Covering Climate in the Classroom More>
"Understanding the relationship between weather and climate are important first steps to understanding larger-scale global climate change," says NYSG Hudson Estuary Specialist Nordica Holochuck, who tested this and other lesson plan concepts with educators during a mid-November workshop on climate change and its impacts. Holochuck has been working with partners from Cornell University and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation's Hudson River Estuary Program on this new series of teaching curricula designed to help middle school students understand climate and weather basics and explore climate change-related issues close to home in the Hudson River Valley. The teaching curricula fit into Learning Standards for New York State, Next Generation Learning Standards and the Common Core.


Partnership Puts Accessibility for All at Boat Launches and Waterfront Parks Within Reach More>
Through a partnership with with the Northeast Americans with Disabilities Act Center at Cornell’s school of Industrial and Labor Relations and the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation's  Hudson Estuary Program, New York Sea Grant evaluated a series of boat launches and adjacent beach areas located along a 100 mile stretch of shoreline on both sides of the Hudson River. Why? To increase recreational access to New York’s waterfront resources for people with disabilities.


On YouTube: Geospatial Literacy: Examining Coastal Change Over Time With New York City Teachers More>
Since 2008, New York Sea Grant and Cornell University's Institute for Resource Information Sciences Geospatial Program and College of Agriculture and Life Sciences have been guiding educators—65 in the last two years alone—in a series of mapping exercises drawn from a Web-based mapping project on how coastlines change over time along more than 500 miles of New York's urban coastal and estuarine environments. 


Teachers Offer Each Other Activity Ideas at NYC Marine Science Workshop More>
This interactive "share-a-thon," the third of its kind in as many years, links teachers up with innovative curricula ideas related to marine science subjects and programs.


On YouTube: A Day In The Life Of The Hudson River More>
In mid-October, environmental education centers and school classes all along the tidal estuary collected and shared scientific information to portray the river ecosystem as part of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation-run event. Thousands of students from around the State used hands-on field techniques to describe their sites, caught fish in nets, collected water and invertebrate samples, and examined water chemistry parameters.  As NYSG's Hudson River specialist Nordica Holochuck discovered, beyond just being a field trip, a “Day in the Life” allowed students to collect first-hand information about their communities’ natural resources and explore how their piece of the river fits into the larger ecosystem.


On YouTube, On Air: Cornell Researchers Find Contaminants May Cause Birds to Sing a Different Tune More>
Within days of being published in the journal PLOS ONE in mid-September 2013, the findings of this New York Sea Grant-funded Cornell Lab of Ornithology research generated many tweets (no pun intended) and posts on, respectively, Twitter and Facebook. The project also garnered a great deal of news coverage from print and online sources, wherein investigators elaborated on their study of songbirds that exhibited inconsistency in their songs.

Could this occurrence be caused by contaminants that persist in the sediments of the Hudson River region? Read on for more on this project's findings, including video and audio clips.
  • On Air: How PCBs Alter Bird Songs More>

NYSMEA-NYSG Second Teacher Share-A-Thon a Success More>
What do tectonic plates, fish tanks, and baby birds have in common?  They all were presentations at  the April 28th, 2013 Marine Science Share-A-Thon workshop  held at Mercy College, located in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. on the Hudson River.

  • Pre-event news item: NYSMEA Marine Science Activity Workshop More>


SBU Researchers Evaluate How Coastal Marine Habitats Are Classified More>
In a two-year NYSG-funded research project that wrapped up earlier this year, a Stony Brook University research team provided insights about benthic habitats, from the Hudson River to Jamaica Bay to several embayments on Long Island's North Shore as well as its Peconic Bays ecosystem.


NYSG's Extension Specialists Honored for Excellence in 2012 More>
Last Fall, two of New York Sea Grant's own were honored for excellence by the Great Lakes Sea Grant Extension Network. These acknowledged efforts added to that of a handful of other NYSG specialists who received their own recognitions within the year.


Are Birds Singing a Different Tune? More>
Investigators of a NYSG-funded project examined the birdsong of several songbirds common to New York State as an indicator of effects of exposure to sublethal levels of contaminants such as PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) in the environment.


Sea Grant Helps Cornell Document Change, Develop Educational Curricula for NYC Sites More>
Since 2008, Cornell Institute for Resource Information Sciences and NYSG have been developing stewardship education materials to help educators better understand and teach students about coastal change over time in our NY-NJ Harbor-Hudson region’s urban coast and the resulting impacts to its coastal environments.


NYSG Discover Clean & Safe Sailboat Makes 1st Visit to Clearwater Festival June 16-17 More>


Identifying Distinct Sturgeon Population Segments More>
The Atlantic Sturgeon, the ancient-looking fish covered with bony plates rather than scales, was once abundant along the eastern seaboard and in major river systems from Labrador to Northern Florida. But human activities such as damming rivers, pollution and extensive harvesting have reduced the number and size of its populations and in February 2012, the Atlantic Sturgeon was federally listed as endangered.


NYSMEA’s ‘Share-A-Thon’ A Success More>
New York Sea Grant and longtime partner New York State Marine Education Association share the value of the “train-the-trainer” approach to teaching marine science. A recent joint venture was the March 2012 Marine Science Share-A-Thon held at Columbia University’s Teachers College, where teachers shared and acquired innovative lesson plans and other materials for students while earning professional development credits.


NYSG partners with NYSMEA for a March 2012 Marine Science Share-A-Thon in New York City More>


Hudson Tourism More>
There are many opportunities throughout the summer season for both residents and tourists of the Hudson River Valley to engage in cultural, nature-based and water recreation activities.


NYSG's Nordica Holochuck co-wrote the introduction for this special Spring 2011 issue of The Tidal Exchange, devoted entirely to NY-NJ Harbor Estuary education  More>


That Settles It: Sediment transport in the Hudson River More>
With NY Sea Grant funding, researchers from Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences conducted the first-ever modeling of size-resolving sediment tracking in the Hudson River.


Partners Make a Splash with Project WET’s “Discover the Hudson River”: New Resource for Teachers and Students Studying the Hudson More >
Through lively text, colors, games, maps and activities, a new Project WET booklet provides information about the Hudson watershed, the variety of wildlife the river supports, and the many ways people influence and are influenced by the Hudson River.


Exploring the Hudson More>
Throughout a large part of the year, especially in the summer and fall months, Hudson River Valley (HRV) residents and tourists are, as a new New York Sea Grant publication confirms, out kayaking, windsurfing, motor boating, fishing and even swimming along New York’s most famous river.


NYSG revises Exploring the Estuary! A Teacher’s guide to the NY-NJ Harbor Estuary Region  More >


New publication on Tourism and Community Sustainability in the Hudson River Valley, August 2009 More >

  • And for more on this NYSG-funded research project on Hudson Valley tourism, check out the keypoints from an upcoming late-Fall '08 full publication on "Resident and Visitor Engagement in Three Communities" (pdf) as well as a study summary from our Fall '07 issue of Coastlines (pdf)