8:30 am – 1:00 pm

At the Clearwater office:

724 Wolcott Avenue (NYS Route 9D), Beacon, NY

(former University Settlement Camp)

SPECIAL ISSUE : Annual Meeting 2010

Activating the Next Generation of Cause Musicians

Join your fellow Clearwater members at this year’s Annual Membership Meeting for inspiring speakers and music!

Our theme this year is Activating the Next Generation [...]]]> Sunday, September 19, 2010

8:30 am – 1:00 pm

At the Clearwater office:

724 Wolcott Avenue (NYS Route 9D), Beacon, NY

(former University Settlement Camp)

SPECIAL ISSUE : Annual Meeting 2010

Activating the Next Generation of Cause Musicians

Join your fellow Clearwater members at this year’s Annual Membership Meeting for inspiring speakers and music!

Our theme this year is Activating the Next Generation of Cause Musicians and our Keynote Speaker is David Amram, composer, musician, conductor, writer, and friend of Clearwater who will present a musical conversation with help from Linda Richards and the Power of Song students.

This is our first annual meeting in Beacon since moving here and we hope you stay the afternoon to enjoy the city. The sloop Clearwater will be docked at the waterfront with deck tours from 11-2:30 pm. Please RSVP if you are planning to attend by calling (845) 265-8080 x7101 or e-mail: office@clearwater.org. This event is free and open to the public. Letting us know if you will be attending assists us in our preparation, planning and provisions. If you would like to volunteer to help with the planning or on the day of the meeting, let us know when you RSVP.

RSVP by September 10

RSVP by phone or e-mail to Heidi Thorn at (845) 265-8080 x7101 or office@clearwater.org. If you will be traveling by Metro-North Railroad, please reserve a spot when you RSVP so we can plan for shuttle transportation to and from the Beacon train station.

Directions

By train: Take Metro-North Railroad to the Beacon station.

By car: West Bank: Take the NYS Thruway to Exit 17-Newburgh. Follow signs to I- 84 E toward Beacon, take the Rt-9D exit, Exit 11, toward Beacon/Wappinger Falls. Turn right onto Rt. 9D and continue to the site.

Right Bank: Take NYS Route 9 to NYS Route 9D and continue to site.

Annual Membership Meeting 2010

Agenda

AGENDA:

8:30 am

Breakfast

9:00 am

Opening Song

Walkabout Clearwater Chorus

Welcome & Volunteer Recognition

Allan Shope, President

Clearwater Board of Directors

9:15 am

Creating the Next Generation of Environmental Leaders

Jeff Rumpf, Executive Director

New York Assemblyman Frank K. Skartados

Frances F. Dunwell, Hudson River Estuary Coordinator

NYS Department of Environmental Conservation

9:35 am

Musical Transition

Walkabout Clearwater Chorus

9:45 am

Keynote Speakers

A Musical Conversation

Activating the Next Generation

David Amram, composer, musician, conductor, and writer

with Linda Richards, and students of the Power of Song program

10:30 am

Meet the Candidates – Ballot box closes at 11:15 am.

11:30 am – 12:45 pm

Outgoing Board of Directors Meeting

Sloop Club Charters

12:45 pm

Closing Songs

Walkabout Clearwater Chorus

Meet the Candidates

Current board members up for re-election:

Scott Berwick

Scott is currently Treasurer of Clearwater’s Board of Directors. He has volunteered on the sloop and with the Revival since 2001. Scott is a folk singer, guitar and banjo player and a songwriter (including a song for and about the Clearwater). He also sings and composes his own songs of the Hudson River. He is the Chief Engineer at Hunter Mountain Ski Bowl and treasurer of Hunter Mountain Racing Foundation, Inc., a small 501©3 sports education

foundation.

“While the magic of the sloop initially brought me to Clearwater, my 6 years on the Clearwater board (plus two years as Interim Treasurer) have fostered an even greater appreciation for our extraordinary community. The boat, the river, the music, the education programs, and the enthusiasm of the crew, the staff, and the volunteers make for a winning environmental combination. I remain committed to our mission of environmental advocacy, environmental education, social justice, and the preservation of the boat. It would be

an honor to continue to serve the Clearwater community as a Board Member.”

