Chris Bowser is a professional educator and environmental scientist with experience in citizen science, estuary and river monitoring, conservation biology, and fisheries science. Part of Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, he coordinates a team with NYSDEC Hudson River Estuary Program and Hudson River Estuarine Research Reserve. He joins the Nature Calls: Conversations from the Hudson Valley team with a passionate discussion about the Hudson River Estuary.

An estuary is defined as the tidal mouth of a large river, where the tide meets the stream. If you think of New York’s Hudson River, this covers a lot of territory.

According to the Department of Environmental Conservation, estuaries are among the most productive of Earth's ecosystems. Native Americans discovered the Hudson's bounty thousands of years ago; evidence of their existence remains in heaps of oyster shells on its shores. Hudson and Dutch traders wrote of a river teeming with striped bass, herring, and giant sturgeon. More than 200 species of fish are found in the Hudson and its tributaries. The estuary's productivity is ecologically and economically valuable to much of the Atlantic Coast; key commercial and recreational species like striped bass, bluefish, and blue crab depend on nursery habitat here. Bald eagles, herons, waterfowl, and other birds feed from the river's bounty. Tidal marshes, mudflats, and other significant habitats in and along the estuary support a great diversity of life.

The Hudson River Estuary has one of the largest concentrations of freshwater wetlands in the northeastern part of the United States. It has also been found that due to climate change, the rising sea levels have led to an increase in the area of the wetlands.

Chris brings the Hudson River to ‘life’ not only talking about what can be found within it, but also about the wide range of programs to adults and children to help everyone become more acquainted with its value to our broader ecosystem.

Hosts: Jean Thomas and Teresa Golden

Guest: Chris Bowser

Photo by: Teresa Golden

Production Support: Linda Aydlett, Deven Connelly, Teresa Golden, Xandra Powers, Annie Scibienski, Robin Smith