This Is Queens?
The Fight To Preserve Jamaica Bay

By RICHARD SCHACK

Queens is home to the largest urban wildlife preserve in the nation, but local environmentalists are saying that the ecosystem in and around Jamaica Bay is being threatened by the deterioration of its marshlands and the end result could mean a massive loss of wildlife.

Wildlife In Danger

Jamaica Bay consists of 13,000 acres off the coasts of Queens and Brooklyn. The bay surrounds the Gateway National Recreation Area, a natural preserve containing a wildlife refuge for birds and rare species along with thousands of other fish and organisms that live and migrate there.

The marshland of Jamaica Bay is considered the heart of the bay’s ecosystem, acting as a natural refuge for birds and fish to lay eggs away and reproduce. It also prevents waves from crashing into and deteriorating shorelines around Queens and Brooklyn.

Unfortunately, according to environmentalists, the marsh is deteriorating at a rate of 44 acres a year. At this rate, experts say, there will be no marsh at all left by the year 2024. That is, unless something can be done about it.

Crisis Mode

"Simply put, this will be an environmental disaster," said Dan Mundy, who is leading the crusade to do something to help the bay before it is too late. "The entire ecosystem of the bay will be changed."

The picturesque waterfront of Jamaica Bay. Tribune Photo Ira Cohen

About five years ago a group called the Jamaica Bay Eco Watchers, consisting of local fisherman and led by Mundy, discovered that the marsh islands in the bay were disappearing.

The findings were later confirmed by a study by the State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).

Now, even though the state has confirmed there is a problem and time may be running out, nobody seems to be entirely sure of the cause of the problem or how to fix it.

Obtaining funds to restore the marshland, a goal which Mundy and his allies are trying to reach, has become an obstacle in the fight for Jamaica Bay.

Mundy is a member of the Jamaica Bay Eco Watchers and founded the Jamaica Bay Task Force (JBTF), which will be working with the DEC along with Gateway officials, Congressman Anthony Weiner and other government officials to find out the cause of the marsh erosion. Mundy will be coordinating the efforts, holding presentations and trying to gather funding for the project.

Billy G. Garrett is the superintendent of the Jamaica Bay Unit of Gateway National Recreation Area, said, "We are very concerned about the situation. The worst part is that we can’t do anything about it until we know what’s causing it, which we don’t. It could be a natural problem or it could be something else."

Jamaica Bay fisherman and Broad Channel resident Mike McGovern is a member of the Eco Watchers and believes this is not a natural phenomenon.

"If this is something that is happening naturally, like if it was caused by global warming," McGovern reasoned, "then why isn’t this happening in other bays, like Long Island or Reynolds Channel?

All the agencies have numerous theories why the wetland erosion is happening at this natural preserve, but the Eco Watchers believe waste from four pollution plants in the bay is the most likely factor.

There are four pollution plants located in the bay, which are part of the sanitary sewer system for Brooklyn and Queens. The plants clean sewer discharge and deposit a daily average of 250 million gallons of it into the bay every day. On rainy days, as much as one billion gallons of the water are poured into the bay.

It’s not like the pollution plants are anything new – they’ve been there for decades. But a federal mandate passed in 1993 changed what was being deposited in the bay.

The Clean Oceans Act changed the rules about where waste could be dumped.

According to Mundy, instead of sludge being dumped in Jamaica Bay, which actually is good for it by acting as fertilizer, liquids are sucked out of the sludge and dumped in the bay, which many say is bad for it.

The liquids are called centrate, which is highly concentrated and very high in oxygen. The Eco Watchers claim the nitrogen is too much for the wildlife, cutting away oxygen and killing the marsh and eventually the wildlife as a result.

Wildlife has lived the same way for an estimated 1,000 years in Jamaica Bay. Before the erosion can be stopped more studies must be done to come to a conclusion about what is causing the problem.

The State DEC is currently in a federal court battle to stop the centrate from coming in.

Meetings called "Blue Ribbon Panel" were held earlier in May and consist of top scientists trying to identify the problem in Jamaica Bay as well as a way to fix it.

Said Garrett, "We don’t want to make decisions based on speculation. We need a good idea of the dynamics of the problem and solutions."

According to sources at the meetings the consensus is that the loss of marshes in the bay is unprecedented, occurring more rapidly than scientists have seen in any other similar place around the country.

Although pollution, powerful waves from boats, global warming, and natural tidal action have been blamed for the wetlands deterioration, some scientists believe there are a number of causes, the main one being dredged channels.

In other words, the sediments needed to build and maintain marshland are getting stuck, unable to perform their function.

Others causes cited include an overgrowth of mussels preventing natural drainage, a sea level rise, the contaminants from the waste treatment plants and an overgrowth of seaweed.

Garrett said this is the beginning of a long process that will result in recommendations being made. Garrett added that scientists are also looking to see if there is any possibility of restoring some of the lost wetlands.

Short-term solutions were thought of at the meetings, and scientists plan on restoring the marsh by "building" new ones. To do this, they’ll be depositing uncontaminated dredged materials in the bay and planting new vegetation.

To protect existing marshland they will use devices that will lessen the wave erosion and alter the shape of the marshes themselves, which is also supposed to help.

There are still a lot of things about the bay that need to be studied, including how bad the chemicals have affected the bay.

Scientists also aren’t sure at this point the connection between the seaweed growth and the marsh decline, and added they will have to keep better track of how the marshes are changing over time.

As for the JBTF, they will be helping out the city and state agencies to help stop the erosion and are also scheduling large meetings in coming months with the elected officials to figure out funding and cleaning plans.

"I’ve been fishing in Jamaica Bay for decades. We need to do whatever we can to save it," concluded McGovern, "there’s no other place like it."