A 374 acre parcel found just south of the Ashokan Reservoir was bought earlier this year by the Open Space Institute's land acquisition affiliate, the Open Space Conservancy, that is a part of the State University of New York at New Paltz. As part of the agreement, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, which maintains and operates both Ulster County reservoirs, has officially taken possession of the 219 acres in the town of Olive and 14 acres in town of Marbletown. The remaining 141 acres in Olive, have been acquired by the Ashokan Foundation.

There's a dual purpose in their land acquisition. One is to help with flood control and the other to meet EPA water quality standards so that the City does not have to filter Ashokan water.

[correction] When the Ashokan Reservoir is relatively full, DEP will sometimes release water before major rains and melts to create sufficient void to receive the additional incoming water in the west basin so the turbid excess will not overflow into the clear east basin and from there overflow uncontrolled into the Esopus via the spillway. The acquired land is an alternate path to the Esopus for these controlled water releases.

The local economic impact of the sale is that the DEP will pay property taxes on its portion which is a benefit to the tax base as the former owner, Campus Auxiliary Services, was exempt from paying taxes.

Correction provided courtesy of Jay Ungar
Ashokan Foundation, Inc.

Thanks Jay!