Hudson River Foundation and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Release 2025 State of the Estuary Report

Five-year report highlights progress, challenges, and changing conditions across the Hudson-Raritan estuary.

New York, N.Y. (November 4, 2025) — The Hudson River Foundation and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) recently released the 2025 State of the Estuary Report, presenting key indicators and environmental trends across the Hudson-Raritan Estuary and its watersheds. The report provides a scientific foundation for evidence-based decisions and long-term strategies that guide restoration, management, and community engagement throughout the Hudson River estuary.

The joint report from the Hudson River Foundation’s NY-NJ Harbor & Estuary Program and DEC’s Hudson River Estuary Management Program compiles decades of monitoring data and research, enabling program managers, policymakers, scientists, and the public to evaluate progress toward shared goals for conserving, managing, and restoring the estuary ecosystem.

“The Hudson River Estuary is one of the region’s greatest natural and economic resources,” said DEC Commissioner Amanda Lefton. “The State of the Estuary Report underscores both the progress we’ve made, as well as the work that remains to ensure this ecosystem can thrive. Its findings help us focus our collective efforts, whether by investing in long-term monitoring, advancing habitat restoration and green infrastructure, or deepening collaboration with local communities and scientists, to chart a course for a more resilient estuary—one that supports wildlife, strengthens local economies, and connects all people to the water.”

To provide an in-depth look at how the estuary has improved, where progress has slowed, and what new challenges are emerging, the report is organized around five central goals—Water Quality, Habitat and Ecological Health, Contamination, Public Access, and Community Engagement. Together, these indicators offer a roadmap for sustaining one of the nation’s most complex and vital estuarine systems.

“The State of the Estuary Report helps us better understand how the estuary is changing over time and guides us on how to better focus our efforts for the future,” said Isabelle Stinnette, Senior Scientist of Restoration Ecology with the NY-NJ Harbor & Estuary Program at the Hudson River Foundation and the report’s primary author. “For example, historic trends show that water quality improvement has been one of the estuary’s greatest success stories. Today, however, we are seeing a reduction in that progress, while at the same time, new challenges like water temperature increases and wetland loss due to sea level rise are becoming more evident. This is why long-term monitoring efforts like the State of the Estuary are so important. They provide the science and insight needed to guide restoration, identify emerging threats, and inform adaptation measures to ensure progress continues for generations to come.”

Building on that, Rob Pirani, Director of the NY-NJ Harbor & Estuary Program at the Hudson River Foundation, added, “The information gathered in the State of the Estuary Report helps us refine our priorities to tackle evolving challenges, such as by supporting water quality monitoring in the Arthur Kill, improving stormwater management in the Bronx and Perth Amboy, and restoring oyster reefs in the Hudson River. Without it, we wouldn’t have the data needed to turn ideas into action and ensure that restoration efforts are targeted to where they can make the greatest impact.”

The 2025 report builds on previous State of the Estuary reports and reflects more than two decades of coordinated ecological monitoring and research. The findings highlight the value of long-term data collection and collaborative management through programs like HEP and the Hudson River Estuary Management Program. The 2025 State of the Estuary Report can be accessed here. Previous reports can be found here.

###

Hudson River Foundation: For over 40 years, the Hudson River Foundation (HRF) has supported scientific research and engagement that has informed decision making for the stewardship of the river, estuary, and watershed. HRF hosts and manages the NY-NJ Harbor & Estuary Program.

NY-NJ Harbor & Estuary Program: The New York-New Jersey Harbor & Estuary Program (HEP) engages people, partners, and communities to collaboratively advance understanding, improve stewardship, and enhance our shared waters and watersheds.  Created by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) at the request of the governors of New York and New Jersey, HEP is an ongoing effort to develop and implement a consensus driven plan to protect, conserve and restore the estuary. HEP decisions and activities are carried out by Hudson River Foundation staff and partners organized through committees and work groups.

Hudson River Estuary Management Program: The Hudson River Estuary Management Program helps to protect, conserve, and, where possible, restore and enhance the Hudson River estuary and its watershed. Created in 1987 through the NYS Hudson River Estuary Management Act, the Program focuses on the tidal Hudson and its surrounding watershed from the federal Lock and Dam in Troy to the Verrazano Narrows below Manhattan Island. The program is guided by the Hudson River Estuary Action Agenda (PDF), which sets measurable objectives that can be achieved through collective action and collaboration among government and non-government partners to protect, preserve, restore, and enhance the Hudson River estuary and its watershed.