4 Sparrow Marsh is at the north border of Floyd Bennett Field, separated by Mill Basin , very near Kings Plaza Mall, and adjacent to the TOYS R US store.
For info on 4 Sparrow Marsh, see this link , look for the "hotspot"
http://brooklynbirdclub.org/coastal.htm
and http://tinyurl.com/2vv2y57 (includes a PDF map)
I previously wrote a letter about 8 years ago against development the first time. Apparently , the threat is back again. Well, it looks like the city wants to make more $ on open green tracts..Brooklyn possesses a big bulls eye... : (
from the NYC Economic Development Council website
http://tinyurl.com/25pcb4k
The issue :
Positive Declaration and Public Scoping
Kings County (Brooklyn) - The New York City Deputy Mayor for Economic Development, as lead agency, has determined that the proposed Four Sparrows Retail Center at Mill Basin may have a significant adverse impact on the environment and a Draft Environmental Impact Statement must be prepared. A public scoping session will be held on January 1, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. at the Kings Plaza Community Room, 5100 Kings Plaza at the intersection of Flatbush Avenue and Avenue U. The action involves the proposed development of an approximately 15 acre retail center that would contain a 110,000 square foot of retail automotive sales and service center, a 45,000 square foot existing Toys 'R' Us toy store and up to approximately 138,000 square foot of commercial retail development which would be known as the Four Sparrow Retail Center at Mill Basin. The project which would include approximately 820 accessory parking spaces would be located on currently under utilized City-owned land fronting on Flatbush Avenue between the Belt Parkway interchange and about 0.5 miles south of Avenue U. The project would also include the mapping of the 46 acre Four Sparrows Marsh as City parkland and the creation of an approximately 400 foot public trail. This would protect natural features and connect the natural area with a high quality retail center. The project requires approvals from the New York City Planning Commission including: rezoning of the development site from C3 to C8-1; demapping and disposition of an unbuilt segment of Flatbush Avenue and Marginal Street, Wharf or Place that crosses the site; disposition of the proposed site to three private entities and Mayoral approval of the business terms pursuant to Section 385(b)(4) of the City Charter; Special Permit pursuant to ZR Section 62-836 to modify height and setback regulations on a waterfront block; certification of the site plan on a waterfront block pursuant to ZR Section 62-811; certification of a zoning lot subdivision pursuant to ZR Section 62-812; and mapping of the Four Sparrows Marsh as City parkland.
Related actions include approvals from New York City Department of Transportation, New York City Department of Environmental Protection, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers related to traffic signals, site storm water and sewer drainage, tidal wetlands and construction in navigable waters, respectively.
The project is located at 2875 Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, New York.
Contact: Douglas Rice, New York City Economic Development Corporation, 110 William Street, New York, NY 10038, Phone: (212) 312-3750, E-mail: drice@nycedc.com.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Floyd Bennett Blue Ribbon Panel recommendations doc release
OR
http://www.rpa.org/floydbennett/
And the posting to the list serves of the RPA email received ( Comments welcomed)
Dear birders and environmentalists:
The Floyd Bennett Field issue has resurfaced with draft recommendations put forward by the Blue Ribbon Panel.
I received this latest email today if you wished to submit comments. The primary issue for us birders is to protect the grassland habitats, particularly the core interior and the runways within those grasslands. Any "developement " should be kept to the buildings themselves and the outer perimeter. ( and I prefer all interior runways blocked off as a tradeoff; Last weekend, I found a convoy of 30 NYC Sanitation Trucks roaring up and down on the restricted closed off runway along the North Forty tract which likely they had no permission on Federal property.)
Based on research I have done, out of 216 species recorded on Cornell's ebird since 2003 , 68 Floyd Bennett species recorded are deemed "Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation out of the 118 SGCN species list for NYS.So all the urgency to protect this fragile Floyd Bennett grassland habitat.
this is an excerpt from my letter to the Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar in October
"Further evidence of Floyd Bennett’s rich diversity and as a critical refuge for birds is found on the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) “Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) “ table (http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/9406.html).
