Sunday, May 1, 2011

Saving Urban Biodiversity Forum and Arbor Day

Wednesday evening April 27 and Saturday morning April 30th were two wonderful events.

The Saving Urban Biodiversity young people’s forum and photography contest on Wednesday evening and had an audience of about 100 or more high school and college–aged audience and a great line-up of speakers. Councilman James Gennaro came to make the keynote address and although he had us on edge when he didn’t arrive at the start time he did make it and talked about what the city is doing right now with biodiversity issues. The following speakers from academia (St. Johns) and from city agencies (NYC DEP and NYC Parks) and non-profit advocacy groups showed the wide range of interest in this issue or should I say issues. I’ll try to see if I can copy and paste the agenda at the end of this post so that anyone reading this can get a more exact idea of who presented that night.

Yesterday (April 30) was the annual Arbor Day event at APEC and students from St. Johns turned out first, to help the children plant their trees and second, to do some of their own field work. Both the morning and afternoon were filled with pride and accomplishments. We had a highly overgrown tree planting site to start and did an amazing job of clearing and planting. I know we left it much better than we found it.

In the afternoon, as a smaller working group, we took on a major patch of Japanese knotweed and garlic mustard - two invasive plants that we hadn’t addressed before. These sites need to be revisited to remove anything that is still left but I think the most important thing is to monitor the possible re-growth and see how quickly things try to come back and see if there are any control measures that work better than others. We followed the standard operating procedures with these plants pulling the knotweed with as much of the root bulb as possible and bagging the removing the garlic mustard before it goes to seed. I took some great shots and some before and after photos and can include them here.








BEFORE and AFTER







Forum Schedule


6 PM. Doors Open. Early Registration and Refreshments.

Continuous showing of Photography contest entries.


7 PM Call to Order. Welcome. Introduction of Keynote speaker.

7:05-7:15. Keynote Address Councilman James Gennaro 24th Council District

Chair of the Environmental Committee of NYC Council.


7:15-7:20 Photo Awards in the 8-13 year old age group.

Transition to 1st Panel


7:20-8:00 Panel #1 Saving Urban Biodiversity-Defining the Issues

Moderator: Janice Melnick Northeast Queens Parks Administrator


Frank Cantelmo Ecologist and Associate Professor of Biologist.St Johns University


Michael Feller Director, NYC Natural Resources Group

New York City Parks and Recreation


David Burg Urban Ecologist. President “Wild Metro -

Protecting Natural Where We Live”


Marielle Anzalone Author, botanist and urban conservation biologist

Founder of Drosera and NYC Wildflower Week.


Paula Lazrus Anthropologist/Archaeologist

Assistant Professor St. Johns University


8:00-8:15 Photo Awards in the 14-17 year old age group.

Transition to 2nd Panel


8:15-9:00 Panel #2 Saving Urban Biodiversity -What is being done? What remains to be done?

Moderator Rita Sherman, President Alley Pond Environmental Center


Jane Jackson Associate Director North Shore Land Alliance


Aline Euler Education Director Alley Pond Environmental Center


Dana Gumb Chief, NYC Dept. of Environmental Protection Staten Island Bluebelt Unit


Karen Blumer Author, Long Island (New York) Native Plants for Landscaping: A Source Book


Minona Heaviland Ecologist New York City Natural Resources Group

New York City Parks and Recreation

9:00-9:15 Photo Awards in the 18-21 year old age group.

Award for Best Overall Photo

Transition to Final Discussion


9:15-9:30 What can you do to help urban biodiversity?

Discussion and Final Remarks facilitated by William Nieter

Director Environmental Studies Program St. Johns University

Saving Biodiversity Forum organizer.

9:30 – 10:00 Adjourn and Exit Building