A dozen people stand in the Sawkill Creek, pants rolled up and water up to their ankles. Some have notebooks open, others are bending down and looking for macro invertebrates, water levels, and erosion. These are not scientists, but community members working on the Mapping the Sawkill Watershed Project. The art project intends to help build community relationships with the Sawkill Creek and explore its importance to the Hudson Valley.
The people standing in the water, known as stream stewards, collect data points on the Sawkill Creek, a stream that goes through Woodstock, Bearsville, and Kingston. The project aims to raise awareness about the importance of caring for local waterways. “The intention is to build a relationship with water as a living being, not just as a drinking resource,” says Jennifer Zackin, an artist who will create artistic maps of the Sawkill that incorporate the collected data.
The yearlong project was first conceived in 2024, when six local women met up and decided they had to do something to protect their waterways. This group, called the Water Confab Group, included Mary McNamara, Patty Goodwin, Beth Reichheld, Grace Murphy, Candace Balmer, and Jennifer Zackin.
They were spurred on by the Saugerties landfill being illegally used in 2020 by 29 New York City companies. Only companies from Ulster and Dutchess Counties were authorized to use the landfill, and the additional, more hazardous urban waste led to pollution of the Sawkill.
Zackin is not a professional scientist or conservationist. She is an artist with a deep passion for the environment. “I grew up in Vermont next to a mountain stream. From the time I remember I had relationships with streams,” she said. “I spend a lot of time observing the Sawkill.”
Collaborating with Miranda Javid, program manager of Woodstock Land Conservancy by fall of 2024, the group started to make their vision a reality. The project found further collaborators in Woodstock’s Drinking Water Source Protection Program. “We have an incredible array of people working on the project,” said Zackin. “We are very connected with the town government. It’s exciting that everybody is working together to appreciate the Sawkill.”
Officially kicking off in March of this year with a keynote address by artist Judy Abbott, the project has many events that are free and open to the public throughout the year. Zackin has planned a field recording of the Sawkill on Comeau Property on July 18, a Sawkill walking tour in Bearsville led by stream stewards coordinator Beth Reichheld on July 26, and a macroinvertebrate photography session with Frank Beres on August 1.
The project will officially conclude with an exhibit of Zackin’s woven maps at the Woodstock Artists Association and Museum. The exhibit will be open to the public from October 23 to November 29. A multidisciplinary artist, Zackin uses fiber materials and weaving techniques in her work. “Once I start working with the materials, it really just starts telling me what to do,” she says.
The artworks are collaborative projects, including data not only from the stream stewards but also the general public. Community maps, presented at various meetings held by Zackin, allow visitors to write in their own anecdotes and experiences with the Sawkill. “We asked people to put colored dots on areas they might have seen erosion or places they like to walk. This makes them more active with what is going on with the water,” says Zackin.
While the project will end this year, Zackin hopes it will inspire another professional watershed study by the town of Woodstock. “I hope this is the beginning of a deeper relationship with our water here in Woodstock,” says Zackin. “The water takes care of us and we take care of the water.”
