Hudson River Estuarine Research Reserve System as the Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve. The Hudson River is navigable by large steamers up to Troy, and by ocean-faring vessels to the Port of Albany. The original Erie Canal, opened in 1825 to connect the Hudson with Lake Erie, emptied into the Hudson at the Albany Basin, just south of the Federal Dam in Troy (at mile 134). The canal enabled shipping between cities on the Great Lakes and Europe via the Atlantic Ocean. The New York State Canal System, the successor to the Erie Canal, runs into the Hudson River north of
Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Governors and Premiers Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Governors and Premiers The Conference of Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Governors and Premiers is a North American organization led by the government chief executives from the Canadian provinces Ontario and Québec and the US states Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Through the organization, they seek to grow the region’s economy and protect the Great Lakes. The organization began in the 1980s as the Council of Great Lakes Governors to encourage and facilitate environmentally responsible economic development. The Council now serves as secretariat to the Governors’ Compact Council and the