April 30th, 2021 is Arbor Day. On Arbor Day 2012, NYS DEC Forest Rangers and Foresters had recruited us to help plant young potted and bare root trees on an eroding section of Adirondack Forest Preserve south of Warrensburg in what was then known as the Hudson River Recreation Area. The saplings had come from the DEC Saratoga Tree Nursery. [Read more…] about Seven Years Later Arbor Day Efforts Yield Results
Hudson River
Schaghticoke’s Congressman: John A. Quackenbush
When in doubt, take a dinner break.
That was the strategy for reaching unanimity in 1888 at New York’s 18th Congressional District nominating convention.
And the strategy worked, although some of the politicians from Washington and Rensselaer counties may have eaten crow, so to speak. [Read more…] about Schaghticoke’s Congressman: John A. Quackenbush
Train Ferries: The Hudson River’s Most Unusual Steamers
Among the many hundreds of steamboats plying the Hudson River when that waterway served as a primary method of moving people and freight, a few stand out as unusual. The most remarkable of these is perhaps the railroad transports, used to ferry railroad cars.
Also known as train ferries, or car ferries (not to be confused with auto ferries), they were fitted with railway tracks and doors at each end to allow for loading and unloading. [Read more…] about Train Ferries: The Hudson River’s Most Unusual Steamers
Juvenile Eel Monitoring Getting Underway
All along the Hudson River estuary, teachers, students, and local residents will be donning waders and venturing into tributary streams to participate in the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) ongoing research on migrating juvenile American eels (Anguilla rostrata). [Read more…] about Juvenile Eel Monitoring Getting Underway
Climate-Adaptive Design Opportunity for A Hudson Waterfront Community
There is an opportunity for a Hudson riverfront municipality to host the Cornell University Department of Landscape Architecture’s Climate-adaptive Design studio during Fall 2021.
The studio links Cornell University students in landscape architecture with communities to explore design alternatives for more climate resilient and connected waterfront areas. It’s a collaboration between DEC’s Hudson River Estuary Program and the Cornell University Department of Landscape Architecture. [Read more…] about Climate-Adaptive Design Opportunity for A Hudson Waterfront Community
Fishing History: A Hudson River Shantytown
The fishing shacks at the end of Dock Street in the North Bay area of Hudson, NY, (just past the Kite’s Nest River City Garden) are part of a 14.4 acre parcel that was purchased originally in the 1600s by a German immigrant from Indigenous people. There have been businesses on the land including gristmills, slaughterhouses and tanneries.
The first Shantytown shacks were constructed in the 1880s and through the middle of the next century they functioned as sites for shad, sturgeon, and herring fishing. Active use of Shantytown continued into the 21st century until the city decreed that the shacks could no longer be used. A project to demolish most of the shacks and restore a few is part of the city’s 2017 NYS Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant. [Read more…] about Fishing History: A Hudson River Shantytown
How Hudson River Floods Helped Create Great Sacandaga Lake
Before the 20th century, the upper Hudson River was used commercially as a conduit to ship logs downstream to the mills along the river. Logs were stored in pens, behind temporary dams, and at streamside log landings until the spring melt increased the flow of the river – known as the spring freshet. When the flow rate was right, the the logs were sent careening downstream to the mills. [Read more…] about How Hudson River Floods Helped Create Great Sacandaga Lake
Grants Available for Hudson River Estuary Communities
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has announced that $750,000 in new competitive grant funding is now available to help communities in the Hudson River Estuary watershed increase resiliency to flooding, protect water quality, fish, and wildlife habitat, and improve recreational access and education for all, including people with disabilities and New Yorkers living in environmental justice communities.
The grants are administered by DEC’s Hudson River Estuary program. [Read more…] about Grants Available for Hudson River Estuary Communities
With Stripers In Decline, It’s Time For Anglers To Act
Striped bass (Morone saxatilis), an ecologically, recreationally, and economically important species of migratory fish found in from the St. Lawrence to North Carolina, are in decline according to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.
Last fall the Commission completed a coastwide assessment that overfishing was a contributing factor in the decline.
[Read more…] about With Stripers In Decline, It’s Time For Anglers To Act
Hudson Estuary Tree Program Accepting Applications
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has announced that their Hudson Estuary Trees for Tribs Program is accepting applications for spring stream-side planting projects. Anyone that owns or manages property near a stream in the Hudson River Estuary watershed is eligible to apply for free native trees and shrubs. [Read more…] about Hudson Estuary Tree Program Accepting Applications