Of 118 NYSDEC SGCN bird species, 68 were recorded at Floyd Bennett (correlated with the Cornell Ebird data since 2003). Interestingly, among SGCN is Buff-breasted Sandpiper I mentioned in my last paragraph. This means 58% of NYSDEC SGCN species are found here, on the old runways, grasslands, bordering pine forest and maritime forest in the “North Forty section”, which makes Floyd Bennett a very exceptional bird sanctuary it is."
Regards,
Peter Dorosh
President
Brooklyn Bird Club
-----Original Message-----
From: Maya Borgenicht
To: Maya Borgenicht
Sent: Wed, Dec 22, 2010 12:21 pm
Subject: Floyd Bennett Field Blue Ribbon Panel Draft Recommendations Available
Hello,
Thank you for your interest in Floyd Bennett Field. The Blue Ribbon Panel is
currently preparing recommendations for their final report. Public input
continues to be vital to our process and we would welcome your comments on these
preliminary draft recommendations.
Please go to the Panel's website, www.rpa.org/FloydBennett to download the draft
recommendations. If you would like to comment, please respond before January
21st, 2011. We will also be sending a reminder in early January for those who
miss this notification over the holidays.
Sincerely,
Marian S. Heiskell Deborah Shanley
Panel Co-Chair Panel Co-Chair
Maya Borgenicht
Research Associate - Regional Plan Association
Director of Public Programs - Governors Island Alliance
4 Irving Place, 7th Floor
New York, NY 10003
maya@rpa.org
Phone: 917.652.6359
Fax: 212.253.5666
www.rpa.org
www.governorsislandalliance.org
twitter @govisalliance=
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Preserve Plum Island
See the attached link regarding the wild island off the north fork tip ( Orient Point) and sign the petition.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/preserve-plum-island/
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/preserve-plum-island/
Bald Eagles on the rise..good news
Associated Press report issued 12/15
Record number of eagles counted at Pa. sanctuary
KEMPTON, Pa. (AP) — Bird-watchers at a ridgetop preserve in eastern Pennsylvania counted a record number of migrating bald eagles this fall, another sign of the species' remarkable comeback following a century of decline.
The huge flight of 404 eagles smashed the old record of 245 set two years ago at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, which has kept an annual tally of migrating hawks, eagles and falcons since its founding 76 years ago as the world's first refuge for birds of prey.
As the autumn raptor count at Hawk Mountain drew to a close Wednesday, sanctuary biologists and birding enthusiasts alike cheered what Keith Bildstein, the sanctuary's director of conservation science, recently called "possibly the greatest wildlife success story of our time."
The U.S. population of bald eagles suffered a steep decline between the 1870s and 1970s, first due to habitat destruction and hunting, and later because of the widespread use of DDT. The pesticide accumulated in fish, a major food source for eagles, and resulted in eagles laying eggs with weakened shells that broke during incubation.
By 1963, there were only 417 breeding pairs left in the lower 48 states.
They also were an extreme rarity at Hawk Mountain, which is situated along a major Appalachian flyway for migratory birds known as the Kittatinny Ridge. The low point came in 1975, when counters spotted only 13 bald eagles the entire fall.
"One of our members always used to bring champagne in hopes we would see one," said veteran bird-watcher Catherine Elwell, who has been visiting Hawk Mountain since the early 1970s. She said "great cheers would rise up" on North Lookout — an outcropping where the official count takes place — whenever an eagle was overhead.
The bald eagle began a gradual recovery after it was listed on the federal Endangered Species list in 1967, and DDT was banned in the U.S. five years later. There are now more than 10,000 pairs, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The eagle was removed from the list in 2007.
"This has been just the most remarkable recovery, and I don't think many of us thought it would happen," said Elwell, 68, of Alburtis.
Bald eagle numbers have risen steadily at Hawk Mountain, with a 10-year average of 235.
