Hudson RiverNet
News from the Hudson River Estuary Program

In This Issue

• Community Conservation During COVID-19
• New Website on Conservation Planning
• National Estuaries Week

Community Conservation during COVID-19

The COVID-19 crisis has presented hardship for many, including local municipalities in the Hudson Valley who have had to reinvent how they do business. Despite these challenges, many communities have advanced conservation projects that will contribute to a healthier environment for residents and visitors.

Here are just a few examples of these local planning and conservation accomplishments, all of which received funding and/or technical assistance from the Hudson River Estuary Program. We celebrate and congratulate the community leaders, volunteers, and partners who contributed to their success!

• The City of Beacon completed a new Natural Resources Inventory (NRI) (PDF) in June, and the city council officially adopted the inventory in July.
  
  
• The City of Kingston adopted its new Open Space Plan (PDF) as an addendum to the Kingston 2025 comprehensive plan in July. The open space plan grew from the Kingston NRI, and will guide the city towards sustainable land use and protection of natural areas.
  
  
• This summer, the Town of New Paltz adopted a Community Preservation Plan and Fund and associated laws moving toward a November ballot measure to enact a real estate transfer tax for protection of clean water, working farms, and natural areas.
  
  
• The Town of East Greenbush adopted a local law to establish a Conservation Advisory Council (CAC), fulfilling a recommendation of the Natural Resources Working Group that completed the town’s NRI.

In addition, we are assisting with new and ongoing projects throughout the watershed. The towns of Beekman, Gardiner, Montgomery, New Paltz, Olive, Poughkeepsie, Union Vale, and Woodstock and City of Rensselaer are hard at work on NRIs, and Hudson Highlands Land Trust and Columbia Land Conservancy are both developing connectivity plans to conserve wildlife habitat and water quality.

Photo of Gardiner NRI presentation by Misha Fredericks.

New Website on Conservation Planning

A new website, Conservation Planning in the Hudson River Estuary Watershed, assists municipalities, land trusts, watershed groups, and other partners in achieving their conservation goals and supporting the estuary ecosystem.

The website was developed by Estuary Program conservation and land use staff in partnership with Cornell University and serves as a clearinghouse of strategies, publications, tools, and case studies to support local decision-makers throughout the watershed.

National Estuaries Week: Learn About the Hudson River

Estuaries are among the most productive of Earth's ecosystem. National Estuaries Week is a nationwide celebration of America's bays and estuaries and the many benefits they provide to local communities. New York's Hudson River estuary stretches 153 miles from Troy to New York Harbor, nearly half the river's 315 mile course between Lake Tear of the Clouds in the Adirondacks and the Battery at the tip of Manhattan.

Learn more about the Hudson River estuary with a special edition of DEC Facebook Live on Wednesday, September 23 at 12:30 p.m. DEC educators will seine for fish at the Norrie Point Environmental Center, check out the tides, and test the water quality. Facebook participants will have the opportunity to ask questions, which will be answered live and online.

Also this week, Hudson River estuary education staff  launched the 2020 Virtual River series for students, educators, and families. Virtual River weekly segments explore the region's natural environment through short, engaging videos, and include activities and lesson plans for use at home, in the classroom, online, or outside. Sign up for weekly updates or check out the Virtual River webpage!