"Strike a Chord" and apply for a free PSA

WFUV, the listener-supported radio station based at Fordham University, is launching a new quarterly public service campaign called Strike a Chord.

Premiering this month with the topic "waterfronts," Strike a Chord will focus attention on issues important to communities in the metropolitan region. Tune in to 90.7 FM for  the next few weeks and you'll hear programs and news features addressing the environment, the economy, recreation, our transportation system and various other topics as they relate to the New York/New Jersey waterways. "By focusing on a specific issue each quarter," wrote station manager George Bodorky in an email, "WFUV hopes to make a big difference in raising awareness about important matters and getting people more involved in their communities."

As part of this focus on waterfronts, Mr. Bodorky is looking to feature the good work of Alliance Partners with public service announcements (PSAs). "A PSA could simply describe your organization, promote a particular event or put out a call for volunteers," he said.

Click here to apply for a free PSA, and be sure to tell the station what makes your organization a powerful force for positive change. After selecting half a dozen groups and producing the free PSAs, WFUV will begin airing them immediately.

Contact the station at 718-817-5561 or go to http://wfuv.org.

Alewife Return to a Cleaner Bronx River

In 2006, environmentalists knew that the outcome of the experiment to release herring in the Bronx River would not be known for several years. The hope was that the baby herring, called "alewife," would migrate out to the ocean to grow up and then return in a few years as adults to spawn. If the alewife returned, it would be an important sign that the health of the Bronx River was being restored to life-sustaining levels.

Last month, on April 7, students in the Rocking the Boat program spotted the first returning fish -- a full-grown, nine-inch alewife -- at the 180th Street dam.

Bronx River History
The 23-mile Bronx River meanders through Westchester and into the Bronx. According to historic records, the water was so pure in the early 19th century that NYC officials discussed using it as drinking water. The river's ecosystem supported many species, including alewife, a key part of the marine food chain.

By the end of the 19th century, the Bronx River had been polluted by industrial waste and sewage. Shorefront mill owners had dammed the river, creating barriers that migrating fish could not pass. Matters continued to worsen until the late 20th century, even as community groups tried to protect the waterway. It was only two years ago that several Westchester municipalities agreed to stop dumping sewage into the river.

Efforts by the Bronx River Alliance and Congressman Jose Serrano in recent years have helped to reverse the long decline of the river. Since 2002, Rocking the Boat students have collected data on the river's water quality. By 2006, they knew from the results of their testing that the river might be healthy enough to sustain alewife.

The return of alewife after hundreds of years was cause for great celebration. "Who here woke up saying 'Today I'm going to make history?'" exulted Joshua Santana, a junior at All Hallows High School, at left in the photograph above. "I'm really glad that an alewife has been found," said Shaquoia Gulley, far right, a junior at Banana Kelly High School. "This means so much for the future of the Bronx River. This shows that it is indeed improving, becoming more healthy and able to support these types of wildlife."

Head to the Hudson River on the morning of Wednesday, May 20 for the annual parade of military ships that heralds the start of Fleet Week, New York City's celebration of the sea services. This year, thousands of sailors, marines and Coast Guardsmen will offer military demonstrations, displays and tours of participating ships through May 27.

The ships will be docked around town, with the focus of activities at the Intrepid Sea/Air/Space Museum. In general, visiting hours for the public are 8am to 5pm every day between Thursday, May 21 and Tuesday, May 26, with Canadian ships closed on May 26 and Manhattan-moored ships closed on May 24.

Click here to find out about ceremonies such as the reopening of the Growler submarine; demonstrations such as a roping from a helicopter onto the flight deck of the Intrepid; performances such as the Navy Band and the casts of Wicked and Stomp; and friendly competitions between mariners such as tug of war and stem-to-stern relay races.

At press time, the time of the parade, order of ships and docking details had not yet been released to the public. Please check www.cnrma.navy.mil/fleetweek for further details.

We New Yorkers love our parks, and twice a year, in May and October, Partnership for Parks -- a joint program of the City Parks Foundation and the city's Dept. of Parks and Recreation -- organizes a day on which we can volunteer at our neighborhood park to show our appreciation. This year the spring celebration is on Saturday, May 16.

The spring theme is "Reclaim Our Waterfront Parks," with shore clean-ups and fun activities -- including free rowing and paddling -- at waterfront parks around the city, including Valentino Pier in Red Hook, Astoria Park in Queens and Conference House Park on Staten Island. In Manhattan, celebrate It's My Park Day at waterfront sites including East River Park, St. Nicholas Park and Highbridge Park. In all, activities are planned at more than 150 city parks. Click here for the full list.