This year's count included one superlative day in late August, when research biologist David Barber tallied 36 eagles — 31 of them after 3 p.m., and 14 of those in a single hour. It was the second-highest single-day flight in Hawk Mountain's history.
"We just kept looking at each other, like, where are all these eagles coming from?" he recalled Wednesday.
Where indeed. While 2010 might turn out to be a statistical anomaly, senior monitoring biologist Laurie Goodrich, who coordinates the annual count at Hawk Mountain, speculates that a number of factors came together to make this year like no other.
The weather cooperated, with plenty of days of northwesterly winds that helped push migrants closer to the ridgetop. An increase in the number of breeding pairs in the Northeastern United States may also have contributed: Local eagles are territorial, pushing migrants from Canada farther south.
The record flight might simply reflect that there are more eagles than ever before.
Whatever the reason, Goodrich said, "It's something we can celebrate, as bird-watchers and as scientists."
Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Record number of eagles counted at Pa. sanctuary
KEMPTON, Pa. (AP) — Bird-watchers at a ridgetop preserve in eastern Pennsylvania counted a record number of migrating bald eagles this fall, another sign of the species' remarkable comeback following a century of decline.
The huge flight of 404 eagles smashed the old record of 245 set two years ago at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, which has kept an annual tally of migrating hawks, eagles and falcons since its founding 76 years ago as the world's first refuge for birds of prey.
As the autumn raptor count at Hawk Mountain drew to a close Wednesday, sanctuary biologists and birding enthusiasts alike cheered what Keith Bildstein, the sanctuary's director of conservation science, recently called "possibly the greatest wildlife success story of our time."
The U.S. population of bald eagles suffered a steep decline between the 1870s and 1970s, first due to habitat destruction and hunting, and later because of the widespread use of DDT. The pesticide accumulated in fish, a major food source for eagles, and resulted in eagles laying eggs with weakened shells that broke during incubation.
By 1963, there were only 417 breeding pairs left in the lower 48 states.
They also were an extreme rarity at Hawk Mountain, which is situated along a major Appalachian flyway for migratory birds known as the Kittatinny Ridge. The low point came in 1975, when counters spotted only 13 bald eagles the entire fall.
"One of our members always used to bring champagne in hopes we would see one," said veteran bird-watcher Catherine Elwell, who has been visiting Hawk Mountain since the early 1970s. She said "great cheers would rise up" on North Lookout — an outcropping where the official count takes place — whenever an eagle was overhead.
The bald eagle began a gradual recovery after it was listed on the federal Endangered Species list in 1967, and DDT was banned in the U.S. five years later. There are now more than 10,000 pairs, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The eagle was removed from the list in 2007.
"This has been just the most remarkable recovery, and I don't think many of us thought it would happen," said Elwell, 68, of Alburtis.
Bald eagle numbers have risen steadily at Hawk Mountain, with a 10-year average of 235.
This year's count included one superlative day in late August, when research biologist David Barber tallied 36 eagles — 31 of them after 3 p.m., and 14 of those in a single hour. It was the second-highest single-day flight in Hawk Mountain's history.
"We just kept looking at each other, like, where are all these eagles coming from?" he recalled Wednesday.
Where indeed. While 2010 might turn out to be a statistical anomaly, senior monitoring biologist Laurie Goodrich, who coordinates the annual count at Hawk Mountain, speculates that a number of factors came together to make this year like no other.
The weather cooperated, with plenty of days of northwesterly winds that helped push migrants closer to the ridgetop. An increase in the number of breeding pairs in the Northeastern United States may also have contributed: Local eagles are territorial, pushing migrants from Canada farther south.
The record flight might simply reflect that there are more eagles than ever before.
Whatever the reason, Goodrich said, "It's something we can celebrate, as bird-watchers and as scientists."
Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Governor Paterson sign Executive Order on Hydrofracking
Catskill Mountainkeeper BREAKING NEWS
December 11, 2010
HISTORIC VICTORY FOR THE CITIZENS OF NEW YORK STATE
In an amazing victory for the citizens of New York State, Governor David A. Paterson has issued an Executive Order directing the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to conduct further comprehensive review and analysis of high-volume hydraulic fracturing in the Marcellus Shale. The Executive Order requires that, if approved, high-volume, horizontal hydraulic fracturing would not be permitted until July 1, 2011, at the earliest. New York State becomes the first state to have a formal prohibition on high volume horizontal hydrofacking because of concerns about environmental impacts. Regretablly instead of signing the "Moratorium Bill" legislation sent to him that included a prohibition on vertical hyrdofracking that was passed by on overwhelming bi partisan majority in both houses of the State government he decided instead to succumb to industry pressure and issue the Executive Order that eliminates vertical wells from the prohibition. While the Executive Order is historic and proves that our concerns over hydrofracking are legitimate it is also a disappointment because vertical wells are also dangerous.
The gas and oil industry lobby deliberately misinterpreted a section of the Moratorium Bill claiming it would bring all gas drilling in New York State to a halt. The bill only specified a moratorium on drilling for wells using hydrofracking, whether they are vertically or horizontally drilled.
A moratorium banning the fracking of vertical wells is very important for several reasons:
1. Gas companies have been clear that they plan to drill vertical wells in the Utica and Marcellus shale with the intention of converting them to horizontal wells.
2. While the State Senate was considering a two-year moratorium on horizontal wells the gas industry threatened to drill and frack 16 vertical wells every square mile in retribution if a moratorium on fracked horizontal wells was passed.
3. Some of the worst water contamination problems, such as in Dimock, PA came from vertical wells drilled and fractured in the Marcellus Shale.
We now look to Governor Elect Andrew Cuomo to protect the Citizens of New York from the dangers of hydro fracking by any method including vertical drilling and horizontal drilling and including all shale formations.
BELOW IS THE GOVERNORS PRESS RELEASE
To embed this news release, copy the code below and paste it into your website or blog. Preview
Governor Paterson Issues Executive Order on Hydraulic Fracturing
by New York State Office of the Governor
ALBANY, NY (12/11/2010)(readMedia)-- Governor David A. Paterson has issued an Executive Order directing the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to conduct further comprehensive review and analysis of high-volume hydraulic fracturing in the Marcellus Shale. The Executive Order requires that, if approved, high-volume, horizontal hydraulic fracturing would not be permitted until July 1, 2011, at the earliest. This should allay any fears that high-volume hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling under study by DEC will commence without assurances of safety.
"We in government must always focus on protecting the well-being of those whom we represent and serve, but we also have an obligation to look to the future and protect the long-term interests for our State and its residents," Governor Paterson said. "Therefore, I am proud to issue this Executive Order, which will guarantee that before any high-volume, horizontal hydraulic fracturing is permitted, the Department of Environmental Conversation will complete its studies and certify that such operations are safe."
Permits for high-volume, horizontal hydraulic fracturing can not be issued until the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) completes a Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS), which is currently being developed. As a result, there is already in place a de-facto moratorium on such permits.
The Governor issued the Executive Order contemporaneously with his veto of S.8129-B/A.11443-B, which would have suspended the issuance of new oil and gas drilling permits through May 15, 2011, including all conventional, low-volume, vertical oil and gas wells.
"This legislation, which was well intentioned, would have a serious impact on our State if signed into law. Enacting this legislation would put people out of work - work that is permitted by the Department of Environmental Conservation and causes no demonstrated environmental harm, in order to effectuate a moratorium that is principally symbolic," Governor Paterson said. "Symbols can have great importance, but particularly in our current terrible economic straits, I cannot agree to put individuals out of work for a symbolic act."
"I am sympathetic to the sponsors' desire to protect the environment and public health, and I respect the concerns that produced this legislation," the Governor continued. "But this legislation does not accomplish this purpose, since the activities at the heart of the moratorium are not currently taking place, and would not take place until well after the legislation's proposed moratorium."
