DEC and Partners Host 5,000 Student Scientists at the 17th Annual "Day in the Life of the Hudson and Harbor"

Scientific Data Collection Connects

Students with River and New York Harbor

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Basil Seggos announced today that shore-fronts up and down the Hudson River and the piers of New York Harbor are being taken over by an estimated 5,000 local students armed with seine nets, minnow pots, and water testing gear to collect data and study the Hudson River's fish and invertebrates, track the river's tides and currents, and examine water quality and chemistry during DEC's 17th annual "Day in the Life of the Hudson and Harbor."

"DEC's annual 'Day in the Life' event is a great opportunity for thousands of students to experience the diverse habitats and fishery of the Hudson River, while helping to gather valuable research data," said Commissioner Seggos. "From the river's headwaters in the Adirondacks to New York Harbor, the health of the Hudson is essential for residents, visitors, and our economy, and today's event showcases the river's significant value while inspiring the next generation of environmental stewards."

New York students from elementary through college partner with environmental education centers to collect scientific data using hands-on field techniques to capture a snapshot of the river's ecology at more than 100 sites along the Hudson. The data collected by students provides insights into an ecosystem spanning 160 miles of the Hudson River and New York Harbor and is posted online after the event. Participating classes represent the diversity of the school population in urban and rural communities along the estuary. This year, the program's 17th, an estimated 5,000 students and educators from more than 100 schools will participate.

More than a field trip, Day in the Life gives students the opportunity to don waders or use a fishing rod to collect data on many of the Hudson's 200-plus species of fish. Most are young fish, evidence of the Hudson's importance as a nursery habitat. Some years students catch surprising fish like seahorses, conger eels, and needle fish. Students also examine the physical and chemical aspects of the river with a wide range of equipment such as dissolved oxygen and pH kits, to high-tech refractometers and simple plastic hydrometers to measure salinity and find the salt front -- the leading edge of dilute seawater pushing up the estuary.

DEC estuary program staff connect the field day with the classroom by conducting pre- and post-visits in numerous schools that participate in Day in the Life. Lessons on-site and in the classroom fulfill state learning standards in a variety of subjects. Post-trip activities connect students to other sites through the data that was collected up and down the estuary. Additionally, students will learn about the Hudson River Environmental Conditions Observing System (HRECOS), a computerized network of real-time monitoring stations extending from Manhattan to the Mohawk River. These data can be used to help students better understand the dynamic factors that are constantly impacting the Hudson River ecosystem.

Day in the Life of the Hudson and Harbor is sponsored by DEC's Hudson River Estuary Program in partnership with the Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve, the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Cornell University's New York State Water Resources Institute, and the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission. The event has sparked other Day in the Life events on waterways throughout New York State.

Further event details can be found on the DEC website. A list of participating schools, partners, and event locations is below:

