A Thank-You to our Clients in 2023

A Thank-You to our Clients in 2023

Dam Removal, Editing, Features, Federal Contracting, Long Distance, photography, Places We Go, Preconstruction, Renewable Energy, Resiliency, River Restoration

 

2023:

Thanks to Our Clients

 

 

2023 was an outstanding year for environmental restoration and remediation projects across the US. We’re proud to have worked with some of the best!

What a great year! Allman Environmental Services Photography is grateful for our 2023 clients, new and continuing, as we photographed major infrastructure, remediation, dam removal, stream restoration and renewable energy projects. We’re proud of our niche in photography and videography, and of the companies we work for, and look forward to several new projects in 2024.

A. Servidone/B. Anthony Construction

Aventura

Ben Ciccone Inc

Bureau of Land Management/Department of the Interior

Caldwell Marine International

CNY Alliance

Gianfia Corp.

Hudson River Valley Greenway

Integrated Construction Enterprise

Kiewit

Lancaster Development, Inc.

LAND Remediation Inc.

Mark Cerrone Inc.

Michels Power

Perfetto Contracting Corp.

R. Pugni & Sons, Inc.

Rifenburg Contracting Corp.

T.A.M. Enterprises Inc.

Thomas Gleason Inc.

Triumph Construction

Upstate Companies Inc.

Villager Construction, Inc.

Get in Touch

______________

If it’s outside, we’re in! We offer the quickest turnaround on photo and video submissions, contract paperwork and insurance documents, and we’re 100% reliable, flexible and on time, every time. We’d love to work on your next contract.  -Suzanne

 

  • CERTIFIED: SBA-certified WOSB, New York State- and City-certified WBE, and Port Authority certified DBE
  • REGISTERED: SAM & ORCA. Experienced in Federal Government contracting and subcontracting.
  • WILDLAND FIREFIGHTING CERTIFICATES S-130/190, L-180
  • FAA PART 107 Since 2017
  • OSHA 30 AND HAZWOP certified
  • DUNS: 839898728.
  • FEIN: 84-2603642
  • We accept all government agency purchase orders and credit cards.

 

145 NEPERAN ROAD, TARRYTOWN, NY 10591

 

 

914-653-6154

 

 

CONTACT

 

SERVING ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICE INDUSTRIES, ENGINEERS AND AGENCIES BY USING PHOTOGRAPHY AS A FORCE FOR GOOD.

Qualify Us Now! ProView

Geotagging for Large (and Small) Projects

Geotagging for Large (and Small) Projects

Editing, Geotagging, Long Distance

 

Location Matters

Geotagging images for large projects

 

 

In large environmental projects, geotagging photographs isn’t just about pinpointing pretty pictures – it’s about harnessing spatial intelligence.

Geotagging Everything.

We geotag our photos in every project we do, whether large or small. Geotagging and Lightroom’s Map feature have become an indispensable part of our editing process.

Using special Canon cameras capable of recording both GPS and direction of view, we tag each photograph, as it’s made, with its location.

With a geotag, that photo becomes pinpointed on a map, instantly linking it to its exact location. We can then return to the same spot, months or years later.

 

A key plan for a dam removal project in the Catskill Mountains of New York. Red arrows show direction of view and location on a map.

A key plan for a dam removal project in the Catskill Mountains of New York. Red arrows show direction of view and location on a map.

 

In the editing process, these photographs are plotted on a map in Lightroom.

Each tagged image becomes a data point, weaving a tapestry of progress, change, and impact. This empowers our clients to track deforestation across regions, to see the change over time of a particular slice of river after dam removal, to map the spread of invasive species, or precisely monitor habitat restoration efforts.

It also bolsters transparency, allowing project owners to virtually visit project sites and verify progress. Geotagged photos can be dropped into Autocad drawings, becoming an embedded part of progress documentation and reference.

 

Before and after pictures of a dam removal project

Two photos of the site of the Upper Roberts Meadow dam. The top shows the mud flat that exists after removal of the impoundment; the bottom photo shows the same site, a year later. Tagging photographs with a georeference allows us to return to the same location, months or years later. These photos were taken from the same location a year apart, and clearly show a stream’s progress toward health, after dam removal. A generous, long-dormant regrowth from seed stock can be seen in the later picture.

