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En v i r on m E n ta l Hi s t ory
of the Hu d s on ri v E r
ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES / NEW YORK
The diverse contributions to Environmental History
of the Hudson River examine how the natural and
physical attributes of the river have influenced human
settlement and uses, and how human occupation
has, in turn, affected the ecology and environmental
health of the river. The Hudson River Valley may be
America’s premier river environmental laboratory, and
by bringing historians and social scientists together
with biologists and other physical scientists, this book
hopes to foster new ways of looking at and talking
about this historically, commercially, and aesthetically
important ecosystem.
Native people’s influences on the ecological integrity of
aquatic and shoreline communities were generally local
and minor, and for the first 12,000 years or so of human
use, the Hudson River was valued mainly as a source
of water, food, and transportation. Since the arrival
of European colonists, however, commerce has been
the engine that has driven development and use of the
river, from the harvesting of beaver pelts and timber
to the siting of manufacturing industries and power
plants, and all of these uses have had pervasive effects
on the river’s aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. In the
meantime, aesthetic movements such as the Hudson
River School of painting have sought to recover and
preserve the earlier pastoral landscape, anticipating
the more recent efforts by environmentalists that
have led to dramatic improvements in water quality,
shoreline habitats, and fish populations.
Despite the pervasive forces of commerce, the Hudson
River has retained its world-class scenic qualities.
The Upper Hudson remains today a free-flowing,
tumbling mountain stream, and the Lower Hudson
a fjord penetrated and dominated by the Hudson
Highlands. The Hudson’s unique history continues to
affect current uses and will surely influence the future
in remarkable ways.
R o b e R t e . H e n s H a w received his Ph.D. in
environmental physiology at the University of Iowa and
worked for twenty years as an environmental analyst
at the New York State Department of Environmental
Conservation. He has taught in the Department of
Geography and Planning at the University at Albany–
SUNY, and is a member of the Board of Directors of
the Hudson River Environmental Society. He lives in
West Sand Lake, New York.
H e n s H a w
En v i ron m E n ta l Hi st or y
of the H
u d s on ri v E r
S tat e U n i v e r S i t y o f n e w y o r k P r e S S
w w w. s u n y p r e s s . e d u
Human Uses that Changed the Ecology,
Ecology that Changed Human Uses
e d i t e d b y R o b e R t e . H e n s H a w
w i t H a F o R e w o R d b y F R a n c e s F . d u n w e l l
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ENVIRONMENTAL
HISTORY
of the
H
UDSON RIVER
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ENVIRONMENTAL
HISTORY
of the
HUDSON RIVER
Human Uses that Changed the Ecology,
Ecology that Changed Human Uses
EDITED BY
Robert E. Henshaw
WITH A FOREWORD BY
Frances F. Dunwell
COVER: Progress (The Advance of Civilization) 1853, by Asher B. Durand, courtesy of the Westervelt Collection,
Westervelt-Warner Museum of American Art in Tuscaloosa, AL. See legend for Fig. lntro.2.
I
NSIDE COVER IMAGE: Novi Belgii Novaeque Angliae / Partis Virginiae tabula multis in locis emendate, 1685,by
Nicolaes Visscher with Schenk, Peter, Jr., courtesy of the Library of Congress. Based on a manuscript map by Adriaen
Van der Donck, 1648. See Fig. lntro.1. Three generations of Visschers produced 27 versions based on this map.
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2011 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever
without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system
or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic,
magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise
without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
www.sunypress.edu
Production by Ryan Morris
Marketing by Fran Keneston
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Environmental history of the Hudson River : human uses that changed the ecology, ecology that
changed human uses / edited by Robert E. Henshaw.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4384-4026-2 (pbk. : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4384-4027-9 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Human ecology—Hudson River (N.Y. and N.J.)—History. 2. Nature—Effect of human beings
on—Hudson River (N.Y. and N.J.)—History. 3. Natural history—Hudson River (N.Y. and N.J.)
4. Environmentalism—Hudson River (N.Y. and N.J.)—History. 5. Hudson River (N.Y. and N.J.)—
Environmental conditions. I. Henshaw, Robert E.
