Gillian Stewart and John Waldman of Queens College, City University of New York (CUNY), along with the National Park Service (NPS) and Jamaica Bay Institute (JBI), organized a Bioblitz of Jamaica Bay from 3pm Friday, September 7th through 3pm Saturday, September 8th 2007. Briefly, a Bioblitz is a 24 hour event aimed at cataloguing the diversity of organisms in a particular area. This Bioblitz was part contest (racing against the 24 hour clock), part educational event, and part scientific endeavor. We hope it increased the public’s awareness of the diversity of their own “backyard,” while highlighting the need to protect sensitive ecosystems like Jamaica Bay.
Jamaica Bay is a 25,000 acre nutrient rich estuary,
connected to Lower New York Bay and the Atlantic Ocean
via the Rockaway Inlet. Jamaica Bay is located on the
southwestern tip of Long Island, in the boroughs of
Brooklyn and Queens; and the town of Hempstead in Nassau
County. The majority of the area is publicly owned by
the federal government and city of New York.
Most
of Jamaica Bay proper and associated uplands and barrier
beach are part of the National Park System’s
Gateway National Recreation Area. Gateway properties include
Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, Jacob
Riis Park, Plumb Beach, Fort Tilden, the Breezy Point tip, and Floyd
Bennett Field. Several
city parks also fall within the Jamaica Bay complex,
including Marine and Edgemere Parks, and numerous smaller
parcels of city owned lands. Some wetland and upland
areas are part of the John F. Kennedy International
Airport, owned by the City of New York and operated
by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Smaller
upland areas surrounding the Bay remain in private,
residential or commercial ownership.
Jamaica Bay is a regionally significant resource for fish and wildlife.
Its waters, uplands, and barrier beaches also provide invaluable
respite and recreational opportunities for the New York City metropolitan
community. The bay is the frequent subject of research and management
of its wildlife, fisheries, waters, and marshes. This site captures
the myriad of management and research activities occurring in the
Bay, including the latest research, descriptive information on the
many Bay stakeholders, highlights on future activities, and links
to other related sites.
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