Hudson River Watershed Alliance Honors Bard College for Work to Protect, Conserve, and Restore Hudson River Water Resources
 

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.— The Hudson River Watershed Alliance (HRWA) has honored Bard College with its 2017 Watershed WaveMaker award for an organization working to protect, conserve, and restore Hudson River water resources. The alliance cited Bard for its commitment to launching and organizing the Saw Kill Watershed Community to draw attention and awareness to protection of the Saw Kill, use of the Bard Water Lab to improve the understanding of regional water quality issues, leadership in implementing the Hudson River Subwatershed and Tributary Research Network (THuRST), and academic excellence demonstrated in the College’s Environmental and Urban Studies Program (eus.bard.edu) and Center for Environmental Policy (bard.edu/cep). Bard will be presented with the award at HRWA’s Toast to the Tribs Awards Benefit on Tuesday, December 5, at The Falcon in Marlboro, New York, from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. For tickets and more information, visit hudsonwatershed.org.

Working to study, protect, and teach others about the Saw Kill Creek and its watershed, the Saw Kill Watershed Community (SKWC) is made up of Bard faculty, staff, and students; members of the conservation advisory councils of the towns of Red Hook, Rhinebeck, and Milan; local, county, and state officials; representatives of the Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve, the Hudson River Estuary Program, and Cornell Cooperative Extension (Dutchess County); and several nonprofits, including Riverkeeper, Scenic Hudson, and the Hudson River Watershed Alliance. For more information, visit sawkillwatershed.wordpress.com. Another water quality initiative at Bard is the Bard Regional Green Infrastructure Demonstration Project, which transformed a compacted gravel parking lot using a low impact development approach to manage more than 10 acres of storm-water runoff. The project, which received funding support from the New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation and design inspiration from a graduate student in the Bard Center for Environmental Policy, serves as a living lab for Bard students. In addition, Bard is currently working with the private sector and environmental organizations as part of a NYSERDA grant to evaluate the feasibility of very small hydropower systems on dams located on campus. Over the next year, this work will be available on a public website that starts to answer the intractable question of how various stakeholders can sustainably approach the more than 7,000 dams across the state. Bard students are contributing to this work. For more information on sustainability initiatives at Bard, please visit bard.edu/sustainability.

Founded in 1860, Bard College is a four-year residential college of the liberal arts and sciences located 90 miles north of New York City. With the addition of the Montgomery Place estate, Bard’s campus consists of nearly 1,000 park-like acres in the Hudson River Valley. It offers bachelor of arts, bachelor of science, and bachelor of music degrees, with concentrations in more than 40 academic programs; graduate degrees in 11 programs; nine early colleges; and numerous dual-degree programs nationally and internationally. Building on its 157-year history as a competitive and innovative undergraduate institution, Bard College has expanded its mission as a private institution acting in the public interest across the country and around the world to meet broader student needs and increase access to a liberal arts education. The undergraduate program at the main campus in upstate New York has a reputation for scholarly excellence, a focus on the arts, and civic engagement. Bard is committed to enriching culture, public life, and democratic discourse by training tomorrow’s thought leaders. For more information about Bard College, visit www.bard.edu.

(11.25.17)
 

This event was last updated on 11-28-2017

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