GF504.N7E68 2011
304.209747'3—dc22
2011014090
10987654321
This book is dedicated to my father, Dr. Paul S. Henshaw, nuclear
biophysicist, from whom I learned the unity of physical and biological
sciences with the social sciences; and to Dr. G. Edgar Folk Jr., environ-
mental physiologist at the University of Iowa, from whom I learned
professional persistence.
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Foreword ix
Frances F. Dunwell
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction xv
Robert E. Henshaw
The Hudson River Watershed:
An Abbreviated Geography xxi
Robert E. Henshaw
PAR T I
History and Biology: Providing Explanations 1
Robert E. Henshaw
CHAPTER 1
Historical Facts/Biological Questions 3
Robert E. Henshaw
CHAPTER 2
Linkages between People and Ecosystems:
How Did We Get from Separate to Equal? 7
Stuart Findlay
CHAPTER 3
Symbioses between Biologists and
Social Scientists 13
Lucille Lewis Johnson
PAR T II
River of Resources 23
Robert E. Henshaw
CHAPTER 4
Hudson River Fisheries: Once Robust,
Now Reduced 27
Robert A. Daniels, Robert E. Schmidt,
and Karin E. Limburg
CHAPTER 5
Herpetofauna of the Hudson River
Watershed: A Short History 41
Alvin R. Breisch
CHAPTER 6
Human Impacts on Hudson River
Morphology and Sediments: A Result
of Changing Uses and Interests 53
Frank O. Nitsche, Angela L. Slagle, William
B. F. Ryan, Suzanne Carbotte, Robin Bell,
Timothy C. Kenna, and Roger D. Flood
CHAPTER 7
The Earliest Thirteen Millennia of Cultural
Adaptation along the Hudson River Estuary 65
Christopher R. Lindner
vii
CONTENTS
CHAPTER 8
Archaeological Indices of Environmental
Change and Colonial Ethnobotany in
Seventeenth-Century Dutch New Amsterdam 77
Joel W. Grossman
CHAPTER 9
Linking Uplands to the Hudson River:
Lake to Marsh Records of Climate Change
and Human Impact over Millennia 123
Dorothy M. Peteet, Elizabeth Markgraf,
Dee C. Pederson, and Sanpisa Sritrairat
CHAPTER 10
Vegetation Dynamics in the Northern
Shawangunk Mountains: The Last Three
Hundred Years 135
John E. Thompson and Paul C. Huth
CHAPTER 11
Agriculture in the Hudson Basin Since 1609 153
Simon Litten
CHAPTER 12
Ecology in the Field of Time: Two Centuries
of Interaction between Agriculture and Native
Species in Columbia County, New York 165
Conrad Vispo and Claudia Knab-Vispo
CHAPTER 13
The Introduction and Naturalization of
Exotic Ornamental Plants in New York’s
Hudson River Valley 183
Chelsea Teale
PART III
River of Commerce 195
Robert E. Henshaw
CHAPTER 14
The Rise and Demise of the Hudson River
Ice Harvesting Industry: Urban Needs and
Rural Responses 201
Wendy E. Harris and Arnold Pickman
CHAPTER 15
Human Sanitary Wastes and Waste Treatment
in New York City 219
David J. Tonjes, Christine A. O’Connell,
Omkar Aphale, and R. L. Swanson
CHAPTER 16
Foundry Cove: Icon of the Interaction of
Industry with Aquatic Life 233
Jeffrey S. Levinton
CHAPTER 17
River City: Transporting Commerce
and Culture 247
Roger Panetta
CHAPTER 18
Out of the Fray: Scientific Legacy of
Environmental Regulation of Electric
Generating Stations in the Hudson
River Valley 261
John R. Young and William P. Dey
PAR T IV
River of Inspiration 275
Robert E. Henshaw
CHAPTER 19
Birth of the Environmental Movement
in the Hudson River Valley 279
Albert K. Butzel
CHAPTER 20
The Influence of the Hudson River School
of Art in the Preservation of the River,
Its Natural and Cultural Landscape, and
the Evolution of Environmental Law 291
Harvey K. Flad
CHAPTER 21
“Thy Fate and Mine Are Not Repose”:
The Hudson and Its Influence 313
Geoffrey L. Brackett
CHAPTER 22
The Past as Guide to a Successful Future 325
Robert E. Henshaw
Afterword 335
Robert E. Henshaw
Contributors 337
Web Addresses of Cited and Key Agencies,
Not-for-Profit Organizations, and Academic
Institutions in the Hudson River Basin 341
Index 343
viii CONTENTS