"Day in the Life of the Hudson and Harbor"
Borough or County
River Site
School
Partner Organization
Time at Site
Staten Island
Fort Wadsworth
St. Clare School
National Park Service/DEP/Coast Guard
9:30 AM - 1 PM
Staten Island
Great Kills Park
Curtis High School
9:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Staten Island
Pier 1 Staten Island
Curtis High School
10 AM - 2 PM
Brooklyn
Kaiser Park, Coney Island
Rachel Carsen IS 237
City Parks Foundation
10 AM - 1 PM
Brooklyn
Salt Marsh Nature Center at Ave U Gerritsen Creek
PS 130K
10:30 AM - 12:45 PM
Brooklyn
Valentino Pier, Red Hook
The Brooklyn New School/PS 146
9:45 AM - 1:30 PM
Brooklyn
Coney Island Pier
IS 240
10 AM - 1 PM
Brooklyn
Canarsie Pier
Pathways to Graduation, International High School at Lafayette
10 AM - 1 PM
Brooklyn
Brooklyn Bridge Park
MS915
Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy
8:30 AM - 1:30 PM
Brooklyn
Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pier 5
Brooklyn Friends, Sunset Park High School
Billion Oyster Project Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy
9 AM - 11 AM
11 AM - 3 PM
Queens
Francis Lewis Park
International High School for Health Sciences
NYC Parks Urban Rangers
10 AM - 1 PM
Queens
Fort Totten Park
John Bowne High School
NYC Parks Urban Rangers
10:30 AM - 1 PM
Queens
Gantry Plaza State Park, Pier 1
P.S./I.S. 78Q
NY State Parks
9 AM - 11 AM
Queens
Gantry Plaza State Park, Pier 4
Hunter's Point Community Middle School, Vanguard High School
DEP
9 AM - 2 PM
Bronx
Hunts Point
The School at Columbia University
Rocking the Boat
10 AM - 2 PM
Bronx
Concrete Plant Park
Bronx Center for Science & Mathematics
Bronx River Alliance
10 AM - 12 PM
Bronx
Concrete Plant Park
Pelham Preparatory Academy
10 AM - 12:45 PM
New Jersey
Colgate Clock on Exchange Place
Hudson Montessori School
9 AM - 12 PM
New Jersey
Englewood Boat Basin
Paterson Academy for the Gifted and Talented
Meadowlands Environment Center
9:30 AM - 12 PM
New Jersey
Alpine Boat Basin
Alpine School, Pascack Hills High School
Palisades Interstate Park Commission
8:30 AM - 12 PM
Manhattan
Governors Island Pier 101
The Urban Assembly NY Harbor School
Billion Oyster Project
10 AM - 2:30 PM
Manhattan
Randall's Island
The Dwight School
Randall's Island Park Alliance
9:30 AM - 2:15 PM
Manhattan
Brooklyn Bridge West Side East
Leman Prep Manhattan
BioBoat
9 AM - 2:30 PM
Manhattan
Brooklyn Bridge Beach
Manhattan International
Lower East Side Ecology Center
10:45 AM
Manhattan
Pier 40
NYC Museum School
The River Project, Hudson River Park
9:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Manhattan
Pier 45
Ellis Preparatory Academy
NYU Wallerstein Collaborative
11 AM - 12 PM
Manhattan
Pier 45
NYC Lab High School
1 PM - 2:30 PM
Manhattan
Pier 62
PS 340
10 AM - 11:45 AM
Manhattan
Pier 84
DLMS-MS247 HS for Environmental Science
Hudson River Park Trust
10 AM - 2 PM
Manhattan
Pier 96
Mott Hall Charter School
10 AM - 1PM
Manhattan
Pier 96
High School for Environmental Studies
Student Conservation Association
3:30 PM
Manhattan
Pier 1
Speyer Legacy School
9:30 AM - 2:30 PM
Manhattan
West Harlem Pier - 125th Street Baylander
High School of Language and Innovation
Baylander Ship
10 AM - 12:30 PM
Manhattan
125th Street Pier
Columbia Secondary School
1:15 PM - 2:10 PM
Manhattan
Fort Washington Park
Marymount School of NY
8:30 AM - 1:30 PM
Manhattan
Inwood at the Hudson River
Comprehensive Model School Project
NYC Urban Park Rangers
10 AM - 1 PM
Rockland
Piermont Pier
Tappan Zee HS, Pearl River HS, Spring Valley HS, Carkston North and South HS
Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory
8:30 AM - 1:30 PM
Rockland
Memorial Park, Nyack
Nyack High School
9 AM - 1 PM
Rockland
Memorial Park, Nyack
Liberty Elementary School, Upper Nyack Elementary School
Outdoor Science Alliance, and Rockland County Division of Environmental Resources
9 AM - 3 PM
Rockland
Lower Hook Mtn. Nyack Beach
Blue Rock School
Strawtown Studio
9:45 AM - 2:30 PM
Rockland
Haverstraw Bay County Park, West Haverstraw
North Rockland High School
8;30 AM - 1:30 PM
Westchester
Habirshaw Park, Yonkers
High School for Environmental Studies
Center for the Urban River at Beczak
10:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Westchester
Kinnally Cove, Hastings on Hudson
Hastings High School
8;45 AM - 10:45 AM