The bill goes well beyond high-volume, horizontal hydraulic fracturing and effectively would result in a moratorium on all new oil and gas well drilling in this State. The cessation of such new activity, even for a limited period, would have substantial negative financial consequences for the State, local governments, landowners and small businesses involved in conventional oil and gas production.
The Division of the Budget estimates that the bill would cause a substantial reduction in State revenues from the loss of permit fees and tax revenue. With a $315 million budget gap in the current fiscal year, and a projected gap of over $9 billion in the 2011-12 State fiscal year, New York simply cannot afford to send hundreds and perhaps thousands of jobs, and millions of dollars in capital investment to Pennsylvania and other states to our south.
###
Additional news available at www.ny.gov/governor
High resolution images available at www.ny.gov/governor/mediaimages
password: paterson
New York State
Executive Chamber
press.office@chamber.state.ny.us
212.681.4640
518.474.8418
Follow us on Facebook and Twitter
Support Mountainkeeper
This is a complex and extended battle requiring tremendous resources. Catskill Mountainkeeper needs your financial support to continue to represent you in this fight.
About Catskill Mountainkeeper
Catskill Mountainkeeper is an independent, not for profit, 501c3 community based environmental advocacy organization, dedicated to creating a flourishing sustainable economy in the Catskills and preserving and protecting the area's long term health. We address issues of water integrity for the Delaware and Susquehanna River Systems, the defense of the vast woodlands that encompass the Catskill Forest Preserve and the New York City Watershed as well as farmland protection. We promote "smart" development that balances the economic needs and concerns of the Catskill regions' citizens and the protection of our abundant but exceedingly vulnerable natural resources.
Forward email
This email was sent to amlazarus@earthlink.net by info@catskillmountainkeeper.org.
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Youngsville
NY
12791
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December 11, 2010
HISTORIC VICTORY FOR THE CITIZENS OF NEW YORK STATE
In an amazing victory for the citizens of New York State, Governor David A. Paterson has issued an Executive Order directing the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to conduct further comprehensive review and analysis of high-volume hydraulic fracturing in the Marcellus Shale. The Executive Order requires that, if approved, high-volume, horizontal hydraulic fracturing would not be permitted until July 1, 2011, at the earliest. New York State becomes the first state to have a formal prohibition on high volume horizontal hydrofacking because of concerns about environmental impacts. Regretablly instead of signing the "Moratorium Bill" legislation sent to him that included a prohibition on vertical hyrdofracking that was passed by on overwhelming bi partisan majority in both houses of the State government he decided instead to succumb to industry pressure and issue the Executive Order that eliminates vertical wells from the prohibition. While the Executive Order is historic and proves that our concerns over hydrofracking are legitimate it is also a disappointment because vertical wells are also dangerous.
The gas and oil industry lobby deliberately misinterpreted a section of the Moratorium Bill claiming it would bring all gas drilling in New York State to a halt. The bill only specified a moratorium on drilling for wells using hydrofracking, whether they are vertically or horizontally drilled.
A moratorium banning the fracking of vertical wells is very important for several reasons:
1. Gas companies have been clear that they plan to drill vertical wells in the Utica and Marcellus shale with the intention of converting them to horizontal wells.
2. While the State Senate was considering a two-year moratorium on horizontal wells the gas industry threatened to drill and frack 16 vertical wells every square mile in retribution if a moratorium on fracked horizontal wells was passed.
3. Some of the worst water contamination problems, such as in Dimock, PA came from vertical wells drilled and fractured in the Marcellus Shale.
We now look to Governor Elect Andrew Cuomo to protect the Citizens of New York from the dangers of hydro fracking by any method including vertical drilling and horizontal drilling and including all shale formations.
BELOW IS THE GOVERNORS PRESS RELEASE
To embed this news release, copy the code below and paste it into your website or blog. Preview
Governor Paterson Issues Executive Order on Hydraulic Fracturing
by New York State Office of the Governor
ALBANY, NY (12/11/2010)(readMedia)-- Governor David A. Paterson has issued an Executive Order directing the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to conduct further comprehensive review and analysis of high-volume hydraulic fracturing in the Marcellus Shale. The Executive Order requires that, if approved, high-volume, horizontal hydraulic fracturing would not be permitted until July 1, 2011, at the earliest. This should allay any fears that high-volume hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling under study by DEC will commence without assurances of safety.
