As you likely know by now, BRASS now has a full-time Executive Director, Colin Powers. But before he started in October, BRASS had already chalked up dozens of impressive wins with its all-volunteer board and members. Below are some of those projects. They couldn't have happened without your volunteer and financial help. If you haven’t already done so, please consider renewing your membership today.

BRASS 2024



• Planted 1400 trees in the floodplain near Wadhams with Essex County Soil & Water, Trout Unlimited and over 100 BRASS volunteers and landowners. 
• Conducted water quality testing throughout the watershed that provides long-term data on the health of the Boquet River and confirms its safety for swimming, boating and fishing.
• Ran hands-on workshops for town supervisors to revise FEMA flood maps.
• Drafted plans to properly remove the fish weir and decayed bridge at Forge Lane and County Rt 8 in Elizabethtown. This project will reduce flood risk, decrease bank erosion and restore river habitat.
• Wrote a FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant to buy out a Westport family’s property that has been repeatedly flooded.
• Lead watershed tours for Resilient NY Flood Mitigation engineers focusing attention on flood trouble spots in all five towns. 
• Supported Elizabethtown’s application for a wastewater treatment system.
• Partnered with NY DEC to rebuild fishing access at the Willsboro Cascades.
• Consulted with Towns and property owners on erosion, washouts, culvert and bridge replacements, aquatic organism passage, and more.
• Staged a Salmon Symposium at Noblewood Park in Willsboro to update the public on the Boquet Salmon populations following the removal of the Willsboro Dam. (Videos on BRASS’ YouTube channel.)
• Studied and elevated concern over the health of Beaver Brook (flowing from the Webb-Royce Swamp and Split Rock Wild Forest) and made plans to address the water quality issues here.
• Cleaned up several tons of trash from the floodplain on the Murdock Wildlife Refuge on County Rt 8 in Elizabethtown.