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For Release: Tuesday, October 2, 2012

A Day in the Life of the Hudson River Event to Celebrate Ten Years of Exploring the Estuary

Event Expanded to Include Activities on Long Island and the Mohawk River

What: 3,000 students and teachers, from New York City to Troy, will engage in hands-on science exploration of the Hudson River. The Press is invited to attend.

When: Thursday, October 4, 2012. Most sites run during school hours - a few after school.

Where: 70 waterfront locations between NYC and Troy (see schedule below for a selection of locations and schedules)

Why: A primary goal of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is to connect New Yorkers to nature. DEC's Hudson River Estuary Program helps prepare students to become stewards of the river's water quality and natural resources. The Hudson River Estuary Program is funded by the NYS Environmental Protection Fund.

On Thursday, October 4, environmental education centers and school classes all along the tidal estuary will collect scientific information and share it to portray the ecosystem on this "Day in the Life of the Hudson River." Students will use hands-on field techniques to describe their sites, catch fish and invertebrates in nets, track the river's tides and currents, and examine water chemistry parameters. Beyond just a field trip, a "Day in the Life" allows students to collect firsthand information about their communities' natural resources, and explore how their piece of the river fits into the larger ecosystem.

In partnership with the National Estuarine Research Reserve, the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University and Cornell's NYS Water Resource Institute, the Estuary Program has recruited and trained river educators to work with students at each site. Findings will be posted online within days of the event.

The anticipated participation in this year's event will bring the total number of students, educators, and volunteers involved to more than 20,000 since 2003. Armed with seine nets and minnow pots, they've caught more than 16,000 fish of 53 species, ranging from the abundant Atlantic silverside to the odd summer flounder, white sucker, and spotted hake, each caught only once. The striped bass has been one of the species caught at most sites, from Manhattan's saltwater piers to Columbia County's freshwater shore. Once in decline coast-wide, stripers have rebounded to a prosperous recreational fishery thanks in part to DEC efforts.

Students will examine the physical and chemical aspects of the river with a wide range of equipment and contraptions, like a home-made sediment corer assembled from local hardware supplies. High-tech refractometers and simple plastic hydrometers can both be used to measure salinity and find the "salt front" where freshwater runoff and salty seawater meet. In a dry year like 2007, the salt front had pushed its way to Poughkeepsie, while last year the rains of Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee flushed the saltwater all the way down to Croton Point.

This year, the "Day in the Life" event is expanding beyond the Hudson. In addition to sites on the waterways of New York Harbor, there are also pilot sites on the Mohawk River and the south shore of Long Island.

"It all links together," said DEC Estuary Program Coordinator Fran Dunwell. "Students get to see firsthand how fish diversity relates to what is going on in their local waterway, that upriver communities connect to downriver ones, and that the watershed and the coast are part of a shared system."

Participating classes continue to represent the full diversity of the region's school population, from urban to rural settings. A list of confirmed sites for October 4 is below. "RM" refers to River Miles up the river as measured from the Battery at Manhattan. "NY Hbr" refers to New York Harbor, "ER" is East River, "BR" is Bronx River, "HRL" is Harlem River, and "MHK" is the Mohawk.

For more detailed information on A Day in the Life of the Hudson River event, visit DEC's website. For additional information on teachers and partner organizations, and to schedule visits to a site, please email or call Chris Bowser, event coordinator, (845-264-5041; chbowser@gw.dec.state.ny.us).

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