[...]... branches of the sea isolating Manhattan and Long Island It creates scenic landscapes so striking that they are protected by federal law The reader should take this incredible journey in the fifteen-minute virtual airplane tour of the entire length of the river from the southern point of discharge into the Atlantic Ocean northward to the source of the river in the Adirondack Mountains at the Hudson River Environmental. .. individuals have in common is the power of their imagination The Hudson inspires big dreams and energizes the people who can fulfill them Most of the people who have made a difference on this river have been steeped in personal experience of it They swim in it, they study its rocks, and they listen to the songs of its birds and observe the habits of its fishes They smell the fragrance of the sweet flag growing... Hudson s 1609 voyage into the river that came to bear his name Most public recognition celebrated the last four hundred years of human presence on the Hudson River Less attention was given to the many environmental influences of the human presence since the coming of the Europeans, and even less to the preceding thirteen millennia of human presence on the river The Hudson River Environmental Society participated... D UNWELL of the river and changed many aspects of its ecology It is through this lens that HRES has asked the authors to explore the river s history The way the city and the river co-evolved reflects not only the unique geography of the Hudson but also its place in world history, its mix of ethnic groups, and its power to inspire human imagining The Age of Enlightenment, the Romantic Era, the transportation... revolution, and the landing of a man on the moon all colored the vision of those who sought to arrange the Hudson to their own designs Advances in technology have also been critical to this story Inventions such as the Mercator map, the steam engine, the Bessemer process for making steel, the use of dynamite, and the harnessing of electricity from water power all shaped the future of the river in profound ways... on the Native Americans for their success in the fur trade On the St Lawrence River, the French respected the Na- tives and treated them as equals (Fischer 2008) However, from the beginning in the Hudson River, the Dutch and English explorers, and then the fur traders, treated the Natives with distrust and disrespect Henry Hudson s scribe, Robert Juet, whose journal is the only surviving record of the. .. complete their work Part II, River of Resources,” concentrates on the resource base exploited by Native Americans and colonists Native American tribes varied in their uses of the Hudson River and the surrounding forest ecosystems Archeologists believe that because of their low population density and their lifestyles, they lived sustainably within the produc- tive capacity of the Hudson region—as surely they... Fund of Vassar College; Ms Hollee H Haswell, a dedicated Hudson River Valley botanist; Henningson, Durham, and Richardson Architecture and Engineering PC, a long time supporter of environmental work for the Hudson such as the present volume; and the Environmental Consortium of Hudson Valley Colleges and Universities We especially thank the Hudson River Estuarine Program of the NYS Department of Environmental. .. route to the west through the Allegheny Mountains LOWER HUDSON RIVER Hydrology The Lower Hudson (Fig G.3), often referred to as the Hudson River Valley, flows in a nearly straight path from Troy southward to the southern tip of Manhattan ( River Mile 0”), a distance of 246 km (153 mi.) It then continues between Staten Island and Long Island to the Verrazano Narrows on the Atlantic Ocean south of New... occur in the Lower Hudson River Spawning, egg laying, and early larval growth concentrate in the brackish region of the salt front For this reason this region is characterized in Fig G.2 as the “biological center” of the Lower Hudson A number of species of fish are anadromous, relying on the freshwater and brackish parts of the river for spawning and early growth before spending the bulk of their lives . blank.
ENVIRONMENTAL
HISTORY
of the
H
UDSON RIVER
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ENVIRONMENTAL
HISTORY
of the
HUDSON RIVER
Human Uses that Changed the. 20
The Influence of the Hudson River School
of Art in the Preservation of the River,
Its Natural and Cultural Landscape, and
the Evolution of Environmental
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