PLANTING SEEDS BLOG: Kayaking on the Hudson

Motivated by fond memories of a canoe trip in Constitution Marsh in Cold Spring many years ago, I recently started planning a kayaking trip with some of our friends and our kids.

After e-mailing back and forth with Hudson Valley Outfitters in Cold Spring (Putnam County), a complication arose as the boats that we can rent only hold one child and one adult. With my three kids, my husband and I are short an adult. For safety reasons, the tour guide can't have an extra child in his boat. He needs to be free and able to help out if someone were to fall into the water. A logistical wrinkle in my big adventure.

Bad reputations clearly take a long time to die. As a child, in the '70s, the Hudson River was never a desired swimming hole. In fact, the toxic state of the river was a great motivator for people like my grandmother, Franny Reese, to fight to clean it up.

photo: Robert Rodriguez, Jr.

As I thought about the possibility of someone falling into the water, I couldn't help but ask the inevitable question, "Exactly how clean is the water now? And do I really want my kids to take an unexpected swim in the Hudson?" I know the water quality has improved, but I needed a little more background before I rallied the troops.

Conveniently, Scenic Hudson President Ned Sullivan answered a similar question about the safety of swimming in the Hudson as part of a blog he did last summer for The New York Times:

"The Hudson's water quality is the highest it's been in decades... Right now there are at least four great places where you can plunge into the Hudson: Croton Point Park in Croton-on-Hudson (Westchester County), Kingston Point Park in Kingston (Ulster County) and Ulster Landing Park in the Town of Ulster (also Ulster County)… For something a little different, take a dip in the River Pool at Beacon (Dutchess County)." (NOTE: Swimming in the Hudson after storms is still not advisable.) 


Okay, so a dip in the water -- as long as it didn't happen right after a big rain storm -- would be absolutely safe. But what about the start of the PCB cleanup of the Hudson River chronicled in a recent New York Times article? On one hand, I know my grandmother would be thrilled. It has been a long battle and this is a true success story. Given all the present challenges in the environment, it feels great to celebrate the moment. But in the process of cleaning up the PCBs, do you run the risk of dislodging toxins and temporarily threatening the water? Would that make it unsafe to swim?

According to Sacha Spector, Scenic Hudson's director of Conservation Science, prior to the start of the cleanup, 500 pounds of PCBs have been coming over the Troy Dam yearly. Leaving the sludge untouched on the bottom of the river was not an option. The PCBs had to be removed. And even though there have been concerns that the PCBs could in fact be dislodged and churned throughout the river, the Environmental Protection Agency has carefully designed the tools and process of the cleanup to minimize this possibility and instituted daily and weekly monitoring to verify that the levels of the PCBs will stay within a safe level for the fish, fish consumers and water intake.

So, if I can convince a friend to be the extra adult on the trip, we are all set. I am eager for my children and friends to experience firsthand the beauty of the Hudson River. And if one of my kids, or me (ugh -- just thinking about the cold water) were to take a swim, it wouldn't be a bad thing.

See you out on the river. And, maybe in the coming years, a fishing trip is in order.

In 2006, Francesca Olivieri co-founded the company, sage baby an online eco-friendly baby store offering everything from organic clothes and skincare to furniture. She also writes a monthly blog for The Family Groove as well as contributing articles to Daily Candy Kids, YogaCity, Cookie Magazine online, Citiscoop, and NRDC's simple steps. Francesca lives in New York City with her husband and three kids, ages eight, six and four.