Eric Marshall

Eric currently performs research on solar cells at the IBM TJ Watson Research Center. He was previously the founding Director of TryScience.org, a multilingual, global Web site which inspires millions of kids, and their parents and teachers, to try Science through engagement with over 600 of the best science education institutions worldwide. He actively supports Clearwater’s volunteerbased sloop clubs and is the former President of Riverlovers. He is currently Vice-President of Clearwater’s Board of Directors and previously served as President.

Allan Shope

Allan has been an architect for the past 30 years and is the current President of the Clearwater Board of Directors. He has been a Trustee of the Dutchess Land Conservancy for 10 years and is also a Trustee of the Cary Institute for Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, NY. He owns Listening Rock Farm in Amenia, NY that includes a large working forest that has produced many of the white oak replacement pieces for the sloop Clearwater. As a

Clearwater Board member, Allan has focused on trying to create an appropriate balance between the environmental passion that is the essence of Clearwater and long-term fiscal health for Clearwater, which will offer the stability we need to be effective.

Susan Hito-Shapiro

Susan is a Rockland County attorney, specializing in environmental, NRC, real estate and entertainment law. She is a green building developer and LEED accredited professional. Goshen Green Farms is a biodynamic, organic farm that she and her husband started 2 years ago. Susan currently sits on the Clearwater’s Board of Directors.

New Candidates:

William Cox

William Cox is currently the Director of Projects at the Solar Energy Consortium. He manages the planning of alternative energy projects including photovoltaic, solar thermal, geo thermal, LED lighting and wind. William is a retired IBM engineering manager. He has over thirty years of manufacturing, engineering, product development, and maintenance/facilities experience with IBM supporting teams worldwide. In his last assignment, he was the Americas manager for Environmental affairs and compliance engineering.

William’s past volunteer activities include Director of People’s Place, the food pantry in Kingston, NY, team leader for the Mid Hudson Valley Make A Wish children’s holiday event, and Church Council president. He is currently the chair of the church property committee. William and his wife Chris reside in Union Vale, NY with their 3 sons ages 10 thru 16. He enjoys hiking and flying his airplane.

Francis Cruz

A life long Yonkers resident, Francis grew up on the banks of our fair estuary. During high school she worked as a Junior Docent and served on the Junior Docent Advisory Board of the Hudson River Museum. On the advisory board, she represented the museum at regional and national symposiums and developed educational materials for the permanent exhibit, Riverama. Today, Francis continues to serve the museum’s Junior Docents as a Weekend Manager.

Francis first boarded the sloop Clearwater in 2001 as part of the original class of Young Women at the Helm. She returned later that summer as an Urban Outreach Intern. She apprenticed in July 2002 and was featured in the January/February 2003 issue of Navigator. Most recently, Francis crewed in Spring 2009 as an Education Intern.

Francis earned her Bachelor’s in journalism at SUNY New Paltz where she loved to hike the Shawangunks Mountains and interned at Chronogram Magazine. Currently, Francis teaches teens with autism at a Bronx high school for students with special needs and is pursuing her Master’s degree in Teaching at Pace University.

David Fenner, MD

David graduated from SUNY Plattsburgh with a Biology degree and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in NYC where he completed his pediatric training followed by two years of working for the Public Health Service in the South Bronx. Twenty-five years ago David came to Poughkeepsie to join a small pediatric practice and is now one of the managing partners of the Children’s Medical Group with eight offices throughout the mid-Hudson valley.

While his concentration was pre-med, much of his focus was on environmental studies. As a pediatrician in the Hudson Valley over the past 25 years he witnessed the gradual change that has occurred with our children. For many years his professional focus has been on nutrition, exercise and establishing healthy lifestyles for kids. David’s personal interests are hiking, canoeing, sailing, biking and other outdoor activities. Over the past few

years, as he has volunteered on Clearwater, he has begun to blend these interests, pushing kids to get outside and connect with nature. David has come to see the important parallels between respect for our own health and the respect for the health of our environment.