"We in government must always focus on protecting the well-being of those whom we represent and serve, but we also have an obligation to look to the future and protect the long-term interests for our State and its residents," Governor Paterson said. "Therefore, I am proud to issue this Executive Order, which will guarantee that before any high-volume, horizontal hydraulic fracturing is permitted, the Department of Environmental Conversation will complete its studies and certify that such operations are safe."
Permits for high-volume, horizontal hydraulic fracturing can not be issued until the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) completes a Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS), which is currently being developed. As a result, there is already in place a de-facto moratorium on such permits.
The Governor issued the Executive Order contemporaneously with his veto of S.8129-B/A.11443-B, which would have suspended the issuance of new oil and gas drilling permits through May 15, 2011, including all conventional, low-volume, vertical oil and gas wells.
"This legislation, which was well intentioned, would have a serious impact on our State if signed into law. Enacting this legislation would put people out of work - work that is permitted by the Department of Environmental Conservation and causes no demonstrated environmental harm, in order to effectuate a moratorium that is principally symbolic," Governor Paterson said. "Symbols can have great importance, but particularly in our current terrible economic straits, I cannot agree to put individuals out of work for a symbolic act."
"I am sympathetic to the sponsors' desire to protect the environment and public health, and I respect the concerns that produced this legislation," the Governor continued. "But this legislation does not accomplish this purpose, since the activities at the heart of the moratorium are not currently taking place, and would not take place until well after the legislation's proposed moratorium."
The bill goes well beyond high-volume, horizontal hydraulic fracturing and effectively would result in a moratorium on all new oil and gas well drilling in this State. The cessation of such new activity, even for a limited period, would have substantial negative financial consequences for the State, local governments, landowners and small businesses involved in conventional oil and gas production.
The Division of the Budget estimates that the bill would cause a substantial reduction in State revenues from the loss of permit fees and tax revenue. With a $315 million budget gap in the current fiscal year, and a projected gap of over $9 billion in the 2011-12 State fiscal year, New York simply cannot afford to send hundreds and perhaps thousands of jobs, and millions of dollars in capital investment to Pennsylvania and other states to our south.
###
Additional news available at www.ny.gov/governor
High resolution images available at www.ny.gov/governor/mediaimages
password: paterson
New York State
Executive Chamber
press.office@chamber.state.ny.us
212.681.4640
518.474.8418
Follow us on Facebook and Twitter
Support Mountainkeeper
This is a complex and extended battle requiring tremendous resources. Catskill Mountainkeeper needs your financial support to continue to represent you in this fight.
About Catskill Mountainkeeper
Catskill Mountainkeeper is an independent, not for profit, 501c3 community based environmental advocacy organization, dedicated to creating a flourishing sustainable economy in the Catskills and preserving and protecting the area's long term health. We address issues of water integrity for the Delaware and Susquehanna River Systems, the defense of the vast woodlands that encompass the Catskill Forest Preserve and the New York City Watershed as well as farmland protection. We promote "smart" development that balances the economic needs and concerns of the Catskill regions' citizens and the protection of our abundant but exceedingly vulnerable natural resources.
Forward email
This email was sent to amlazarus@earthlink.net by info@catskillmountainkeeper.org.
Update Profile/Email Address
Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe™
Privacy Policy.
Catskill Mountainkeeper
PO Box 381
Youngsville
NY
12791
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Thursday, December 9, 2010
Biodiversity planning in NYC and PLANYC Plan
From: Marielle Anzelone
To: Marielle Anzelone
Sent: Wed, Dec 8, 2010 10:13 pm
Subject: Biodiversity & PlaNYC thru 12/31 only!
