The River Project NYC

Founded in 1986, The River Project connects people to the marvels and mysteries of New York Harbor and the Hudson River Estuary: fish and other life forms, the river’s amazing power, and the issues which affect this urban estuary. The fundamental and unique quality of our programs is rooted in conducting scientific research in a public setting.  The goal has been to help protect and restore the ecosystem of the Hudson River Estuary through research and education.

We are headquartered on a pier in lower Manhattan, with a small office and a wet laboratory for research, teaching and living displays, providing hands-on, get-wet, programs that monitor the progressive ecosystem dynamics of NY Harbor.

Though a small organization, our impact on knowledge of the river has been huge, including documenting new species in the Hudson and being the first to demonstrate the viability of raising oysters near Manhattan’s piers.  By engaging all ages of visitors in river research, we make the environment more understandable; after encountering the river in this exciting and personal way, our visitors feel like taking more responsibility for conserving it. 

Our Board of Directors is deep with scientific expertise whose particular strength lies in field studies of the Hudson River ecosystem. These studies have produced a comprehensive database of fish, colonization studies of shoreline invertebrates, surveys of important species such as oysters, ground-breaking advances in bioacoustics (fish sounds) and a variety of public demonstrations of fish species diversity, abundance and behavior. The River Project is highly integrated into and engaged with life in our local community, and with educational and environmental partners at the civic, city, state and federal level.