The Hudson's Stewards

I have lived in Schenectady County for all of my life and have thus grown up only a short drive from the Hudson’s shores. Through travels with my family, I have grown familiar with all three sections of the Hudson River: the unruly, meandering upper Hudson, the Mohawk region, the calm section which is closest to my home, and the wide, majestic lower Hudson. For those who have not seen all of the regions in person, it is truly amazing to realize that these very different rivers are actually one.

In Bill Moyers’s Hudson River documentary “America’s First River” (http://www.pbs.org/now/science/hudson.html), I learned much more about the river I consider part of my home, especially about the environmental history of the region. It is amazing that the river has been so resilient, that it has been able to withstand heavy industrial use and still remain a home for many species of fish, plants, and animals.

As General Electric attempted to assert in their anti-dredging commercials a few years ago, it is a fairly widespread belief that the Hudson is a recovered river. I knew that there had been extensive logging in the Adirondacks in the 1800s, but I had no idea that the river was used to transport the logs to such a great extent. I was also horrified to see and hear about the vast quantities of chemicals and garbage that individuals and companies had dumped (and are still dumping) into the Hudson’s waters. Although the Hudson has come a long way in the past few decades, companies continue to pollute the Hudson’s waters. We must continue to push for the Hudson’s cleanup and educate others about the aesthetic, economic, and environmental importance of this great river.