12:20 PM - 2:20 PM
Westchester
Dobbs Ferry
EF International Boarding School
9 AM - 3 PM
Westchester
Matthiessen Park, Irvington
Irvington Middle and High School
9 AM - 11 AM
Westchester
Riverwalk Center, Terrytown
Ossining HS
Teatown
9:30 AM - 11:45 AM
Westchester
Ossining Beach, Louis Engel Park
Ossining HS
9 AM - 2 PM
Westchester
Croton Point Park, Croton-on-Hudson
Croton-Harmon High School, Fox Meadow Elementary School
10 AM - 2 PM
Westchester
Steamboat Dock, Verplanck
Mahopac High School
9:30 AM - 1 PM
Westchester
River Front Green, Peekskill
Walter Panas High School
8 AM - 1:30 PM
Orange
Cornwall Landing, Cornwall
Willow Avenue Elementary
Trailside Museum & Zoo, NYSDEC
9:30 AM - 2 PM
Putnam
Garrison Landing, Garrison
Garrison School
9 AM - 1 PM
Orange
West Point - South Dock
West Point School & Girls Scouts of America
8 AM - 5 PM
Orange
Plum Point, Kowawese
Vails Gate STEAM Academy
Black Rock Consortium, Orange County Water Authority
9:30 AM - 1:30 PM
Orange
People's Waterfront & Boat Launch, Newburgh
Newburgh Free Academy - P-Tech
Scenic Hudson
9 AM - 1:45 PM
Dutchess
Dennings Point, Beacon
Oakwood Friends School
Beacon Institute
9:15 AM - 11:15 AM
Dutchess
Beacon-Newburgh Ferry Landing, Beacon
Circleville Elementary School
Sloop Clearwater
9 AM - 4 PM
Dutchess
Long Dock Park, Beacon
Newburgh Free Academy - P-Tech
Scenic Hudson
9 AM - 1:45 PM
Dutchess
Beacon Riverfront Park, Beacon
Valley Central Middle School
9 AM - 1:30 PM
Dutchess
Chelsea Yacht Club, New Hamburg
Wappingers Junior High School
8:15 AM - 1:30 PM
Dutchess
Quiet Cove, Poughkeepsie
G.W. Krieger Elementary School
Cornell Cooperative Extension and Hudson River Fisheries Unit
9 AM - 1:15 PM
Dutchess
Norrie Point, Staatsburg
Poughkeepsie High School, Millbrook School
Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve
9 AM - 2:30 PM
Dutchess
Tivoli Bay South, Bard College
Red Hook High School
Bard College
9 AM - 1:30 PM
Ulster
Freer Park, Port Ewen
High Meadow School
NYSDEC
10:30 AM - 1:30 PM
Ulster
Esopus Meadows Point, Ulster Park
Robert Graves Elementary
Sloop Clearwater
9:30 AM - 1:30 PM
Ulster
Kingston Point Park, Kingston
Robert Graves Elementary
Kingston Parks and Recreation
9:45 AM - 1:45 AM
Ulster
Kingston Point Park, Kingston
Kingston YMCA Farm Project
Kingston Parks and Recreation
2:45 PM - 5:15 PM
Ulster
Ulster Landing Park, Kingston
Mill Road Elementary School, Kingston High School
8:45 AM - 1:45 PM
Ulster
Falling Waters, Glasco
Saugerties High School
8 AM - 9 AM
Greene
Coxsackie Boat Launch, Coxsackie
Coxsackie Elementary School
9:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Columbia
Lasher Park, Germantown
Hudson High School
Columbia Land Conservancy
8:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Columbia
Hudson Waterfront Park, Hudson
Chatham High School, Taconic Hills High School, Montgomery C. Smith Elementary School
Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies
8:45 AM - 2:15 PM
Columbia
Nutten Hook, Stuyvesant
Averill Park HS
8 AM - 1:30 PM
Rensselaer
Schodack Island, Schodack Landing
Berkshire Waldorf High School
9:30 AM - 1 PM
Rensselaer
Papscanee Preserve, Castleton-on-Hudson
Robert C. Parker School
9:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Rensselaer
Rensselaer Boat Launch, Rensselaer
Tech Valley High School
Children's Museum of Science and Technology
8:45 AM - 11:45 AM
Albany
Hannacroix Creek Preserve, New Baltimore
Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk Middle School, Pieter B. Coeymans Elementary School
NYSDEC
9:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Albany
Henry Hudson Park, Bethlehem
Albany Academies
College of Saint Rose
9 AM - 1 PM
Albany
Corning Preserve, Albany
Albany Magnet Montessori School
NYSDEC
9 AM - 1:30 PM
Albany
Hudson Shores Park, Watervliet
North Colonie CSD Learning Enrichment Program
9 AM - 1 PM
Albany
Green Island
RPI
1 PM - 3 PM
Albany
Peebles Island, Waterford
Cohoes HS
8:30 AM - 10:30 AM
Schoharie
Schoharie Cree, Middleburgh Bridge
Middleburgh Central School
8 AM - 10 AM
Schenectady
Lock 7 Park, Mohawk River, Niskayuna
RiverRun Community Montessori School
9 AM - 12 PM
Saratoga
Hudson Crossing Park, Schuylerville
Schuylerville Elementary School
10 AM - 2 PM
Rensselaer
Hoosick Falls
Hoosick Falls High School
8:45 AM - 10:30 AM

http://www.dec.ny.gov/press/press.html