National Estuaries Week; Climate Week; Summer Drought

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
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Hudson RiverNet
News from the Hudson River Estuary

In This Issue:

  • National Estuaries Week September 17 - 24
  • Climate Week
  • Get There Green!
  • Summer Drought in the Hudson Valley
  • Uncommon Fish in the Lower Hudson

Celebrate National Estuaries Week

A bald eagle in flight grasps a fish in its talons.

National Estuaries Week is a nationwide celebration of America's bays and estuaries and the many benefits they provide to local communities. Estuaries are among the most productive of Earth's ecosystems.

The Hudson 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. It is a tidal estuary, an arm of the sea, where salty sea water meets fresh water running off the land. The indigenous Muhheaconneok people named the river Muhheacannituck, meaning "the waters that are never still."

Key migratory and resident fish species such as striped bass, Atlantic and shortnose sturgeon, shad, and river herring, depend on spawning, nursery, and wintering habitat here. Bald eagles, herons, waterfowl, and other birds feed from the river's bounty. Globally-rare freshwater tidal marshes, mudflats, and other significant habitats in and along the estuary support a great diversity of life. 

New York's estuaries also include Long Island Sound, New York/New Jersey Harbor, Peconic Estuary, and the South Shore Estuary Reserve. Read more about New York’s five estuaries in the February/March issue of DEC’s Conservationist (PDF).

View of the Hudson River from Storm King mountain in the Hudson Highlands.


Climate Change and Hudson River Valley Communities

A woman holds a poster that says Nyack is a certified bronze climate smart community

DEC's Hudson River Estuary Program helps communities build long-term resilience to extreme weather and climate change in partnership with New York State Water Resources Institute at Cornell University and Cornell Cooperative Extension. A focus of this work is to provide technical assistance and funding support to assist Hudson River Valley communities complete adaptation actions featured in the Climate Smart Communities (CSC) program. These actions include culvert management plans, flood preparedness guides, climate vulnerability assessments, natural resource inventories, and open space plans. Estuary Program support also helps communities include climate resiliency measures in local comprehensive plans, such as protecting wetlands, flood plains, and critical environmental areas. This assistance has dramatically increased the number of Hudson Valley region municipalities taking the Climate Smart pledge and achieving CSC certification. The Hudson Valley Region now leads participation in New York's Climate Smart program.


Get There Green!  

Get there green

Get There Green! is a week to promote and celebrate more sustainable modes of transportation. This year it is taking place September 19 thru 25 during Climate Week NYC. During this week everyone is encouraged to join in a week of climate action by using a more sustainable mode of transportation for as many trips as they can.

How to Get There Green

  • Take Your Trip(s) – Simply walk, bike, take transit, carpool, drive an electric vehicle, or use another form of sustainable transportation for the trip(s) you pledged.
  • Post to Social Media – While on your trip(s), and in a safe manner, take a selfie and post it to social media using #GTG22 to let everyone know about your awesome green trip(s)!

Reasons to Get There Green

Transportation represents the second largest source of New York State's greenhouse gas emissions and the largest part of most New Yorker's personal carbon footprint. Therefore, it is critically important that we all lower our transportation emissions to meet our nation-leading economy-wide greenhouse gas emission reduction goals of 40% of 1990 emission levels by 2030, 85% by 2050, and ultimately net-zero. Learn more about the impacts of climate change in New York
  
You can find resources on how to green your trips, on the Get There Green! webpage on the GreenNY Website. 


Summer Drought in the Hudson Valley

A map of NYS showing drought status in each county.

It has been a dry and hot summer, and drought impacts persist throughout the region despite the rainfall received in early September. The National Weather Service and NOAA reported prolonged periods of dry weather and above-normal temperatures this summer. The lack of rainfall in June, July, and August, combined with excessive heat, resulted in low stream flows, and low groundwater levels. Limited water supply prompted DEC to expand the drought watch status to most counties across the state on August 16th.

The most recent September 6th U.S. Drought Monitor report classified the entire Hudson Valley under some form of drought ranging from “abnormally dry” to " moderate" to "severe" drought status. Severe drought includes all of Putnam and Rockland Counties and Parts of Dutchess, Orange, and Westchester Counties. Moderate Drought conditions were present across portions of Albany, Columbia, Ulster, Rensselaer, and Dutchess Counties. With low freshwater flow from tributaries and the upper Hudson to the lower Hudson River, the salt front (dilute sea water) moved north to reach the City of Poughkeepsie once this summer, a rare occurrence.

Below Average Precipitation and Above Average Temperatures

The region had one of the driest summers on record with rainfall totals 3-6 inches below average. Around 12 inches is expected to fall between June-August based on 128 years of data but this summer, most of the region received closer to 7 inches. The region also had one of the hottest summers on record. Westchester, Dutchess, and Putnam Counties had the 2nd hottest summer on record.

Drinking Water Supplies are Strained

A nearly dry, rocky stream bed.

An increasing number of water shortages are being reported due to dry conditions leading to mandatory and voluntary water restrictions being implemented by several local governments across the region. 

  • In Dutchess County, the City of Beacon instituted a Stage I Water Emergency when Beacon’s three reservoirs dipped to 60 percent capacity.
  • In Orange County, officials in the Town of Newburgh brought in a water tanker to supplement supplies for residents whose wells have run dry. Farther south, the Town of Woodbury mandated that no outdoor water use is allowed.
  • In Ulster County, the reservoir levels of Cooper Lake, the main water supply for the City of Kingston, are dropping, triggering Kingston to declare a Stage II Water Emergency. 

The Platte Kill, pictured here, is not a source of drinking water.


Uncommon Fish in Haverstraw Bay and the Tappan Zee

Over the past few weeks of sampling young-of-year striped bass during the annual beach seine, Hudson River Fisheries crews have pulled in some uncommon fish from Haverstraw Bay and the Tappan Zee. With little rainfall until recently, these sites have been fairly salty, ranging from 7ppt (parts-per-thousand) to 15ppt during recent weeks. Two Blackcheek Tonguefish (Symphurus plagiusa), both caught at Tappan Zee sites, were a rare find from the most recent (September 12) beach seine. The Hudson River Fisheries Unit appears to have no record of these fish being caught in either the striped bass or shad (Alosine) young-of-year surveys over the past four decades of sampling.

A small fish with eyes on top of its head, measured against a ruler.Photo of Blackcheek Toungefish by ElizaBeth Streifender.

"Summer Drought in the Hudson Valley" was excerpted from a longer paper on the drought, researched and written by Anna Palmer, source water specialist for the Hudson River Estuary Program. Ann Olsson and Scott Cuppett also contributed to this story.