Ron Flax-Davidson

Ron currently serves as Vice President – Business Development for CH Energy Group, Inc. (NYS: CHG). In this position, he manages a team responsible for a portfolio of investments in renewable energy companies, including wind, landfill gas, biomass, and ethanol. Ron is also the founder and President of the International Investment Group, Inc. He has also served as the Managing Director of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), Senior Vice President of Drexel Burnham Lambert Caribe International and Vice President of the Chase Manhattan Bank, leading the arrangement of financing for projects throughout Latin America. Ron has worked in nearly every country in LatinAmerica, Russia, Spain, and India and lived in Mexico, Peru, and Puerto Rico. He has served as Executive Director of the Colorado Public Interest Research Group (CoPIRG) and led a law suit to the United States Supreme Court (CoPIRG v. Train) requiring the EPA to regulate the nuclear power industry that led to the break-up of the Atomic Energy Commission and establishment

of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Ron has degrees from Harvard University, Stetson Law School, and New College of Sarasota, Florida and resides in Poughkeepsie, NY.

Frank Landsberger, Ph.D.

Frank has vast experience as an academic, venture capitalist, start-up entrepreneur, and senior manager. Currently, he is President of York Ventures, LLC which provides strategic consulting services to venture capital firms, early stage companies and pension funds. He has a thorough knowledge of the technology and venture capital sectors in the US, the Netherlands, UK, Germany, and Russia. He is a member of the Dutch Financial Club

in New York and was Governor-at-Large and a member of the Executive Committee and Nominating Committee of the New York Academy of Sciences. He is Chairman of cool(E)motion, a foundation located in the Hague, the Netherlands, sponsoring work to promote discussion of global warming. Frank initiated a now annual program to bring Inuit children from the Children’s Home of Uummannaq in Greenland to sail on the Clearwater.

Frank has a Ph.D. from Brown University and a BA from Cornell University, both in Physics. He has served on the faculty of The Rockefeller University and Chairman of Biophysics, M.I.T. and University of Cambridge. He was born in the Netherlands and has been a member of a number of expeditions to the high Arctic. In 2003, he, as co-leader of the Euro-American Expedition, was the co-discoverer of the most northerly identified landmass in the world.

David Lebson

David is a sixth grade science teacher at The School at Columbia University. David taught 4th grade through 8th grade at Manhattan Country School for ten years. In addition, he was

a head teacher in the science department at the Oakwood School in California, focusing on 7^th and 8^th grades. In both capacities, David topped his teaching duties with leadership roles including advisor, trip program leader, faculty council member, and lower school science consultant. He also served on the steering committee for the CAIS Accreditation Process at Oakwood School in 2004. David has managed to bring his passions for environmental education and activism to his summer activities. He worked on a sea turtle protection project in Greece and studied marine ecosystems and volcanoes in Hawaii. David’s love for sailing is evident in his work as a regular volunteer on the Clearwater and the tallship Hawaiian Chieftain which sails out of Grey’s Harbor, Washington. David is a long time supporter of Clearwater and is looking forward to using his passion and energy to benefit the organization in new ways on the Board.

Roger Meyer

Roger is a communications strategist specializing in awareness campaigns. In 1996 he founded Level M, brand solutions agency. His ability to translate complex communication problems into award-winning messages and identity has earned him engagements with NYC, NYCDEP, NPS, American Express and many nonprofits. Roger’s campaigns are groundbreaking initiatives designed to mobilize diverse groups and forge new relationships. He directed the national brand strategy for Governors Island which was recognized by the White House and won PRWeek’s Nonprofit Campaign of the Year. He created the Waterfront Action Agenda for MWA which was adopted by Mayor Bloomberg’s Office.

As a waterfront activist, Roger founded New York Outrigger. He served as president, directing beach-cleanups, youth-programs and helping Riverkeeper, Environmental Defense, NYCDEP, and parks. He is a member of “Mechanisms for Action” Task Force for the HFCQ Commission. Roger was raised in the Valley with Clearwater in his life. He has paddled on the Hudson River for 25 years. His mother Verne Bell received the 2008

Orange County Human Rights Award. His father Guy W. Meyer was a Unitarian Minister and friend of Pete’s.

Alma Rodriguez

Alma is a Regional Director at Workforce Development Institute, covering the Hudson Valley. In her work with unions and working families, she partners with labor, educators, business and community leaders, economic development professionals, environmentalists, environmental justice and wage justice advocates. She also serves as an Advisory Board member of the Youth Construction Initiative Project. Alma was a former Principal at Kopp, Rodriguez & Associates, specializing in program development and grant writing; a former Associate Director of Membership and Public Education at Natural Resources Defense Council and a Fellow at Pew Civic Entrepreneur Initiative, Pew Charitable Trust.

