BETHEL — Each summer, locals head to the Toronto Reservoir to enjoy fishing, boating and swimming. Since 2002, a group known as the Friends of the Toronto Reservoir (FTR) have been fighting to maintain public access to the recreation site.

“Every year Eagle Creek [Renewable Energy] fails to maintain the Access Road to the Toronto Recreational site and violates their license with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC),” read a letter from FTR that was presented at last week's Bethel Town Board meeting. “It is only when the residents of Bethel and Friends of the Toronto Reservoir intervene and put pressure on them, that they repair the road and fill in the potholes.”

FTR said road maintenance is typically addressed in June and July when the summer season has already begun, not in April or May before the site sees the majority of its visitors.

“It's very important at this stage in the United States that we do not let public resources turn to private,” said Nino Nannarone, Chair of the Friends of the Toronto Reservoir.

The Toronto Reservoir is one of five reservoirs in Eagle Creek's Mongaup River System. According to Eagle Creek, three hydroelectric stations work in combination to use available water resources from the 200 square mile Mongaup River Basin to provide nearly 60 million kilowatt-hours of electric power every year.

FTR requested that the Town of Bethel play a more active role in safeguarding this public resource. The town board sent a letter expressing their concerns to both Eagle Creek and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Town Council Member Lillian Hendrickson expressed how important this recreation site is for locals during times when other forms of recreation were unavailable due to COVID.

“There were so many places that were closed to swimming that nobody had anywhere to go,” Hendrickson said. “It was busier than ever down there.”

Eagle Creek owns and operates 85 hydroelectric facilities spread across 18 states and was recently absorbed by the Canadian-owned Ontario Power Generation.

“Eagle Creek is aware of the conditions on the gravel access road to our Toronto Reservoir. We are addressing the issue by working with local residents and stakeholders to repair and bring the road back into good working condition,” said Mark Gross, Senior Vice President, Operations for Eagle Creek.

“[We] have an easement along the gravel access road to Toronto Reservoir for the purpose of providing the general public access to the East Toronto Recreation Access Area (a boat launch area). The road is owned by Woodstone Development and residents living along the road and within Chapin Estate. The responsibility for road maintenance is shared between Eagle Creek and Woodstone Development. Eagle Creek's shared responsibility for maintenance is limited to the portion of the road that provides access to the recreation area. The road was resurfaced in May 2020 and remained in good condition through June. In July, after heavy rain, Eagle Creek added and graded approximately 200 tons of crushed rock along the road, and filled forming potholes. Additionally, in July, Eagle Creek was able to clear a plugged culvert that was causing localized flooding.”

Swinging Bridge, Mongaup Falls and Rio are all licensed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Their current licenses were issued in 1992 and expire in 2022.