Managing the Estuary

The Hudson River Estuary today is a complex system comprising both ecological and physical components. The driving forces behind this system include natural processes operating on time scales ranging from hours to thousands of years, and human impacts with time scales of days to decades.

In recognition of the complex interplay between these disparate forces, as well as the pressing need for targeted decision-making, Columbia now focuses its Hudson River research within the framework of three primary management issues:

Transportation Transportation of goods along the Hudson River was responsible for establishing New York as a center of commerce in the 1800s. Dredging the river bottom was one of the major management decisions that enabled the region to grow to its present size.

Today the natural river and harbor channels still require periodic dredging, but chemical contamination of the sediments now complicates the matter both because the resulting sludge must be carefully disposed of and the dredging process releases contamination into the water. The profound impact on New York Harbor management of contamination introduced to the Hudson upstream of Albany, more that 150 miles away, amply illustrates the long reach of river processes and the necessity of considering the river and its watershed as one integrated system.

Intelligent management of the Hudson River as transportation resource for the future will require understanding the full energy budget of the river, as well as the long-term effects of both natural processes and human impacts on sediment movement throughout the system.

Water The Hudson's waters, both from the main stem of the river and from streams high in the watershed, have long been used for domestic and commercial purposes. These uses range from bathing in Manhattan to cooling nuclear power plants in Haverstraw and Indian Point. The river has also been used through the centuries to carry commercial and domestic waste out to sea. Each such use -- however small -- alters the flow, temperature and chemistry of the river. Combined, they have a significant effect on the Hudson's physical and biologic processes, and constitute the bulk of the human impact to the river.

In order to understand and mitigate these human impacts and conserve the river for the future, we must learn how water moves through the system in real time, how the estuarine ecosystem currently functions in its urban setting and how best to manage the entire Hudson watershed to preserve and enhance water quality.

Fisheries Managing the Hudson's fisheries has been an issue since the first restriction on oyster harvesting was announced in 1715. Today, certain burgeoning fish populations are attracting renewed interest in trophy fishing on the Hudson, while the fates of others, such as sturgeon, remain in doubt. Hudson fish populations have been carefully tracked for almost 30 years by utility companies, but these data have been collected without regard to variables such as the distribution and health of organisms lower down the food chain.

Intelligent, long-term management of these fisheries will require an integrated analysis of the entire Hudson ecosystem and an improved understanding of how energy is transported throughout the river and estuary system. The knowledge gained will form the foundation for managing all the river's living resources as they continue adapting to global climate change.