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 This page intentionally left blank. ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY of the H UDSON RIVER This page intentionally left blank. 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. This page intentionally left blank. 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 This page intentionally left blank. 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