CAN WE RESTORE THE WETLAND NATURE PRESERVE???

I think one of the most exciting aspects of the science of ecology today is the growing ability of scientists to restore ecological systems. For centuries we have damaged and even destroyed ecosystems. Sometimes this was deliberate; oftentimes it was unintentional. But the growth of our towns and suburbs and cities, our roads and rails, our infrastructure gobbled up forests and wetlands, turning them into every conceivable human artifact.

The ecological awakening that began in the 1960’s and 70’s has reached the point where at least the most indiscriminant and blatant losses of natural areas must be publicly reviewed and often mitigated. Loss of ecosystems (and their almost incalculable values) to nearly every human action still occur everyday but the environmental laws and regulations and public opinion now serve as a substantial counter weight to unquestioned destruction. Projects that provide the whole range of human welfare - housing, transportation, commerce and even environmental protection - must move forward. This is what most people see as progress. But today, when land is changed, when resources are extracted, or when profit is made at the expense of nature, it is reasonable and proper to require the parties to restore some or all of what they have destroyed. They can do it and we must require that they do it.

Ecosystem restoration is applied science. It is applied ecology with a specific goal in mind. The term should be understood for its functional and not its literal meaning. It is probably impossible to restore a damaged ecosystem to its original pre-existing condition. The actors (i.e. plants and animals) and the stage (i.e. the soils and ecosystem flows) and even the theater (i.e. our global climate) are no longer the same. We simply cannot recreate exactly what existed before we arrived. Never could, never will.

But that is not really the goal of ecological restoration. The term Ecological Restoration (I love to call it by the initials E.R.) as defined by the Society for Ecological Restoration International is a much more useful and attainable goal.

“Ecological Restoration ER is the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged or destroyed.”

This is a topic that goes far beyond this short piece but the interested reader is referred to which will give any willing learner a wonderful overview of this new aspect of ecology.

In the Wetland Preserve there are several efforts underway right now to restore sites within or just outside the preserve border. If you like to use Google Earth use the following lat/long coordinates to view these from above.

1. On the west bank of Alley Creek, very close to the center, (40⁰ 45’ 44.95”N and 73⁰ 45’ 07.23”) there is a two acre upland and marsh restoration.
   

March 2011 and June 2011

And even before the work is complete the egrets are voting their approval

2. Just north of the preserve, on the north side of Northern Blvd., (40⁰ 45’ 49.80”N and 73⁰ 45’ 16.89”W) there is a much larger wetland and upland restoration as part of the Alley Creek CSO abatement project.

3. Closer to the shores of Little Neck Bay is a slightly older and very successful marsh restoration completed in the 1990’s (40⁰ 46’ 03.34” N and 73⁰ 45’ 12.64” W) as part of a Port Authority mitigation for runway extensions at LaGuardia airport.

4. Oakland Lake and Ravine erosion control and replanting is a small restoration involving forest, slope and riparian systems and is nearing completion, ( 40⁰ 45’ 13.11” N and 73⁰ 45’ 31.97 W)

I’ve always said just give Nature a fighting chance and it can repair much of what we have done. That may be true but E.R. promises to do even more. It aims to give Nature just a wee bit of an advantage, a good starting boost if you will. When that happens Nature can do amazing things.

THE WATERS WE SHARE - PUBLIC MEETING

Just a couple of days ago (July 1) I posed the idea that I would like to write about things that extend beyond the border of the preserve into the larger “watershed”. Well, as they say ‘timing is everything’. On the evening of July 7 I had the opportunity to attend a public hearing hosted at APEC about the Harbor Estuary Restoration plan. The meeting was delivered by the US Army Corp of Engineers (USACE) but with co-sponsorship by the NY/NJ Harbor Estuary Program and the Port Authority of NY/NJ. Don’t let the term New York Harbor deceive you because the way the harbor is defined it includes a huge area of New York and New Jersey (see brochure website listed below).

