If you haven’t already heard, the Hudson Basin River Watch, in partnership with the Hudson River Estuary Program’s “Trees for Tribs” inititaive, has been selected as one of 10 nationwide finalists for Redwood Creek Wine’s 2010 Greater Outdoors Project.  The goals of the “Trees for Tribs” intitiative are to enhance stream buffers and recreational experiences by planting native trees & shrubs, and to monitor water quality at project sites to demonstrate improvements.

Through an online voting system, the general public will decide who wins the $50,000 grant.  As citizens of the Hudson River Watershed, we all benefit from this program and the improvements made to the health of our streams and rivers.  This is a simple way to show your support for healthy streams in teh Hudson River watershed, and for Hudson Basin River Watch and the Hudson River Estuary Program! Learn more about the project and CAST YOUR VOTE for HBRW and “Trees for Tribs” project, by clicking here.

Online voting began April 1 and will run through August 31.  Individuals are limited to one vote per day.

Here is how you can help:

1.  Simply click on the link, register (one time only) and vote every day until August 31st!

2.  Invite your groups’ members to show their support by casting votes in favor of this project.

3.  Let all of your friends on facebook, twitter, myspace, etc., know how they can support your efforts to protect the Hudson River watershed, by voting for the HBRW/Trees for Tribs project.

4.  Spread the word to anyone interested in watershed and natural resource protection!

Thanks for doing your part to protect the Hudson River watershed.

A few weeks ago I took time to look over the HRWA website and new watershed site, and review recent HRWA correspondences. I wanted to write to share my appreciation for the leadership and vision of Katy Dunlap and the HRWA team for bringing about this powerful network of change. This organizational force of the HRWA has given newfound credence to the message of my work as an outdoor / water educator. I also see the positive effect it has made by way of backing up the work of local leaders in their efforts to incite change, and I can only imagine what new possibility it brings to so many others across the watershed and wider region. Only in its first years, the HRWA is changing the nature of what business as usual means in the Hudson River Valley towards management of our land and water resources.

If the HRWA has made a positive impact in your work or community life it would be interesting to hear about it.

On December 10, 2009, the Hudson River Watershed Alliance, in partnership with the Hudson Valley Regional Council, unveiled a new mapping service that will help local decision makers and watershed groups better understand the environmental resources in their communities. The Hudson River Watershed Atlas is a regional online mapping service designed to enable users to visualize, explore, assess and better understand the natural resources and built systems of the Hudson River Estuary watershed. The Atlas can be found at www.hudsonwatershed.org .

“The Watershed Atlas is an interesting and informative tool for the people of the Hudson Valley to explore their local streams, rivers, and natural resources, and to further understand how their local resources fit within the context of the greater Hudson River watershed,” said Scott Cuppett, Watershed Program Coordinator for the Hudson River Estuary Program of the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation. John Crews, Executive Director of the Hudson Valley Regional Council, said “I think this is a great example of the effectiveness of public benefits organizations like the Regional Council and the Watershed Alliance coming together and partnering in an effort to deliver a tool such as “Atlas” that will add to our collective quality of life here in the Hudson Valley Region.”

The Atlas is built using an Adobe PDF platform, which allows users to select from a menu of 28 informative data layers to customize their own map. There are a total of 20 map panels that together provide geographic coverage of the Hudson River Estuary watershed. Each panel includes 25 different data layers which can be independently turned on and off, with three different possible background layers. Examples of data layers include, among others, streams, hydric soils, wetlands, FEMA floodplains, potential environmental justice areas, MS4 communities, lakes and ponds, fishing and public access points.

We really tried to pack as much information and data into the Atlas as possible, while at the same time not requiring extensive technical training or special software downloads. That being said, this service will work best on newer computers that have the most recent version of free Adobe software. The maps may take a few minutes to download, but once downloaded, there is a wealth of information that can be gleaned from the Atlas. Through this project, we hope to increase understanding and awareness of how watersheds function at the local level.

“The data, information, maps and tool-sets provided through this geospatial portal should fill a unique and useful niche for citizen scientists, land managers and decision makers within the Hudson Valley,” said John Mickelson, technical consultant on the project and Principal of Geospatial and Ecological Services. “It is my hope that our regions’ volunteers groups, planning, conservation commissions, and small municipalities will find their jobs just a little bit easier and their work just a bit more effective as a result of our project.”

The Hudson River Watershed Atlas can be accessed at www.hudsonwatershed.org . The Hudson Valley Regional Council obtained a grant in 2007 to enhance the capacity of the Hudson River Watershed Alliance and to undertake several projects. The Watershed Atlas has been funded in part by a grant from the New York State Environmental Protection Fund through the Hudson River Estuary Program of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

On July 23, the Hudson River Watershed Alliance and the Hudson River Estuary Program convened a forum for more than 25 local watershed groups to provide a venue for sharing their experiences and efforts to protect the water resources of the Hudson River. Focused on the tributaries, these efforts aim to raise awareness about how our individual actions on the land affect the water quality of the streams, ponds, wetlands and other water bodies that drain to the mainstem of the Hudson River.The efforts and activities are diverse! One group is focused on daylighting a river to improve aquatic habitat and water quality, while another group is focused on integrating the arts into their efforts to engage community members to eliminate excessive trash in the creek. Several groups are working on the development or implementation of watershed plans that assess the health of the stream and make recommendations for mitigating impacts on the stream. Quite honestly, the efforts are so creative and varied, I can’t begin to describe them all.

As I listened to the accounts of these local leader’s efforts, I was struck by each group’s passion for protecting streams and water quality, not just for the sake of nature but also to ensure a high quality of life for community members.

While many of these watershed leaders are working locally within the confines of the geographic boundaries of their subbasin, their efforts are having a regional positive impact. Together, they are working to protect and improve management of hundreds of stream miles and thousands of acres in the Hudson River watershed. Collectively, they are a powerful advocate for the Hudson River and its tributaries and will be major players in shaping the vision of the Hudson River valley for the next 100 years.

Click HERE to learn more about Local Watershed Group Successes in the Hudson River Watershed.