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AMANDA PENECALE
Above: Students
enjoyed looking
for The Storm King
School campus from
down on the Hudson
River. Inset: Students
Eyyup A., David K.,
Frank C., and Allie Z.,
look closely at a fish
from the river.
“
W
hat did we catch?” the students were eager to know as they hoisted a big
trawling net onto the deck of the Hudson River sloop
Clearwater
.
The
Clearwate
r was
the concept of folk music and environmental legend Pete Seeger and a group of friends
in the late 1960s in an effort to save the Hudson River from increasingly degrading
pollution. The 106-foot long replica of the traditional single-mast sailing vessels that
worked on the river is now on the National Register of Historic Places and is known as
America’s Environmental Flagship.
On May 10, Mr. Jim uhlig’s environ-
mental science classes and Storm King’s
crew team boarded the
Clearwater
and
headed out from the dock in Beacon for
an afternoon of environmental investiga-
tion and sailing. Although it was a bit
overcast, the sun shone through and the
wind was so stiff Captain Nick Rogers
decided to put up only the jib. Students
bundled in yellow rain slickers more
for protection against the wind than for
fear of water spray or the possibility of a
shower.
Once the sloop was out in the middle
of the river and sailing south, a group
of student volunteers helped set the
trawling net.
Clearwater
is one of only
two ships licensed to drag a trawl net
on the Hudson River, a special status
because of its educational mission. After
Left: Knot tying
lessons on the
Clearwater
deck.
Above: Polina G.
‘13
and Emma L.
‘12
use rain gear as
windbreakers on
deck.
they have been studied, all the fish are
released close to where they were caught.
While we sailed down the river
toward Bannerman Island, the students
had time to visit a variety of hands-on
educational stations. They learned how
to tie knots that are important to sailors.
They learned to steer the ship with the
tiller and to read charts of the river,
including matching the symbols on the
charts to actual objects on the river or
along the shore. A former Black Rock
Forest scientist discussed the chemistry
behind PCBs and showed why the bonds
in the molecules make it so dangerous.
She discussed with students the history
of PCB contamination and removal
from the river, and she explained the
danger to people who eat fish that have
high concentrations of the carcinogen.
At another station, students learned
about the history of the river. Through-
out the message was consistent. The river
is much healthier than it was but there is
still much work to be done and the need
for education continues. All the Storm
King students received an invitation to
return as volunteers for a week to help
educate other groups about the river.
When the students pulled in the trawl
net as they sang a “working song” to keep
the rhythm, they were disappointed to
find only an aluminum can in the net.
Fortunately, the morning group had been
much more successful, and the sloop’s
crew had saved the small, flat bottom
fish; a couple of catfish; and a very lively
eel for the Storm King students to see
and identify in their education station on
inhabitants of the river.