Capital Region/Hudson Valley – August 19, 2010 – Leading environmental organizations today commented on the draft recommendations of an independent review panel evaluating Phase 1 of the Hudson River PCB dredging project, mandated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The panel’s [...]]]> Environmental Groups Comment on Hudson River
PCB Dredging Project 
 Peer Review Panel’s Draft Recommendations

Capital Region/Hudson Valley – August 19, 2010 – Leading environmental organizations today commented on the draft recommendations of an independent review panel evaluating Phase 1 of the Hudson River PCB dredging project, mandated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The panel’s detailed technical report was released in draft form on August 16.

 Clearwater, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Riverkeeper and Scenic Hudson—united in support of removing sediment contaminated with toxic chemicals, called polychlorinated biphenyls or PCBs, from the upper Hudson River—echoed the expert panel’s conclusion that Phase 2 of the cleanup can and should move forward on schedule, in spring 2011. The groups call on General Electric, the company responsible for dumping the PCBs into the river 40 years ago, to commit to resuming work next spring and to finishing the entire project, which is vital to making the Hudson River cleaner, healthier and more economically productive.

 Statements from the environmental groups follow:

 “It’s important to maintain momentum to the overall cleanup plan defined by EPA’s 2002 Record of Decision, which would remove the biggest sources of ongoing PCB pollution in the Hudson and return the river to a healthier state. We agree with the panel that, whatever adjustments may be needed in Phase 2, there is no basis to scale back the scope of cleanup, as GE has suggested,” said Ned Sullivan, President, Scenic Hudson.

 “Phase 1 of dredging last year discovered much more contamination than expected, so the panel rightly concluded that GE and the EPA should take the time necessary to complete a good, thorough cleanup of the river, even if it takes longer than the five years originally anticipated. Arbitrary deadlines don’t make sense. We need an aggressive schedule that leverages the technological expertise of GE to do the best possible job when Phase 2 begins in April 2011 as planned,” said Rebecca Troutman, Senior Attorney, Riverkeeper.

 “With the lessons learned from the first phase of dredging, it is clear that G.E. can successfully clean up its mess and finally return a healthy Hudson River to New York communities,” said Lawrence Levine, Senior Attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “We learned from Phase 1 that there are more PCBs in the Hudson than we expected, and we can ensure Phase 2 will be a success by taking immediate steps like more accurately determining the depth of contamination on the river bottom.  G.E. needs to step up its efforts for the next round – no one is better suited to the tackle this challenge than these leading world innovators.” 

 “Our coalition agrees with the Peer Review panel’s conclusion that there is absolutely no need to delay Phase 2 while developing a new computer ‘model’ to project the anticipated benefits of the cleanup. Many important and illuminating lessons already have been learned, and additional data gathered during Phase 2 can be used to adjust the project if needed,” said Manna Jo Greene, Environmental Director, Hudson River Sloop Clearwater.

Click here to listen!

Two Sessions Allow Local Residents a Chance to Discuss Conservation, Water Protection and Reconnecting Communities to the Outdoors

In April at the White House Conference on America’s Great Outdoors, President Obama signed [...]]]>  PUBLIC LISTENING SESSIONS ON THE PRESIDENT’S AMERICA’S GREAT OUTDOORS INITIATIVE TO COME TO THE HUDSON VALLEY ON AUGUST 5TH AND 6TH, 2010

Two Sessions Allow Local Residents a Chance to Discuss Conservation, Water Protection and Reconnecting Communities to the Outdoors

In April at the White House Conference on America’s Great Outdoors, President Obama signed a memorandum creating the America’s Great Outdoors Initiative. The Initiative’s goals are to develop a conservation agenda worthy of the 21st century and to reconnect Americans with our great outdoors.  In this, the President underlined the importance of  protecting and restoring the lands and waters that we love and reconnecting communities, especially youth,  to the outdoors must happen at the local level.

