Day in the Life Events Continue to Expand with Help from Cornell Extension Partners
Co-written with Emily Fell
Additional contributions from Chris Bowser
Nearly 5,000 student scientists lined the shores along the Hudson River, tributaries in the Hudson River Estuary, and the piers of the New York Harbor on October 10. Equipped with seine nets, minnow pots, and water testing gear, with help from trained teachers, student scientists collected data on and experienced the diverse habitats and wildlife of the tidal Hudson.
DEC and partners celebrated their 22nd annual “Day in the Life of the Hudson and Harbor.” Over those 22 years, Day in the Life has more than 100 waterfront sites from the Troy dam to the New York Harbor with new sites along the Mohawk River this year. You can learn more about the 22nd Day in the Life event in this earlier article here.
The overwhelming success of Day in the Life of the Hudson and Harbor has influenced the creation of Day in the Life events across New York State including Day in the Life of Lake Erie/Niagara River, and Day in the Life of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River, supported by New York Sea Grant with funding from the Environmental Protection Agency engaging over 680 students.
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the NYS Water Resources Institute at Cornell (WRI) partnered with Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) to bring Day in the Life to the Oswego River and the Finger Lakes continuing to add to the growth of Day in the Life programming across the state.
This year, DEC and RIT staff engaged with five teachers from Hannibal, Oswego and Syracuse to offer classroom learning resources and experimental monitoring activities to120 students based in the Oswego River-Finger Lakes watershed. For an educators looking to get involved or learn more about Day in the Life, please visit DEC’s page here.
DEC and RIT also engaged with environmental education partners including NYS Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation, Onondaga Environmental Institute, Upstate Freshwater Institute, Syracuse University Environmental Finance Center, Rice Creek Station at SUNY Oswego, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Oswego County, Oswego County Soil and Water Conservation District, and NY Sea Grant. Village and Town of Manlius also hosted events at Mill Run Park. Partners helped lead stations that engaged students in assessing water characteristics and chemistry, assessing land use and completing bioassessments of the streams. Data collected from the events will be shared on the Day in the Life of Oswego River and the Finger Lakes website.
Funding for the event was provided by the NYS Environmental Protection Fund, under the NYS Ocean and Great Lakes Ecosystem Conservation Act.