 

Using Lightroom’s Map Feature

We use Lightroom’s map feature to:

  • Visualize data geographically: By overlaying photo locations on a map, you can instantly grasp the spatial distribution of a project or environmental phenomena, like pollution sources, deforestation areas, or wildlife habitats. This visual representation aids in identifying patterns, trends, and potential areas of concern.
  • Connect photos to real-world context: Embedding photos within their geographical context enriches storytelling and data analysis. Viewers can easily understand where each photo was taken, enhancing the impact of visual evidence in environmental reports or presentations.
  • Track changes over time: By revisiting the same locations and capturing photos over time, our clients can show progress on a large project, monitor the effectiveness of environmental interventions or document the progression of environmental issues.

 

A map created with Lightroom's Map feature, showing the location of photographs

Geotagging for smaller projects works the same way. Here, we’ve geotagged and mapped photographs along a dock in Lake Champlain for the Champlain-Hudson Power Express project.

Get in Touch

______________

If it’s outside, we’re in! We offer the quickest turnaround on photo and video submissions, contract paperwork and insurance documents, and we’re 100% reliable, flexible and on time, every time. We’d love to work on your next contract.  -Suzanne

 

  • CERTIFIED: SBA-certified WOSB, New York State- and City-certified WBE, and Port Authority certified DBE
  • REGISTERED: SAM & ORCA. Experienced in Federal Government contracting and subcontracting.
  • WILDLAND FIREFIGHTING CERTIFICATES S-130/190, L-180
  • FAA PART 107 Since 2017
  • OSHA 30 AND HAZWOP certified
  • DUNS: 839898728.
  • FEIN: 84-2603642
  • We accept all government agency purchase orders and credit cards.

 

145 NEPERAN ROAD, TARRYTOWN, NY 10591

 

 

914-653-6154

 

 

CONTACT

 

SERVING ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICE INDUSTRIES, ENGINEERS AND AGENCIES BY USING PHOTOGRAPHY AS A FORCE FOR GOOD.

Qualify Us Now! ProView

Dam Removals: Woodlands Lake Dam, Ardsley NY

Dam Removals: Woodlands Lake Dam, Ardsley NY

Dam Removal, New York State, River Restoration

 

Dam Removals:

Woodlands Lake Dam, Ardsley NY

 

 

Across the country, dam removal projects are leading the way in river restoration. In Irvington, New York, removal of the Woodlands Lake Dam is freeing a section of the Saw Mill River.

In my home county of Westchester, New York, the biggest dam removal project is happening in Ardley, where the Woodlands Lake dam is being demolished in V. E. Macy Park.

In New York, rivers and streams are plugged with thousands of impoundments, big and small. There are more than 7000 dams, and probably many more that haven’t crossed regulators’ radar.

The Woodlands Lake Dam has (or, should I say, had) this in common with so many legacy dams: it articicailly warmed the water that backs up in the impoundment, baking in the summer sun.

A silty, muddy lakebed in summer, where the sediment has been deposited in front of the dam. Westchester County, Woodlands Lake Dam

Woodlands Lake, before dam removal: a silty, muddy, dry and dewatered lakebed in summer. Dams artificially warm the water they impound, leading to the loss of biodiversity up and down the stream.

 

The stone masonry and concrete dam was built in 1840, and the resulting impoundment has served the county variously as a park, swimming pool, circus location and scenic backdrop for a restaurant (as well as a cameo in the Netflix film, The Irishman).

Scene near the Woodlands Lake Dam, from The Irishman

All fancied up for Joe Pesci and Robert De Niro in the Martin Scorsese’s 2019 film, The Irishman: The buildings at the shore of Woodlands Lake.

But the lake created by the dam was only six feet deep at its deepest, and as temperatures in Westchester rise with climate change, the amount of water evaporating off its surface also increased. Removing the dam and storing water in underground aquifers makes water supplies more resilient in an increasingly warmer world.

As a practical matter, the dam was deemed old, obsolete and expensive to maintain.

Once the dam removal process is complete, a pre-engineered bridge will be placed over the river. Pedestrians and cyclists on the Empire State Trail will then have access to V.E. Macy park.

These photos were taken after two days of rain pounded the area, but you can see the  Saw Mill River channel taking shape in the former lake bed.