 President Obama instructed the senior leaders of the Initiative to travel across the country to sit down at a table with people directly involved in utilizing grassroots solutions to conserve our lands and waters and reconnecting Americans to the outdoors.  The President indicated that the sessions should engage the full range of interested groups, including tribal leaders, farmers and ranchers, sportsmen, community park groups, foresters, youth groups, businesspeople, educators, state and local governments, and recreation and conservation groups.

First Session to Focus the Youth Voice in the Valley

The first of  two, a Youth Listening Session, is to be held on Thursday, August 5th from 3-5pm at the Henry A. Wallace Visitor and Education Center at the Home of FDR and Presidential Library in Hyde Park, NY. The session will afford the youth of the Hudson Valley to the chance to participate in round table discussion with their peers and senior representatives from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and other federal agencies. The public listening session for youth will focus on conservation, recreation and reconnecting youth to the outdoors. Important: Click here to follow  RSVP instructions on the DOI site.

General Session to be held on the 6th

A general session open to members of the public will follow the youth session on Friday August 6th from 9am-12noon at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY. It too will include a chance for members of the public to voice ideas, concerns and solutions to senior officials from the Obama administration.  Important: Click here to follow RSVP instructions, including listing your choices for concurrent breakout listening sessions.

Thanks for deciding to lend your voice to this important opportunity for the Hudson River Valley! Your thoughts and ideas will enable [...]]]> “It’s a recognition, passed down from one generation to the next, that few pursuits are more satisfying to the spirit than discovering the greatness of America’s outdoors.” 
-President Barack Obama, April 16, 2010

Thanks for deciding to lend your voice to this important opportunity for the Hudson River Valley! Your thoughts and ideas will enable the community-based outdoor recreation, water protection and land conservation needs of our Hudson River Valley to be better understood by our Federal Government.

Please read the following information carefully. It is important that we are all clear on the schedule and procedures the day of the event.

Information Included Below:

-General Initiative and Event information including directions and the Department of the Interior’s website

-RSVP Information

- Transportation Information

- Clearwater contacts

- Four Questions for the Youth Listening Session (please review these with your group!)

Initiative Information:

This Spring, President Obama called on members of his cabinet to create the Great American Outdoors Initiative (“GAOI”), and the subsequent “Listening Sessions,”  in order to hear from the people who matter most to the future of this nation– its citizens and even more importantly, its youth! Much like Clearwater and its amazing partners, the Obama Administration feels that we can only work towards water protection, land conservation and improving access to our great outdoors by listening to you– the next generation of environmental leaders– and engaging and empowering you in this process from the beginning, to ensure your voices are heard at the end.

 For more information on this initiative, please visit www.doi.gov/americasgreatoutdoors.

Event Information: 

 Who:             YOU! Young people from the Hudson Valley and River Communities

What:              A discussion on Hudson Valley’s Great Outdoors

When:             Thursday, August 5th, from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m.

Where:            Henry A. Wallace Visitor and Education Center

                          Home of FDR and FDR Presidential Library

                   4079 Albany Post Road Hyde Park, New York 12538

(Directions:   http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/map.html )

RSVP Information:

To ensure that they have sufficient space for everyone, GAOI Officials are  encouraging you to inform them by Tuesday, August 3 if you are able to attend one or both (see below for information regarding the general session on August 6) of these listening sessions.  You can do so by sending an email with your name, email address, and telephone number to joseph.heller@ny.usda.gov.

Transportation Information:

IMPORTANT:

If you are unable to get to the FDR Library in Hyde Park, NY, on your own, Clearwater is arranging limited transportation from the Mid-Hudson Children’s Museum (get directions here) to the FDR library. We will also offer return transportation from FDR to the Mid-Hudson Children’s Museum. If you are driving to the Museum, please park at the Poughkeepsie Train Station or one of the local municipal lots right next to the museum.

Please email eileen@clearwater.org if you need transportation to the FDR library from the Poughkeepsie Train Station at 2pm.  

We are leaving the Poughkeepsie Train Station promptly at 2pm and will be returning to the train station no later than 6pm, after the Listening Session.

If you are coming from the south, i.e., Peekskill, Yonkers, Croton, New York City, etc., MetroNorth is a great option– simply take the train to the Poughkeepsie Station, the last stop on the MetroNorth line. 

Click here for a brief intro to the Initiative , a question template and comments from previous sessions around the country.

