Former Mayor Bloomberg's Wetlands Initiative

Wetlands mapping of the Ridgewood Reservoir by the NYS Department of Environment Conservation has been one of the community's major objectives for 10 years. The NYSDEC, for unknown reasons, has been dragging their feet on this. Below is a document from 2009 by then Mayor Bloomberg. It covers some very important issues, many of the same arguments we've been using for years. From the summary page:

Wetlands are an important component of the City’s vision for a greener, greater future set out in PlaNYC. Wetlands help improve water quality and control floods by trapping pollutants, capturing stormwater runoff, sequestering carbon dioxide, moderating storm surges, providing habitat for local and migratory birds, fish and other wildlife, and creating a unique opportunity for New Yorkers to observe wildlife and to undertake other quiet, contemplative recreation. For those reasons, the City owns and manages thousands of acres of wetlands as open space, and the National Park Service controls extensive tracts of wetlands in and around Jamaica Bay and Staten Island. Other wetlands within the city are protected by Federal and New York State regulations, but the scope and vigor of those protections is uncertain.




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