Our Mission
The Jamaica Bay Ecowatchers are dedicated to the preservation, protection, enhancement and restoration of the fragile ecosystem of Jamaica Bay. We have been and will continue to serve as the advocacy organization for the environmental concerns for Jamaica Bay.
______________________ _______________________________________________
May 7 2025
JAMAICA BAY TASKFORCE MEETING
The Jamaica Bay Ecowatcher’s, the American Littoral Society, and the Jamaica Bay Guardian hosted the annual spring Jamaica Bay Task Force meeting online. The meeting had a great turnout and many interesting presentations. Below is a brief summary of the evening with links to the powerpoint presentations.
The first presentation of the evening was made by Lisa Baron ,project manager USACE- New York District. Lisa gave an over view on the Stony Creek Wetland Island restoration project , the duck point marsh restoration project and spring creek restoration project. Lisa detailed the current design of the projects , aspects of shoreline protection as well as sand source for the projects. Lisa’s presentation can be seen here.
The second presentation of the evening was made by Christopher Haight, Ecologist- environment and planning NYC Parks Department. Chris discussed the efforts of NYC parks in using the process of slurry enrichment process to restore and “save” small plots of marsh that is in danger of being “drowned” as it fails to keep up with sea level rise. This process is one that the Jamaica Bay Ecowatchers has long advocated for as a means of approaching the marsh loss in Jamaica Bay thru a maintenance program of adding sediment to existing marsh areas that are showing subsidence. Chris’s presentation can be viewed here.
For the third presentation John Mclaughlin (Managing Director NYC Environmental Protection Bureau of Environmental Planning & Analysis Office of Ecosystem Services, Green Infrastructure and Research) gave an in-depth report on the water quality of Jamaica Bay and about the massive DEP investments to the water quality and habitat of this great natural resource. John has been leading so many projects over the years and has tremendous knowledge of and passion for this great estuary. John’s presentation can be viewed here
Lieutenant Mark Reeves United States Parks Police gave the fourth presentation discussing the efforts over the last few years of the National Parks Police ,Gateway, to address both poaching within the bay and the issue of animal sacrifice noted on the shores of Jamaica Bay. Lieutenant Reeves has done an outstanding job of working with local stakeholders to identify locations and times of noted poaching and increasing patrols that take action to issue summons and even arrests. He urged that anyone with information on either poaching or committing animal sacrifice to contact the national parks service police as they are looking for all information that visitors to the park may have so as to eliminate this horrible practice
The final presentation of the night was made by Kate Mosher , program director Billion Oyster Project and Mike MCcan, director of science and research-Billion oyster project, discussing their amazing work around the city of New York and in Particular Jamaica Bay in attempting to re-introduce the critical oysters that once flourished here. The team showed the multiple projects underway and the great work in store for Jamaica Bay. Very exciting plans and will have a positive impact on the water quality of this bay. You can see the presentation here