Clearwater Contacts:

Jeff Rumpf- jeff@clearwater.org

Heidi Kitlas- heidi@clearwater.org

Dave Conover- dave@clearwater.org

Eileen Newman- eileen@clearwater.org

August 6th General Listening Session:

 There will be a general America’s Great Outdoors Listening Session the following day, Friday, August 6th from 9:00 a.m. to noon at Marist College Student Center in Poughkeepsie, NY. 

 (Directions at http://www.marist.edu/about/directions.html.)

Youth are encouraged to attend both the general listening session from 9:00 a.m. – noon at Marist College and this youth event.

Click here for more information regarding the August 6th event at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY.

***

This event is hosted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Department of the Interior, and the Environmental Protection Agency.

 Clearwater kicked off our summer season with the first of many Youth Empowerment Programs aboard our lovely Hudson River Sloop. Young Women at the Helm is a three-day leadership-training program where Clearwater’s crew and volunteers [...]]]>  

 Clearwater kicked off our summer season with the first of many Youth Empowerment Programs aboard our lovely Hudson River Sloop. Young Women at the Helm is a three-day leadership-training program where Clearwater’s crew and volunteers bring 25 young women between the ages of 14 and 18 out on the Hudson River to learn about the ecology, cultural heritage, maritime life and navigation a 106-foot long historic ship.

 Girls from all over the Hudson Valley joined the boat in Beacon on the sunny morning of July 6^th for the beginning of their great adventure. The first day the participants got to know each other, the boat, the crew and how very hot a Hudson Valley summer can be. Despite temperatures reaching over a hundred degrees Fahrenheit during the afternoon, there were lots of smiles, enthusiastic questions and a budding sense of teamwork. The girls deployed our otter trawl net, set the 3,000 lbs mainsail, learned to handle dock lines and studied the Hudson River. When the boat docked at Constitution Island in the early evening everyone was ready for the delicious dinner our cook provided.

  Constitution Island is a new dock for Clearwater’s Youth Empowerment Programs and we were all excited to explore the beautiful island tucked inside World’s End, a sharp bend in the Hudson Highlands over looking West Point Military Academy. The participants explored the revolutionary war site, racing to complete a scavenger hunt and canoeing through Constitution Marsh. After stargazing and grilling hotdogs, everyone climbed into their tents to the soft sound of crickets chirping the woods.

  Early on July 7^th, all 25 girls climbed out of their sleeping bags to a light breeze carrying away the previous days heat. We ate a hearty breakfast together aboard the boat before the girls got back to work and helped bring the ship off the dock to continue their journey down river. Participants and crew organized themselves into four groups called “watches.” The Ecology Watch, Heritage Watch, Boat Life Watch and Navigation Watch spent hours studying their respective academic areas and practicing their physical skills in preparation for the third day when Clearwater’s crew would turn much of the ships operations over to the young ladies.

 Knot tying, coiling lines, studying charts, testing the water and observing plankton under microscopes kept us all busy as miles of the shoreline slipped lazily past. Clearwater made a few gentile tacks in Haverstraw Bay before circling north again to tie up in Verplanck. Each young woman was challenged to row our yawl boat and wade into the Hudson River to seine for fish living along the shoreline. The girls then spent an intimate evening sharing their life dreams s and challenge with each other inside the comforting birch bark walls of an Algonquin wigwam with our special guest Jennifer Lee.

 On the third and final day of Young Women at the Helm the girls woke early to a cool windy morning. They helped warm up the diesel engine, flake out the main sheet, pack up tents and ease the ship away from the dock. In an exhilarating final trawl with the fishing net, the girls hauled in a great variety of Hudson River fish and crab. Each watch climbed into the head rig and felt the thrill of water passing below them as they held onto the bowsprit.

 These young women made Clearwater’s crew proud as they demonstrated their newly acquired skills handling halyards, the tiller, fishing net and dock lines. Each watch presented lessons, skits or songs to their peers to show what they had been studying throughout the past days. A thrilling display of mechanical advantage sent one participant swinging from the rigging, another watch created a beautiful chart of the river chronicling their adventures as they sailed aboard, the third watch created a sea shanty with lyrics describing the cultural heritage of the Hudson River Valley, and the girls designed t-shirts illustrating the biodiversity of the river’s ecological community.

