Eel like I do: how to be a citizen scientist 

Learn about the amazing American eel and the community science project helping us learn more about this elusive species with Grace Ballou, Citizen Science Educator with NYS DEC's Hudson River Estuary Program. 

Grace will present other citizen science projects in our area, where you can help amphibians during their spring migration or collect macroinvertebrates in your backyard.

Learn how to get involved in 2018 opportunities open to all!

Grace Ballou graduated from the University of Vermont in 2014 with a B.S. in Wildlife and Fisheries Biology. She has worked on-board the sloop Clearwater, where she was introduced to the beautiful Hudson River Valley. Since then, she has been living and working here, first as an AmeriCorps member and now as a contracted DEC employee.
She spends most of  her time educating about the Hudson River estuary and organizing the glass eel project.  Her fondness for eels started when she spent a semester on a tall ship, studying and collecting eel larvae in the Sargasso Sea. Ever since, she's been drawn to these elusive, slimy but oddly charismatic animals.

This program is a collaboration with Putnam Highlands Audubon. Grace Ballou appears courtesy of NYS Dep. of Environmental Conservation(DEC), The Hudson River Estuary Program(HREP), and HudsonRiver National Estuarine Research Reserve in partnership with Cornell University.