麻豆app

Some summer adventures are planned years in advance, and others come together in a matter of weeks. 听

For UNH Ph.D. student John Henkelman, it was the latter. With less than two months of preparation, he set out to canoe the entire Hudson River 鈥� 315 miles from the Adirondacks to New York City. Henkelman, who is pursuing a doctorate in , saw the trip as an opportunity to make the most of rare free time between jobs while keeping a promise to himself and his wife. 听

鈥淚 previously worked in the pharmaceutical industry and got burned out,鈥� Henkelman says. 鈥淲hen we moved up here to pursue this second career path, my wife made me promise to do something crazy and adventurous like this.鈥� 听

In the weeks leading up to his launch, Henkelman studied maps, refreshed whitewater canoeing skills he鈥檇 learned in the Department at UNH, and gathered the equipment he鈥檇 need to paddle through both wilderness rapids and busy city channels.听

Henkelman launched in July from Henderson Lake in the Adirondacks, the headwaters of the Hudson. Over the next month, he collected data about the river鈥檚 water quality, spoke with people about their connections to the river, and raised funds for American Rivers, a nonprofit that supports clean waterways.听

The trip tested both his body and mind, with long days under the sun and stretches of wilderness that left him completely alone.听

鈥淭hat first week was the hardest because it was so isolated. The (Hudson River) Gorge is wilderness, nobody else is out there, and it gets lonely fast,鈥� Henkelman says. 听听

To keep himself from giving up on the hardest days, Henkelman made a rule: he wouldn鈥檛 consider quitting until he鈥檇 had two nights in a real bed and a couple of hot showers. By then, he knew, the exhaustion and doubts would fade 鈥� and they always did. 听

Henkelman says the best part of the journey was the people he met along the way, from riverside residents who invited him in for meals to fellow paddlers who shared the water. In one town, a couple welcomed him into their home to wait out a storm and ended up introducing him to local history and community life. 听

In another, strangers insisted he sit down and share lunch before helping him stash his canoe safely on their property. 听听

鈥淵ou don't know these people, but they pretty much bring you into their lives, and it's just amazing how nice they are,鈥� Henkelman says. 鈥淚 stayed at people's houses across the political spectrum, and everybody agrees that we need clean, healthy rivers. We might differ on how we want to have clean, healthy rivers. But we all have that same fundamental agreement that what we've done in the past isn't necessarily the best, and we can do better.鈥� 听

Henkelman鈥檚 data collection included what he called the basic 鈥渞iver vital signs鈥� such as dissolved oxygen, nitrates, phosphates, and carbon dioxide. He found that the Hudson River is healthy for animal and plant species to survive, with oxygen levels remaining high throughout the trip, even in New York City. While these vital signs are a good start, the river does have larger issues that still plague its overall health, Henkelman added. 听

Henkelman stressed that his goal wasn鈥檛 to publish the data, but to educate the public about water quality, while learning from the people he met during the trip. 听

鈥淢y research looks at an individual鈥檚 sense of belonging and attachment to a natural resource. That鈥檚 where the water quality fits into the bigger picture. As I went down the river, I noticed that people feel connected to their section of the Hudson, but rarely think about the river as a whole,鈥� Henkelman says. 鈥淪eeing that the water was fairly healthy reminded me how regional people鈥檚 views are, and how little academic research filters into everyday life. Most people only think of state or federal policies, not the studies behind them. For me, this reinforced the importance of making research accessible to the communities who live and work on the river.鈥� 听

As Henkelman starts a new academic year at UNH, he鈥檚 considering a similar paddling project closer to home on rivers like the Merrimack, Salmon Falls, or Saco. He says his experience on the Hudson also reinforced his long-term goal of helping communities see rivers not just as resources, but as vital parts of their identity and future. 听

鈥淚 think we take our rivers for granted. When you鈥檙e out on the water, you realize how amazing these places are and how much they mean to a community, whether it鈥檚 for recreation, drinking water, or simply having a beautiful place to enjoy,鈥� Henkelman says. 鈥淭oo often, though, we鈥檝e treated rivers like dumps. Recreation helps change that perspective, opening people鈥檚 eyes not only to what鈥檚 wrong, but also to the possibilities.鈥澨�

You can learn more about his project at .

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