 Every girl left the boat feeling a sense of accomplishment and maybe a little relief coming into port in Yonkers for the last leg of their voyage. They sat together on the bow of the boat for one last muster and a brief awards ceremony before parting ways until next year.

 Young Women at the Helm is a staple of Clearwater’s education pipeline and helps inspire, educate and activate the next generation of environmental leaders in the Hudson Valley.

 The NY State Department of Environment Conservation (DEC) held  public hearings on Indian Point at Colonial Terrace in Cortlandt on July 20th.   NYS DEC held these hearings because Entergy is challenging the DEC’s decision to deny a Water Quality Certificate (WQC) to [...]]]>  Save Our Hudson River Fish-

 The NY State Department of Environment Conservation (DEC) held  public hearings on Indian Point at Colonial Terrace in Cortlandt on July 20th.   NYS DEC held these hearings because Entergy is challenging the DEC’s decision to deny a Water Quality Certificate (WQC) to Indian Point, whose current once-through cooling system circulates water for cooling once through the plant, and then it discharges heated water back into the Hudson, resulting in the killing of billions of Hudson River fish, which remain in serious decline.  DEC has ordered Entergy to install closed-cycle cooling to reduce fish kill and thermal pollution, which is the best technology available to address this problem, and, as such, is required by law.

 Entergy is challenging this decision and has launched a massive PR campaign to convince the public that it is unnecessary. 

 It’s vital that Entergy’s corporate voice does not drown out the voice of science and reason.  Please send the below letter to Administrative Law Judge Villa and cc DEC Commissioner Grannis.  We don’t need Indian Point.

 We need clean, safe energy and a healthy, vibrant Hudson River.

 Click here to read Clearwater’s letter to Honorable Judge Villa regarding the above denial of Entergy’s Water Quality Certification Denial

” There is absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats”         - Kenneth Grahame, A Wind in the Willows

As a child, I got a post card with that quote written on it. I thought [...]]]> - Julie Gilgoff, Mystic Whaler Education Intern

” There is absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats”         - Kenneth Grahame, A Wind in the Willows

As a child, I got a post card with that quote written on it. I thought it was funny and so I hung it up on my bedroom wall.

It wasn’t until I was at the 2010 Clearwater Festival that I saw those words again, on a poster by the “Rainbow stage.” I was reminded of what drew me to live on board the Mystic Whaler for the past 2½ months, teaching the Clearwater education program. Reading the quote over again, I thought it was funny for different reasons.

I would hardly consider what I did on the boat “messing about.” Yes, there was time for music, laughing and eating, but the majority of what we did each day was hard work. There were long days without breaks.

There were high points too. Swimming in the river that I grew up thinking was completely gross and polluted. I began to believe, just as I was teaching the students, that the Hudson River was one of the most beautiful rivers in the world. During one of our long transits from Kingston to Manhattan we passed green rolling hills that reminded me of the landscape of the Mekong River. Why did I have to travel so many thousands of miles to see natural beauty in Asia when the Hudson was in my own backyard?

After the workday ended, I would often have the songs that broke our silent sails stuck in my head:

“Maybe it’s the moonshine, Maybe it’s the starlight, Reflected in Haverstraw Bay”

 It was so cool to walk along the shore of Haverstraw Bay on the way to the dock and point out to my students the pieces of clay that were made into bricks in the factories, still buried in the sand. There were little bits of living history everywhere.

“With the sun setting golden over the Palisades, Afternoon ends and daylight fades”

 I loved to teach geology as we were passing by the Palisades. I’d pick up a sample of Diabase rock and show the kids what the Palisades were made of. We talked about how the igneous rock Diabase was quarried to make roads

 “And I could be happy just spending my days, On the River that flows both ways”

No….I don’t think that I could be happy spending the REST of my days on a boat. But it was an enriching experience that I will never forget. I left the experience with the highest respect for the Clearwater organization, which brings people together through song, love and ongoing efforts to keep the river clean.      

