Hudson Named One of America’s Most Endangered Rivers

American Rivers Tuesday named the Hudson River among America’s Most Endangered Rivers of 2019. The new report cited the threat that the potential construction of storm-surge barriers could pose to the tidal estuary.

The annual America’s Most Endangered Rivers report is a list of rivers at a crossroads, where key decisions in the coming months will determine the rivers’ fates.

"For the Hudson, the stakes in this decision cannot be overstated. These storm barriers pose a truly existential threat to the Hudson. We cannot – must not – allow these barriers to be built. The twice-daily tides are the essential respiration and the heartbeat of this living ecosystem. The mouth of the river must remain open and unrestricted, as it has been for millennia," said John Lipscomb, Patrol Boat Captain and Vice President of Advocacy for Ossining-based Riverkeeper. “The Hudson has never faced a threat even close to this magnitude.”

The Army Corps began studying options to build storm surge barriers— essentially massive sea walls with gates to separate the Hudson and New York Harbor from the ocean — after Hurricane Sandy devastated the region.

“Harming this iconic river with massive flood barriers doesn’t make sense when we should be identifying better, more cost-effective options to protect people and property, as well as river health," Eileen Shader with American Rivers said in a press release.

The Washington DC-based conservation organization and its partners called on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to consider alternative solutions that address broader climate-related challenges such as storms and rising sea levels.

“We are already feeling the impacts of climate change in the Northeast, including storm surge and sea level rise, and it’s only going to get worse," she said. "We have an opportunity on the Hudson to demonstrate how protecting public safety and river health should go hand-in-hand in an era of climate change.”

The walls, even with gates open, could act like dams, blocking fish and wildlife, including Atlantic and shortnose sturgeon, American shad, American eel, river herring and sea lamprey, from moving up- and downstream and restricting the natural flow of the river, according to Riverkeeper.

Also, obstructed by barriers, sewage and other contaminants could flush into the ocean more slowly, increasing localized pollution in the Harbor. With inhibited tidal energy, higher nutrient levels could lead to more frequent algae blooms and lower dissolved oxygen that would impact the health of the estuary and upriver tidal marshes.

They won't be effective at doing what they're meant for, either, Riverkeeper said.

The gates of these massive in-water barriers would usually remain open for ships to pass, leaving communities vulnerable to flooding from sea level rise. In an era of changing climate, future major storms will undoubtedly overtop the offshore barriers, ending the limited protection they can provide.

American Rivers called on the Army Corps of Engineers to develop a comprehensive, adaptable plan that includes a full suite of management approaches to reduce the impacts of rising floods, including natural infrastructure that restores natural features like floodplains, wetlands, barrier islands, and oyster reefs; nonstructural approaches that relocate, floodproof and elevate buildings and infrastructure; and where necessary, land-based approaches to protect buildings and infrastructure that cannot be relocated.

"In-water storm surge barriers, despite costing endless billions, would not do a thing to protect against the daily flooding that would come with sea level rise – only against storms. They are only half a solution, and yet they threaten to cause permanent, catastrophic harm to the river," Lipscomb said. "How do we protect against coastal flooding? Riverkeeper and our allies are demanding comprehensive, science-based, land-based solutions that will not harm the river."

The Hudson River flows 315 miles from the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York through the Hudson Valley and into New York Harbor. As the second largest estuary on the East Coast, the Hudson provides critical habitat for endangered species, including Atlantic and shortnose sturgeon, and threatened species including banded sunfish and Blanding’s turtles. The river is at the heart of a $5.5 billion tourism industry, attracting visitors who explore the history, forests, shorelines and communities across the Hudson Valley.

“As an American Heritage River running from its headwaters in the Adirondack Mountains to New York Harbor, the Hudson is a vitally important waterway— ecologically, culturally and economically,” said Scenic Hudson President Ned Sullivan. “For too long, the Hudson has been imperiled by pollution and unwise development decisions."

It's not just the Hudson River advocates who are worried about the Army Corps of Engineers' plan. NY/NJ Baykeeper Greg Remaud said the harborwide, in-water barriers under consideration would suffocate the Raritan, Passaic and Hackensack rivers in New Jersey, the Hudson, the Meadowlands and Jamaica Bay.

"The governments of New York, New Jersey and New York City that are funding the Army Corps of Engineers study must demand a comprehensive approach to coastal flood protection that addresses sea level rise, not just storms," said Greg Williams, Executive Director with Hudson River Sloop Clearwater.

America’s Most Endangered Rivers® of 2019

1. Gila River, New Mexico: Gov. Grisham must choose a healthier, more cost-effective way to provide water to agriculture than by drying up the state’s last major free-flowing river.
2. Hudson River, New York: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers must consider effective, nature-based alternatives to storm-surge barriers that would choke off this biologically rich tidal estuary.
3. Upper Mississippi River, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri: State and federal agencies must enforce laws that prohibit illegal levees, which increase flood risk for communities and degrade vital fish and wildlife habitat.
4. Green-Duwamish River, Washington: Local leaders must produce a flood protection plan that safeguards communities and restores habitat for chinook salmon — fish that are essential to the diet of Puget Sound’s endangered orca whales.
5. Willamette River, Oregon: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers must immediately improve 13 dams to save wild chinook salmon and steelhead from going extinct.
6. Chilkat River, Alaska: The Japanese investment firm, DOWA, must do the responsible thing and back out of a mining project that could decimate native salmon.
7. South Fork Salmon River, Idaho: The U.S. Forest Service must safeguard endangered fish by denying a mining proposal that could pollute this tributary of the Wild and Scenic Salmon River.
8. Buffalo National River, Arkansas: Gov. Hutchinson must demand closure of an industrial hog-farming facility that pollutes groundwater and threatens endangered species.
9. Big Darby Creek, Ohio: Local leaders must use state-of-the-art science to craft a responsible development plan that protects this pristine stream.
10. Stikine River, Alaska: The International Joint Commission of the United States and Canada must protect the river’s clean water, fish and wildlife, and indigenous communities by stopping harmful, polluting mines.

The report didn't contain only warnings.

It also named 2019’s “River of the Year”: Cuyahoga River, Ohio. It celebrated the progress Cleveland has made in cleaning up the Cuyahoga River, 50 years since the river’s famous fire that could be said to have sparked the nation’s environmental movement.