Watersheds and Streams Program for the Hudson River Estuary
The Hudson River Estuary Watershed
Healthy streams and rivers require a healthy landscape. A watershed is the land area that drains to a common outlet, such as a stream, wetland, lake, or estuary. Streams and rivers reflect the condition and uses of the land within their watershed, and can be considered the "canary in the coalmine" for health of the land.
Small changes to the land in the form of development or disturbance to natural conditions can translate into biological stresses and changes in stream ecology. Much of this stress affecting the health of our streams and rivers is created locally by land use decision makers such as municipalities and landowners. We refer to pollution from many, and often nebulous, sources of pollution within a watershed as nonpoint source pollution. These sources are different from point sources of pollution from a pipe, such as a sewage treatment plant or industrial discharge. To effectively protect and manage our watersheds, we must holistically address both the point and nonpoint sources of pollution.
A recent study estimated that more than half of the streams in the Hudson River watershed have some degree of impairment. It also suggested that over the last decade, stream health is declining in more streams than improving. According to NYSDEC, urban/suburban runoff is the leading source of impacts to the Hudson River Estuary watershed streams and rivers.
The Hudson River Estuary Program's watershed initiative focuses on protecting healthy streams before they become degraded from local decisions, while striving to restore damaged stream corridors to improve river health. Our method for affecting local changes is through community-based conservation at the watershed scale.
Watershed Planning
A watershed-based planning framework is the foundation for our support and projects in the watershed. Through watershed planning, community leaders, watershed advocates, scientists and local government work together to characterize and prioritize watershed protection and restoration projects and strategies. This process provides vital education, communication and partnerships between local stakeholders to accomplish necessary watershed projects, while also documenting watershed conditions for future action.
- Individual communities and community-based watershed groups can focus on some, or all, of these 12 tools in their pursuit of healthy rivers, streams, lakes and estuary waters or they can cooperate in a shared vision of water resource protection with neighboring communities.
Tools for Watershed Protection
- Grants for Watershed Planning and Implementation are available from the Hudson River Estuary Program.
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Riparian protection and restoration for Hudson River Tributaries (Trees for Tribs): Protecting and restoring riparian areas along streams and rivers is vital to the health of waterways. Riparian areas are aquatic/terrestrial transition areas between streams and uplands. Our Trees for Tribs program provides free technical support and plantings to landowners that are interested in restoring riparian areas.
Trees for Tribs volunteers plant a
tree along the Muddy Kill - Dam Removal/Barrier Mitigation: Dams and culverts are unnatural modifications to free flowing waterways. They can disrupt a number of important hydrologic processes that in turn impact stream biology. The Estuary Program has created a training manual and field sheets for citizen scientists to inventory barriers in watersheds, and provides technical and financial support for removing dams. For more information contact the Hudson River Estuary Program staff.
- Natural Resource-based Education for Municipal Officials: Within the watershed planning framework, we are partnering with the National Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials (NEMO) Network to develop specific municipal outreach tools focused on natural resource-based planning. While the municipal tools are tailored to municipal needs, they are embedded within a watershed context to ensure local strategies are consistent with watershed protection and restoration priorities. Our partnership with NEMO allows us access to current water resource research and tools that strengthen local decision making. Use the link on the right to access the NEMO website or contact the Estuary Program staff for additional EMO network resources.
- Better Site Design: Better site design is an approach to development that utilizes a set of design principles that protect natural areas, reduce impervious surfaces, and better integrate stormwater treatment in development projects. By delineating and protecting natural areas and wildlife habitat, communities and development projects are enhanced and stormwater management costs are reduced. By managing water on-site with attractive practices, groundwater aquifers are replenished, flooding is reduced, and pollutants in stormwater are treated before entering local waterways, providing long-term benefits to a community. The Hudson River Estuary Program provides tools and technical support for implementing better site design in Hudson River Estuary watershed communities.
Education Tools from our partners
- Land Use Training: Our partnership with the Land Use Law Center at Pace University allows us to deliver training programs that aim to incorporate natural resource protection into land use planning and decision making. Training programs bring together experts in land use law, consensus building, community-based decision making, watershed protection, and wildlife habitat conservation. Training attendees are typically local opinion leaders, elected and appointed local officials, and watershed groups. Use the Offsite links on the right side of this page to learn more about the Land Use Law Center.
- Water Quality Monitoring: Through a partnership with Hudson Basin River Watch, the Estuary Program works with community leaders and watershed organizations to monitor the health of local streams and rivers, and examine the potential sources of water quality impacts. Watershed Report Cards are written to transfer the results of the monitoring effort to local audiences, including land use decision makers. Use the Offsite links on the right side of this page to learn more about Hudson Basin River Watch.
More about Watersheds and Streams Program for the Hudson River Estuary:
- 12 Things Your Community Can Do to Protect Water Resources - Tools for communities and community-based watershed groups to protect surface and groundwater resources.
- Trees for Tribs - Free native trees and shrubs for qualifying riparian buffer planting and restoration projects in the Hudson River Estuary watershed
- Better Site Design Program for the Hudson River Estuary Program - This is an approach to development that utilizes a set of design principles that protect natural areas, reduce impervious surfaces, and better integrate stormwater treatment in development projects.