The plan is ambitious in scale, scope and timetable. It lays out how this region might ‘restore’ the health and vitality of the estuary through water quality improvements and by restoring key ecological habitats over the next 40 years! The harbor region is divided into 8 restoration regions and Little Neck Bay and the Alley Wetland Preserve are included in the “Harlem River, East River and Western Long Island Sound” unit. This may sound like a strange association of different places but actually it is a unified watershed with all of the lands draining into the tidal channel of the East River. I’ve written on other occasions about the special nature of the East River and would like to revisit those ideas someday soon but for now I can say that because of its connection to both Long Island Sound (to the east) and New York Harbor (to the west) the Upper East River is a very special connecting water body. You really can’t understand the nature of the water flows in this region without coming to grips with the tidal nature of this channel.

As for the meeting itself, Lisa Baron of the USACE presented the comprehensive view of restoration opportunities. Five specific habitats are the targets for restoration. On the maps that were presented I noticed that Little Neck Bay stood out prominently in at least three of the major restoration categories –coastal wetlands, oyster reefs and eelgrass beds. Wouldn’t it be fabulous to have oyster reefs and eelgrass beds in the bay once again! The bay has plenty of room and plenty of opportunity for all of these ecological improvements. I would also add that this valley also has an undetermined potential for the other two target systems -islands for water birds and maritime forests although these were not shown in the current plan.

Large scale, regional restoration needs to be done in a coordinated way but it also needs to be done on a case-by-case project-by-project basis. This plan is trying to do both- maximizing the site specific projects while coordinating the big picture for the region. There is much for all of us to learn from this. The following three web sites will take the interested reader to a good starting point.

The Waters We Share website
http://www.harborestuary.org/watersweshare/

The Waters We Share brochure
http://www.harborestuary.org/watersweshare/pdfs/HEP-Brochure.pdf

Comprehensive Restoration Plan
http://www.harborestuary.org/watersweshare/resources.htm#crp

Next time I think I need to write specifically about some of the restorations that are already underway in and around the preserve. We certainly do live in exciting times.

PUTTING THINGS IN PERSPECTIVE

Writing about the Alley Pond Park Wetland Nature Preserve is endless. When you consider the number of different plants and animals and the number of ecological system and the complexity of the biogeochemical processes , it would take forever to document the true nature of this preserve. The preserve also captures many of the philosophical relationships between human kind and the natural world.

Nature neglected.

Nature forgotten.

Nature ever-changing.

Nature resilient.

Nature in the City.

Nature beloved..

All of these and many more can be found just a few steps inside this great preserve.

Now, while there will never be a shortage of topics to write about, I also have to consider the position of this preserve within its larger context. Geography is important. Where things are and how they are connected need to be understood if you are to really understand the nature of a ‘place’.

One of the most productive ways to understand the geography of this preserve is in terms of its 'watershed’. The idea of "watershed" is a fundamental geographic idea and is essential to the development of landscape. The watershed of the wetland preserve is a much larger unit than the preserve itself. (See map at the end of this post) It is defined by water flows and hydrology. Water is the liquid connective tissue analogous to the blood and the circulatory system of the human body except that the water in this area is largely open and renewable and not flowing in a closed loop physiological system.

Our particular watershed sits on the eastern most edge of New York City and includes parts of Nassau County as well. With the wetland preserve at its beating heart, the Alley Creek watershed contains a variety of upland terrestrial ecosystems ( Long Island terminal moraine) and down stream estuarine and marine systems (Little Neck Bay) .

It is also a highly humanized place. Place names like Oakland Lake, Udalls Cove and Ravine, Crocheron Park, Lake Success, Little Neck Bay and Fort Totten are the veil that hide a wonderfully rich natural and human history.

I still love to write about the Wetland Preserve but to do justice to that goal, I have to put it in its proper context. The Alley Watershed is that context. So my future plans may include some of the places, creatures and events that exist throughout this surrounding area.