Just as the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance is promoting its Action Agenda for a cleaner, more accessible waterfront to a multitude of candidates for City Council seats, as well as the offices of Mayor, Comptroller, Public Advocate and three out of five Borough Presidents, the advocacy group New Yorkers for Parks (NY4P) has concluded that this year's election activities are also great timing for a new Parks Campaign.

Join NY4P on May 19 at 10am when the 100-year-old advocacy group launches the Parks 2009 Campaign at NYU School of Law, 40 Washington Square South. At 10:30am, discuss the importance of parks with assembled candidates at a Town Hall Meeting. Click here for more information on the Parks 2009 Campaign.

You'lll be tempted to spend hours pouring over the compelling map on the New York Ocean and Great Lakes Atlas web site. Draw a box anywhere on a map of the state, zoom in and then add various layers according to your own interest or need: elevation, campgrounds, environment, watersheds, geo-scientific data, inland waters, oceans and estuaries, society, and more. In most cases, the choices are subdivided; you'll see further information available on subjects such as water quality classification, seagrass distribution, historic sites, hydro-electric facilities, and so on.

What's more, the NYOGL offers a data portal: a search engine that can help the viewer access an extensive catalogue of environmental, social and economic data. The information is freely available to decision makers and the general public.

To get to the data portal, click here.
To get to the NY State map, click here.

By Rob Buchanan

Last April, with a good deal of fanfare, the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation announced the creation of the NYC Water Trail -- a recreational network consisting of 18 existing and ten new public canoe and kayak launches in all five boroughs. In other words, a government agency began officially encouraging human-powered boaters to use the harbor.

Under the direction of Queens Borough Parks Commissioner Dorothy Lewandowski, an avid kayaker, the network has continued to expand. This spring's second edition of the Water Trail Guide -- a free map printed by the advocacy group Going Coastal -- will list ten more new launch sites, five of them in Jamaica Bay.

To support the safe use of the Water Trail, to lobby for more launches, landings and boathouses, and to advance awareness of the public's ownership of our urban waterways, a small group of human-powered boating advocates came together this winter to found something called the New York City Water Trail Association.

So far, we've established a harbor-wide event calendar and begun to lobby for more access at a couple of "hot spots," including the Bronx Kill and the state parks along the East River. We've also written a grant proposal for the installation of '"tide wheels" at harbor launch sites that would convey the peculiar phenomenon of tidal current lag in a graphically simple way (details available here: http://www.newyorkharborbeaches.org/blog/ ).

Ultimately, the hope is to form an umbrella group that can effectively represent the collective interests of all of the harbor's paddling and rowing organizations (we're not sure, but think there are now more than 20).



There's an interactive map of the Water Trail on the Parks Department website. If you'd like a paper copy of the map, you can get it by sending a stamped, self-addressed envelope to Going Coastal, Inc. 230 Sackett St. 2L, Brooklyn, NY 11231.

If you're an individual paddler or rower who'd like to be on our mailing list, if your group would like to join our coalition, or if you just want to tell us about a launch or landing site that ought to be on the map, please write us at nycwta@gmail.com

To answer the questions posed by the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance:
What we want most for the waterfront?
We want universal access (that is, at every street end) not just to the waterfront but to the water itself, and also an acknowledgment by our public officials, and an understanding by the general population, that the waterfront and the harbor are not "off limits," but instead are public spaces -- our commons.

What part of the MWA Waterfront Action Agenda interests our group?
All of it, but especially #4, "Waterfront Town," because we believe the city needs to start thinking of the harbor as part of itself, rather than a vague blue space on the map, and also #5, "A Well-Designed Edge," because we find the current edge, which is mostly seawall and rip-rap, to be inhospitable, anti-environmental, and dangerous.

Recycle-A-Bicycle - Non-profit organization and community-based bike shop that teaches job training and promotes everyday bicycle use to people of all ages throughout NYC. RAB has led bicycle tours along the NY waterfront, has led map-making projects that highlight the waterfront, and works daily to help reduce the pollution that directly affects the rivers and shores of New York. 

Special Projects Management Inc. - General contracting project management company specializing in land and maritime salvage.

Environmental Taskforce Operations, Inc. - Not-for-profit organization that has been removing derelict vessels from the water and shorelines of the 5-boroughs for over two years. Capabilities and equipment: Navy Seal-certified divers, lift bags, tow boats, barges, cranes and more.
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