The Site, located in Narrowsburg, Town of Tusten, Sullivan County, New York, is an approximately 5-acre site bordered by wetland to the south, a steep rock escarpment to the northeast, and a railroad embankment to the southwest. Between 1970 and 1981, the Site received municipal wastes at a rate of 3,000 cubic yards each year. Industrial wastes, including waste solvents, paint thinners, paint sludges, and waste oils, were also disposed of at the landfill in 1973. Records indicated that an estimated 5,000 to 8,000 drums containing industrial waste were buried on the Site at that time. The threat to public health and the environment has been significantly reduced by excavation and off-site disposal of materials in the septage lagoons, construction of a storm water management system around the landfill to reduce leachate production, excavation and removal of 5,300 buried drums and 3,200 tons of contaminated soils, removal of 15,000 gallons of hazardous liquid/sludge, and construction of a cap over the 5-acre landfill.

Prior to remedial excavation, the Site consisted of the core landfill area characterized by upland disturbance-tolerant plant species, adjacent wet meadow, and forested wetland habitats. A small pond, “White Pond,” and a small backwater area of the Delaware River known as the “embayment” located southwest of the Site received contaminants that migrated from the landfill. As a result of excavation, landfill cap construction, and off-Site migration of Site-related contaminants, 1.6 acres of wetland were destroyed and/or degraded. At least 42 bird species are known to be in the vicinity of the Site. Avian wildlife using the Site are likely to include waterfowl, wading birds, hawks, woodpeckers, swallows, and migratory songbirds. In addition, the section of the Upper Delaware River watershed near the Site hosts the largest population of wintering bald eagles (Haliaetus leucocephalus) in the Northeast. The embayment provides feeding and/or spawning habitat for forage fish, American shad (Alosa sapidissima), striped bass (Morone saxatilis), and American eel (Anguilla rostrata).