Upstate, the Hudson Valley

A view of the Catskills from the Hudson? No. The Ashokan Reservoir, built from 1907 to 1915. Whole villages were uprooted. Thousands of people lost their homes. Nothing like what we image if we go solely by what we see.

In 1609, Henry Hudson sailed up the river that would be named for him. Large stretches of the river shore might nowadays be taken to resemble what Hudson and his crew saw over 400 years ago. In fact, the landscape has changed utterly. Forests were leveled for lumber and fuel and to make way for farming. Jetties, railroads, lighthouses, bridges, roads, towns and cities were built. In recent decades, there has been a growing realization that we are losing something that, once lost, cannot be recovered. Wetlands have been restored. Across large tracts, forests have grown. But what resemblance does the wildlife have to what Hudson would have seen?