Aerial view of the demolition site of a dam on the Saw Mill River in Westchester County, NY

Aerial view of the demolition site of a dam on the Saw Mill River in Westchester County, NY

 

Below, you can see where riffle structures have been built to slow down the rush of water and reduce erosion, all while providing hiding and nesting places for aquatic animals — a far cry from the sluggish, sediment-laden pond of the past.

 

Riffle control structures in stone installed in the Saw Mill River at the former Woodlands Lake site in Ardsley, New York.

Riffle control structures installed in the Saw Mill River stream channel, where Woodlands Lake once lay. The dam removal project will result in a liveable environment for aquatic animals and flora, and a naturally cooler one.

 

Get in Touch

______________

Dam removal projects are a favorite, and a specialty. We offer the quickest turnaround on photo and video submissions, contract paperwork and insurance documents. We’d love to work on your next dam removal contract.  -Suzanne

 

  • CERTIFIED: SBA-certified WOSB, New York State- and City-certified WBE, and Port Authority certified DBE
  • REGISTERED: SAM & ORCA. Experienced in Federal Government contracting and subcontracting.
  • WILDLAND FIREFIGHTING CERTIFICATES S-130/190, L-180
  • FAA PART 107 Since 2017
  • OSHA 30 AND HAZWOP certified
  • DUNS: 839898728.
  • FEIN: 84-2603642
  • We accept all government agency purchase orders and credit cards.

 

145 NEPERAN ROAD, TARRYTOWN, NY 10591

 

 

914-653-6154

 

 

CONTACT

 

SERVING ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICE INDUSTRIES, ENGINEERS AND AGENCIES BY USING PHOTOGRAPHY AS A FORCE FOR GOOD.

Qualify Us Now! ProView

Three Years Later: Lake Hudsonia Dam

Three Years Later: Lake Hudsonia Dam

Dam Removal, Resiliency, River Restoration

Dam Removals:

Hudsonia Lake Dam, Three Years Later

 

 

The dam at Lake Hudsonia is down, and once again Hibernia Brook flows freely through an emerging wetland forest. Here’s what it looked like on a recent October morning.

There are lots of reasons why dam removal is a good thing for the health of a river, its downstream and upstream ecosystems, and its response to heavy rain events.

 

Aerial view of the former lakebed at Lake Hudsonia, showing Hibernia Brook restored to its free-flowing state.

Today: Hibernia Brook flows through the former lakebed of Lake Hudsonia, in Rockaway, New Jersey. The course of the brook was planned to reduce sedimentation downstream. But a free-flowing brook wants what it wants, and the project’s designer, Princeton Hydro, is known for letting a free-flowing body of water determine its own course.

 

But then there are the aesthetics. I went back to what had once been Lake Hudsonia — now frisky Hibernia Brook — one recent October morning, and the sun had just come up over the trees. I was photographing the impoundment area, sitting next to the edge of the water, and listening to the sound of the brook tripping over rocks and stones and a soft breeze in the cattails.

This was a far cry from the stillness of the lake three years ago, frozen semi-solid in December.

Lake Hudsonia, behind the dam.

THEN: The impoundment area at Lake Hudsonia, upstream of the dam, in 2020. The dam was removed in 2021, restoring and reconnecting the Hibernia Brook.

 

The dam was removed in 2021, and by now the seed stock, once dormant under the lake’s floor, has emerged. I could see cattails, goldenrod, milkweed, asters in bloom, and (the usual) mugwort.

As part of the floodplain restoration, native trees and shrubs — oak, serviceberry, willow, redbud — were planted, taking their place under the surrounding wetland forest.

I love seeing dams come down. I love the design process, the construction and the planning that goes into these projects. But I especially love returning to a dam site 2, 4, 5 years after a dam is removed to see what has emerged, and photographing the results.

 

Get in Touch

______________

Dam removal projects are a favorite, and a specialty. We offer the quickest turnaround on photo and video submissions, contract paperwork and insurance documents. We’d love to work on your next dam removal contract.  -Suzanne

 

  • CERTIFIED: SBA-certified WOSB, New York State- and City-certified WBE, and Port Authority certified DBE
  • REGISTERED: SAM & ORCA. Experienced in Federal Government contracting and subcontracting.
  • WILDLAND FIREFIGHTING CERTIFICATES S-130/190, L-180
  • FAA PART 107 Since 2017
  • OSHA 30 AND HAZWOP certified
  • DUNS: 839898728.
  • FEIN: 84-2603642
  • We accept all government agency purchase orders and credit cards.

