WASHINGTON -  Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) Wednesday announced that he's won final congressional approval of $750,000 for the quadricentennial celebration of the historic voyages of Henry Hudson and Samuel de Champlain, as well as for the bicentennial celebration of Robert Fulton's endeavor. 

The funds are in addition to $492,000 in federal dollars that Hinchey secured in December 2007 for the quadricentennial celebration.  Hinchey used his seat on the House Appropriations Committee to secure the new $750,000 in federal funds as part of the bill that funds the Interior Department for 2009, which passed the House today. 

The congressman is working with the National Park Service to determine exactly how the funds will be allocated as part of the celebrations this year surrounding the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's first exploratory sail up what is now called the Hudson River in 1609, the 400th anniversary of Samuel de Champlain's first exploration in 1609 of what is now called Lake Champlain, as well as the 200th anniversary of Robert Fulton's Hudson River voyage in 1807 in which he introduced steam navigation on a commercial basis.

The National Park Service will use the $750,000 for a variety of initiatives.  Some projects under consideration include: a quadricentennial conference to be held at Marist College in Poughkeepsie; the underwriting of an elaborate website created and maintained by National Geographic (similar to the site they constructed for the Jamestown Quadricentennial); extending the voyage of the historic Peckinpaugh; creating a quadricentennial curriculum for the National Park Service/Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area's "Teaching the Hudson Valley" program; commissioning a Quadricentennial Commemorative Medal designed by a local coin artist who has designed several of the presidential dollar coins; underwriting a quadricentennial postscript conference -- "The Hudson River Valley and the next 100 years"; small grant awards to local communities organizing local Quadricentennial celebrations; and the New York State quadricentennial historic dock program.