Scenic Hudson | Press Room (original) (raw)

Starting Up
Scenic Hudson has been a crusader for the Hudson Valley since 1963, beginning with our historic fight to save Storm King Mountain - northern gateway to the fabled Hudson Highlands - from a Con Edison proposal to build the world's largest pumped-storage hydroelectric plant. After a 17-year legal battle during which we galvanized the support of 20,000 people from across the nation and world, Scenic Hudson emerged victorious. Today we are credited with launching the grass-roots environmental movement and winning the right of citizens to speak out and initiate lawsuits to protect their environment. The case also charted environmental law as a new legal specialty and served as the cornerstone of federal environmental law.

Expanding Our Mission
The visibility of the Storm King campaign and its eventual outcome prompted local communities and residents to seek guidance from Scenic Hudson on other matters. Rising to the challenge we began establishing programs that dealt with wide-ranging air and water quality issues and community planning needs. We also initiated land and historic preservation projects. The organization started monitoring development proposals and intervening with citizen support to prevent or reshape inappropriate projects.

During the '70s and early '80s, Scenic Hudson formed its separately incorporated land trust to expand its conservation work and succeeded in getting 1,000 Hudson Highlands sites listed on state and national registers. We also launched the campaign advocating the removal of health-threatening PCBs from the Hudson River.

Responding to Accelerating Needs
Maturity fostered ever-broadening responsibilities as Scenic Hudson emerged as a model of environmental professionalism. We became known as a powerhouse in safeguarding irreplaceable landscapes, advancing balanced and sustainable development and protecting our air and water from pollution and other forms of degradation.

Entering our third decade and continuing through the early '90s, Scenic Hudson continued to partner with communities and to bring our unique skills and persistence to bear on key projects. We remained engaged on the PCB Cleanup but also campaigned to mitigate issues tied to a growing Stewart International Airport, to take on regional ozone threats and to bring about an ambitious water conservation program for New York City. Additionally we played a key role in the passage of the first-in-the-nation Acid Rain Control Bill, the first Environmental Bond Act and the Bottle Bill, while we also pioneered creation of Hudson River Valley Greenway.

We steadily expanded the amount of land we preserved and began enhancing these holdings by creating Parks and Preserves that connected people and communities to the Hudson River. Our programs gained new sophistication and shared this with the public, government and other interested parties through workshops and major conferences and by publishing technical reports.

At the Forefront with Innovative Strategies
Moving into the new millennium, a bright spotlight began to focus on the Hudson Valley and our magnificent river and the attention has continued to grow. Nationwide our region started to be widely recognized for its distinct identity and sense of place. Articles in The New York Times and National Geographic as well as congressional and presidential designations were catalysts for a powerful re-emergence.

During this exciting period, Scenic Hudson has been on the ground spearheading defining projects such as the campaigns that led to the Hudson Valley being designated a National Heritage Area in 1996 and the Hudson River being named an American Heritage River in 1998. We have doubled the amount of land we have preserved for public enjoyment and launched brownfield reclamation and Farmland Protection initiatives.

Our work has advanced Smart Growth Principals and put theory into practice in places such as Yonkers, Haverstraw and Hyde Park. In Beacon we are redefining Hudson Valley waterfront development by spearheading $30 million community- and conservation-based project. Guided by substantial citizen input, Scenic Hudson is transforming a 23-acre former industrial site into a public park with an adjacent hotel, conference center and restaurant complex. The development will connect the city's downtown and waterfront and feature leading edge, green design elements.

In our efforts to create environmentally and economically viable communities, we are promoting an Energy plan for the state that stresses conservation and environmentally friendly technology for power plants. We also are seeking reform of the state's power plant siting law. In support of these and our other broad-based initiatives, Scenic Hudson provides multifaceted Environmental Education and Volunteer programs. By using our parks as outdoor classrooms, through classroom instruction at local schools and with outreach at community events and other forums, we are engaging current and future environmentalists and land stewards.

By more than doubling our program capacity and leveraging this strength by leading collaborative efforts with diverse, inclusive coalitions, Scenic Hudson is battling poorly conceived projects such as a massive coal-burning cement plant proposed for Columbia County Cement Plant Opposition while championing sustainable prosperity for the valley.

Where Scenic Hudson is today is captured in our new tagline: Your Valley. Your Voice. Your Future.

Our mission is about the power of partners and a three-fold focus on people, nature and place, and it also is a call to citizens to support our shared enterprise in a time of unprecedented challenges.

Scenic Hudson at 40

In November 2003, Scenic Hudson board members, staff and supporters marked our 40th Anniversary by returning to our birthplace, the historic Octagon House in Irvington, for a celebratory luncheon. Visit 40th Anniversary and read our Fall 2004 newsletter Cover Story to learn more.