By Kit Moore
Members of the Quassaick Creek Watershed alliance and other local environmental groups gathered at Downing Park on Saturday, May 16th to remember three pioneering members of the watershed alliance, Peter Smith, Nick Tulve, and Ronald ‘Animal’ Hughes.
A bench memorializing the three men sits on the side of Haible Way, overlooking the pond, and next to the bench the organization planted a tree. The tree is a young October Glory Maple, chosen for its striking orange-red coloration in the fall. The bench was installed in summer of 2025, and the tree was planted in the fall of 2025, but the watershed alliance wanted to hold the dedication event when the weather was warm.
Peter Smith was an architect and author who joined the watershed alliance in its early days. He was known by fellow volunteers for his extensive knowledge and was a 2020 Hudson River Watershed Alliance Watershed Wavemaker awardee. He passed away in 2022.
Nick Tulve was a science teacher at NFA and Navy and Army reserve veteran, who was also an early member of the alliance.Tulve died in 2019 from complications of pneumonia.
Animal Hughes was an early member of the watershed alliance and helped work on the Quassaick creek greenway. Along with his environmental work, Hughes was also known for his knowledge of Newburgh history. Hughes passed away in 2023.
About 15 members of the watershed alliance and other local environmental organizations gathered at the bench to share their memories of the three men and the impact they had on the watershed alliance.
Bill Fetter, a member of the board of directors of the watershed alliance, said “None of them wanted any recognition, but the current founders though it was essential to give them recognition…hopefully this will last for many years.”
Attendees told stories of the three men and their work with the watershed alliance and in other pursuits. Laurie Seaman, a founding member of the Sparkill Creek watershed alliance, handed out magnets with a quote from Animal on them ‘Tell me something good.’ She said “For years, every time he called me, I’d pick up the phone and the first words were ‘tell me something good’...”
Seaman said “These three men were really at the dawn of watershed awareness and action-taking, and when you start something it takes a total life commitment. You have to figure it all out from scratch…And we should really pause and really think about the significance of their choice of taking on watershed work when they did.”