#2008-03: February 15, 2008 "Mountaintop to Tap" - Photograph and Journal Exhibit at the Erpf Gallery The Catskill Center’s Erpf Gallery is proud to present an exhibition of 12 high school students who traced New York City’s drinking water supply from the Catskill Mountains to New York City during a 3-week journey in the summer of 2007. Opening reception will be held in Arkville at the Erpf Gallery on Saturday, March 1st from 3-5pm. The public is invited to see their photos, read their journals, see a slide show and meet the students. The exhibit will be on display through April 26th. This event brought together six students from Sidney High School in Delaware County - Robert Loibl, Becca Miner, Marissa Morton, Sarah Pate, Sarah Place and Brian Price; and six students from New York Harbor School in Brooklyn - Asha Armstrong, Leydi Basilio, Natalie Bloomfield, Sean Soto, Jerriel Stafford and Gabriel Torres. The purpose of this monumental trek was to commemorate the 10-year anniversary of the 1997 NYC Watershed Memorandum of Agreement and through the student’s work, make the public aware of its significance. Before the trip the students took a workshop with National Geographic photographer Bob Caputo who trained the trekkers to capture pictures and to write entries into their journals. On July 7th the students gathered at Belleayre Ski Center to prepare for the trek which began at Slide Mountain and included four days of backcountry camping and nearly 200-miles of hiking, boating, tubing and rowing. One leg of the journey consisted of a 40-mile Hudson River trip in which they rowed from Kingston to Croton in two 12-foot surf-dories that were built by students of the Harbor School. They arrived in Central Park on July 28th. During the journey the students measured the water quality of streams, rivers and reservoirs; hiked, camped and boated; talked to public officials, business people and residents; and afterwards shared what they learned with the public. The Erpf Gallery will be showing more than 50 color photographs, many journal entries, several large panels with maps, tents and equipment, and a slide show. This exhibit will travel to the Queens Museum in May 2008. The Mountaintop to Tap trek was organized by Stroud Water Research Center and co-sponsored by the New York Harbor School, Sidney Central School, The Catskill Center for Conservation and Development, Riverkeeper, Catskill Mountainkeeper and the New York City Department of Environmental Protection. Elements of this exhibit, along with the video documentary produced by Delhi Stories, were made possible in part with support from the Catskill Watershed Corporation in partnership with the New York City Department of Environmental Protection. The gallery is open Monday - Friday, 9-5, and Saturdays from 12-4. Please visit our website at: www.catskillcenter.org.