River waterfront, Listen to the Sound hearings, and many other important topics not fully reported in other media.


Conferences Conferences throughout the year organized by FCWC serve to educate many. Over the last year FCWC;

  1. was the first to present John Keane with Trout Unlimited's report on non-point source pollution in Westchester County,
  2. presented a forum on the wetland and habitat restoration work being done by Westchester County and Save the Sound;
  3. sponsored a roundtable on xeriscape, pesticide free gardening and native plants; and
  4. ran a transportation conference, cosponsored by the Michaelian Institute, on alternatives to the congestion on the I-287 corridor. FCWC has also cosponsored several conferences with others on subjects including the New Urbanism, Smart Growth, the Bronx River Parkway Reservation and Integrated Pest Management.


Web Site and listserv In this age of modern communication, FCWC has updated its own communication systems to maximize its outreach through an expanded web site and the creation of an Internet listserv. The FCWC web site at www.fcwc.org now enables the public to research back issues of Westchester Environment, consult on line the FCWC Environmental Directory of Westchester, view an up to date comprehensive listing of environmental activities, read FCWC's positions on matters as they arise, and more. The FCWC Internet listserv keeps its members and the public informed in a timely fashion of significant developments and provides a brief report on the many county meetings attended by FCWC representatives.

 
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