It’s now stamped and official. The smoldering mulch pile operated by Perfect Cut at the Tuxedo Public Works Department property on Long Meadow Road in Sterling Forest caused the March fish kill along Warwick Brook. The mulch pile, and perhaps those pesky beavers.
“The findings of this water chemistry monitoring clearly indicate that Caretakers Marsh and the upper reaches of the south branch of Warwick Brook have highly eutrophic conditions resulting in chronic oxygen depletion and adverse impacts on water quality and ecological habitat.” — from a Water Chemistry and Ecological Assessment report prepared by Land Use Ecological Services for the Town of Tuxedo.
The official word by Land Use Ecological Survey, Inc. was delivered to the Tuxedo Town Board Wednesday evening, November 14, and released on the Tuxedo town website Thursday evening. LUES was hired by Tuxedo to investigate the cause of the March 2012 fish kill at Four Corners Pond in Sterling Forest State Park and along Warwick Brook, which winds its way to We-Wah Lake, and eventually Tuxedo Lake. Water contamination has been found throughout the whole ecosystem of waterways down stream from the mulch site.
“It is most likely that the Town wood chipping facility has been the source of additional nutrients and organic matter that have caused the eutrophic and oxygen depleted conditions in Caretakers Marsh and upper reaches of the south branch of Warwick Brook,” reads the report, which also states that the breaching of beaver ponds in March may have contributed to the fish kill.
The report mentions sites in lower Warwick Brook, including Watch Tower Pond and the mouth of Warwick Brook at We-Wah Lake, as having exhibited “high dissolved oxygen levels throughout the study period,” and states that “chronic impaired conditions” in Warwick Brook, due to the conditions in waterways adjacent to the mulch facility, make the brook “susceptible to fish kills during either the summer or winters months.”
“This is real progress,” said Geoff Welch, a co-organizer of the Ramapo River Watershed Conference and the Ramapo River Watershed Keeper. “The Town of Tuxedo is finally agreeing that their mulch site 
was responsible for the horrible fish kill along the Warwick Brook in Sterling Forest State Park last March.”
Tuxedo has been under an Order of Consent from the NY Department of Environmental Conservation in a letter dated April 13, 2012 that stated “DEC water tests concluded that operations at the Tuxedo mulch site on Long Meadow Road resulted in numerous water quality impairments that caused the mid-March fish kill along Warwick Brook and Four Corners Pond.”
The April DEC notice was actually the second DEC Notice of Violation the town received related to the site. The DEC cited the town with an Order of Consent in February of 2008 as well, for the “discharge of pollutants to the waters of the state.”
Tuxedo must now face the reality that the Perfect Cut wood chip facility is an environmental hazard. Many residents in Sloatsburg and Tuxedo believe that the mulching operation has grown into a near logging operation, with trucks carrying cut trees driving day and night up Sterling Mine Road in Sloatsburg to the mulch site.
According to comments at Town Board meetings, Tuxedo Supervisor Peter Dolan has stated the mulch pile is an important revenue stream for the town, averaging approximately $118,000 per year from 2006 through 2011. Additionally, a recent editorial written by Suzanne Papke for TPFYI states that the town has incurred nearly $90,000 in attorney fees. It was also reported that Dolan said that without the mulch operation income, Tuxedo taxes may have to increase up to 10% to cover lost revenue.
“They (Tuxedo) have signed a Modification of the DEC Consent Order that will result in more environmental protection, monitoring, testing, and substantial penalties for new violations,” continued Welch. “While all this is good, I doubt the mulch operation can be brought into environment compliance and I look forward to remediation of the site.”
Photos courtesy of Geoff Welch.
More At SloatsburgVillage
Testy Tuxedo Town Meeting – During the town’s recent April 9 Town Board meeting, a large contingent of concerned citizens showed up to ask questions about the Perfect Cut mulch operation.
Mulch Pile The Movie – Tuxedo resident Ed Gedvila and his friend, John Moon, from Tuxedo Park, recently hiked down from Tuxedo Lake through the streams and marshes that comprise Warwick Brook, following a trail of foam while taking pictures.
Fish Kill At Four Corners Pond – The March 2012 discovery of dead fish floating to shore at Four Corners Pond leads to a likely culprit.