 

145 NEPERAN ROAD, TARRYTOWN, NY 10591

 

 

914-653-6154

 

 

CONTACT

 

SERVING ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICE INDUSTRIES, ENGINEERS AND AGENCIES BY USING PHOTOGRAPHY AS A FORCE FOR GOOD.

Qualify Us Now! ProView

Honk Falls, and a Free Rondout

Honk Falls, and a Free Rondout

Dam Removal, River Restoration

 

Projects:

Honk Falls, and a Free(er) Rondout Creek

 

We finish an 18-month project at the former Honk Lake, as the Rondout Creek returns to swift-running water in the Catskills.

It’s always satisfying to see a lakebed returned to a running stream. At the former Honk Lake in Wawarsing, New York, the old dam was lowered, effectively removing its ability to impound the Rondout Creek.

With the lake drained, and the creek running again, it wasn’t long before the herons, blackbirds and kildeer were searching the creek’s rocky edges for food This spring, the water by the new spillway was teeming with baby frogs.

We worked with contractor A. Servidone for this project, as they diverted half a mile of stream to allow work on the dam. The existing spillway and penstock was demolished, and a new cap installed.

Three river-cobble riffles were installed along the course of the stream to add oxygen to the water, and to create fish and insect habitat.

The effect of constructed riffles is to mimic naturally-occuring streams, where water speeds up and tumbles over stony obstructions, landing in a calmer pool below and making excellent fish habitat.

Buds appear in a close-up of a live stake

At the top of a willow live stake, buds appear. Live stakes are branches of trees that are cut while the trees are dormant and then planted directly in the soil.

Along the stone-armored shores of the newly-free river, hundreds of trees and shrubs were planted, and the underlying seed bank — there, under the lake, for who knows how long — began to sprout.

In the years ahead, willows, river birch, serviceberry, buttonberry and more species of a diverse and native forest will take the place of the old lake.

And despite the hatching out of millions of hungry and defoliating gypsy moth caterpillars, the newly-planted forest is growing.

Allman Environmental Services Photography worked with Servidone from the preconstruction to postconstruction stage of the Honk dam project. I’m looking forward to coming back in the fall to see how the new trees have developed over a single season.

In New York State — as elsewhere across the northeast — many dam removal projects are underway, returning streams and rivers to their natural, free-flowing state.

With several years’ experience in this area, Allman Environmental Services Photography is happy to provide photo and video documentation for dam decommissioning and stream rehabilitation projects.

 

A dam with water from a riverbed, taken during progress photography stage

Spillway of the Honk Falls Dam after rehabilitation. Lowering the spillway allowed the lake to drain, and the Rondout Creek to become a fast-moving creek again, before tumbling into the gorge below.

 

 

 

HONK FALLS DAM DECOMMISSIONING

  • Contractor: A. Servidone/B. Anthony Construction
  • Owner: New York City DEP

Get in Touch

______________

Challenging terrain, geography and environments are a personal specialty.  Capture the energy of your team at work, on training and field exercises, with heavy equipment or in challenging environmental conditions. These photos can be used again and again: in annual reports, your socials, on office walls and other marketing deliverables.  -Suzanne

 

  • CERTIFIED: SBA-certified WOSB, New York State- and City-certified WBE, and Port Authority certified DBE
  • REGISTERED: SAM & ORCA. Experienced in Federal Government contracting and subcontracting.
  • WILDLAND FIREFIGHTING CERTIFICATES S-130/190, L-180
  • FAA PART 107 Since 2017
  • DUNS: 839898728.
  • FEIN: 84-2603642
  • We accept all government agency purchase orders and credit cards.

 

145 NEPERAN ROAD, TARRYTOWN, NY 10591

 

 

914-653-6154

 

 

CONTACT

 

SERVING ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICE INDUSTRIES, ENGINEERS AND AGENCIES BY USING PHOTOGRAPHY AS A FORCE FOR GOOD.

Qualify Us Now! ProView