WASHINGTON, D.C. – On January 21, Congressman Maurice Hinchey spoke before the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands in support of the Hudson River Valley Special Resource Study Act (H.R. 4003). This bill would authorize the National Park Service to conduct a study on whether the Hudson River Valley should become a unit of the National Park System.

This doesn't mean that the Hudson Valley would turn into Yellowstone Park. Other great rivers, such as the Mississippi, have National Park status in one form or another. The NPS would decide what kind of park unit the Hudson Valley could be.

Hinchey, who wrote this bill, is hoping for a study covering the Hudson Valley from Fort Edward all the way south to Westchester County.

In his remarks, Hinchey said, "The Hudson River Valley is one of the most significant river corridors in the country. The historical, natural, cultural, scenic, and recreational resources spread throughout the region are unparalleled.

"The Hudson River Valley's landscapes are known around the word. Their beauty inspired one of America's great artistic movements, the Hudson River School….Their works, along with the writings of Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson, inspired the American preservationist movement, and, many argue, the movement to establish national parks."

Hinchey had previously authored legislation to create the Hudson Valley National Heritage Area, and in 2009, he secured $750,000 in funding for a number of activities and events celebrating the 400th anniversaries of the voyages of Henry Hudson and Samuel de Champlain.

The bill has now had its first hearing, but there are several steps ahead before anything can happen.

Jeff Lieberson, Hinchey's Chief of Staff, explains. "This was the second step in the process, and a very important one. So many bills are introduced that never get a hearing at all. The next step is to the sub committee to vote on the bill, and then it will go to the full committee, and then to the House itself."