-Lyrics by Rick Nestler

- Phil Frandino, Mystc Whaler Educator

I began my voyage of life at sea up the estuary of the river that flows both ways, sitting in a rowboat with my father. . . a seven-year-old, doin’ some fishin’ .  Not for food.  The water [...]]]>  

- Phil Frandino, Mystc Whaler Educator

I began my voyage of life at sea up the estuary of the river that flows both ways, sitting in a rowboat with my father. . . a seven-year-old, doin’ some fishin’ .  Not for food.  The water was pretty dirty back then. . . but for sport, comraderie, and because my father loved being out in nature — in peace.  Hooked by the kettles of Harriman State Park with fishing, swimming, camping, and once taking a girl dipping, the beauty, grandeur, and solitude of the Hudson Highlands was appreciated as a youth, but I don’t think quite totally loved yet.   I also remember, as a teenager, long fireworks displays on the Fourth of July at West Point happily gathered with family and friends.  The running of many a cross country race at Bear Mountain State Park, (up the ski jump switchback and around Hessian Lake) were more memories brought back when I saw the flagpole on the hill just south and west of the Bear Mountain Bridge as the Schooner, Mystic Whaler sailed up Muheahkanituck.  I was back home.

Raised in Central Valley New York, just ten miles as the eagle flies west of the Hudson, I headed for the sea after two years at the local community college to get the elusive marine biology degree at the College of Charleston in South Carolina.  But, with swimming on scholarships five hours a day, keeping company with co-eds, trying to dive and surf and yes, drinking cold beer (a necessity in the hot sultry south for a transplanted Yankee), plus the rough classes, something had to give . . . it was the studies.  Friends took me sailing to the Bahamas shortly after college, and i was hooked on sailing life.  I managed to acquire a boat, get a teaching degree, and live the life of a millionaire for close to a decade sailing and continuing to appreciate the beauty and awe of nature by and on the water.

Taking my 5th grade students on field trips to the beach and to my boat cemented my belief in the benefit of a “hands-on, experiential, inquiry-based field trip”.  Inner-city youth who had  minimal contact with the ocean so close to their homes were captivated at being swabs for a day.  When the marina shut off life for livaboards, the boat was sold, but the SEA HAB (think rehab. without grog) was needed and volunteering and working on South Carolina’s tall ship Spirit of South Carolina allowed me to keep on teaching youth on the water.  Then, the Clearwater opportunity arose and I quickly applied, thinking, “This could be pretty cool.”  Not only was it cool, it was downright glacier ice cool, as I got to travel on the Hudson River for three months experiencing what few lucky souls get to do – see America’s first and mighty river from the water.

From the first week of training with Clearwater experts Dave Conover, Maija Niemesto Linda Richards, Tom Lake, and a slew of environmental scientists, I felt I was back home.  Maija led the new educators and interns on a teambuilding history-oriented hike, and I looked over the Hudson from atop Mt. Beacon and viewed a great perspective of Storm King Mountain, the gateway to the highlands from the north, and viewed off in the distance Skunnemunk Mtn., the Schwangunks and north toward Poughkeepsie from the bridge.  From kayaking to Bannerman’s Island with Angel to traveling to Esopus Nature Center and seining with Dave and Eli Schloss, and then down to Cary Institute, the training for educators and interns made us able to pass the enthusiasm and knowledge on to the volunteers who gave a week of their time and shelled out wampum for their stay aboard the Mystic Whaler.  They are the backbone of the organization.  Comments from teachers all season reflected the fantastic time their students had on the trips, many saying it was the best field trip ever!  Thanks volunteers, you did it. 

After being away for decades, traveling the Hudson for me was a joyful coming home to meet my brothers, in-laws, cousins and friends whom I was lucky enough to meet at EVERY port o’ call   But it was the trawling, the hauling in of the Otter net, the raising of the sails, the singing of the songs, the teaching of the tykes, and finally the view from the water of both sides of this great river that made the experience so grand.  Learning about the impressive and staggering geology and creation of the Hudson, its social and political growth and development, its place in environmental activism firsts, developed my appreciation of the magnificence, awe, and beauty of the river to gigantic proportions.  Time and again while sailing on the Mystic Whaler, especially through MY Hudson Highlands, (a personal bias, the most spectacular area of the river), I repeated the same comment to Captain John over and over, “What A Life We Got Here In The Moment”.  I always loved the river and the Highlands, but not as much as I do now.