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
Biodiversity is now on the radar of both City Council and the Mayor’s Office. Our collective input can shape how biodiversity is addressed by New York City government in future.
Last month, I was privileged to give testimony before NYC Council regarding 4 bills on invasive species and sustainable landscapes: http://bit.ly/geOSAb
I also had the pleasure of meeting with the Mayor's Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability (responsible for PlaNYC). Biodiversity is a priority, but its inclusion is not a guarantee. They are open to suggestions only through December. *Revisions for PlaNYC 2.0 start in January!*
Please consider letting them know that NYC's nature is a crucial consideration by:
Attending one of the last 2 community meetings:
Eastern Queens:
Thursday, December 9th, 2010** tomorrow!
7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Bayside High School
32-24 Corporal Kennedy Street
South Brooklyn:
Thursday, December 16th, 2010
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
St. Michael’s RC Church, 352 42nd Street
Enter through auditorium on 43rd Street
2. Sign the petition and share your stories and photos about NYC nature here:
http://nycbiodiversity.tumblr.com
3. Text your idea to 917-791-3064 (the PLANYC mobile input unit) and fill in the blank “One idea to create a greener, greater New York City is to ____”
4. Share your comments and suggestions on my Huffington Post op-ed, “More Than Million Trees, Where is the Nature in PlaNYC?” Let me know what more we could be doing. What are biodiversity policy initiatives that you believe are working?
This is such an exciting opportunity! I hope we can make our voices heard.
Happy Holidays,
Marielle
--
Mariellé Anzelone
Botanist & Native Plant Landscape Designer
T 646.244.9397
E marielle@drosera-x.com
W http://www.drosera-x.com
Executive Director & Founder
NYC Wildflower Week
4th annual - May 1-9, 2011
http://nycwildflowerweek.org
Facebook: http://bit.ly/60Igic
Twitter: http://twitter.com/NYCWW
To: Marielle Anzelone
Sent: Wed, Dec 8, 2010 10:13 pm
Subject: Biodiversity & PlaNYC thru 12/31 only!
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
Biodiversity is now on the radar of both City Council and the Mayor’s Office. Our collective input can shape how biodiversity is addressed by New York City government in future.
Last month, I was privileged to give testimony before NYC Council regarding 4 bills on invasive species and sustainable landscapes: http://bit.ly/geOSAb
I also had the pleasure of meeting with the Mayor's Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability (responsible for PlaNYC). Biodiversity is a priority, but its inclusion is not a guarantee. They are open to suggestions only through December. *Revisions for PlaNYC 2.0 start in January!*
Please consider letting them know that NYC's nature is a crucial consideration by:
Attending one of the last 2 community meetings:
Eastern Queens:
Thursday, December 9th, 2010** tomorrow!
7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Bayside High School
32-24 Corporal Kennedy Street
South Brooklyn:
Thursday, December 16th, 2010
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
St. Michael’s RC Church, 352 42nd Street
Enter through auditorium on 43rd Street
2. Sign the petition and share your stories and photos about NYC nature here:
http://nycbiodiversity.tumblr.com
3. Text your idea to 917-791-3064 (the PLANYC mobile input unit) and fill in the blank “One idea to create a greener, greater New York City is to ____”
4. Share your comments and suggestions on my Huffington Post op-ed, “More Than Million Trees, Where is the Nature in PlaNYC?” Let me know what more we could be doing. What are biodiversity policy initiatives that you believe are working?
This is such an exciting opportunity! I hope we can make our voices heard.
Happy Holidays,
Marielle
--
Mariellé Anzelone
Botanist & Native Plant Landscape Designer
T 646.244.9397
E marielle@drosera-x.com
W http://www.drosera-x.com
Executive Director & Founder
NYC Wildflower Week
4th annual - May 1-9, 2011
http://nycwildflowerweek.org
Facebook: http://bit.ly/60Igic
Twitter: http://twitter.com/NYCWW
Saturday, November 27, 2010
NYTIMES 11/26 article on Floyd Bennett
November 26, 2010
On an Edge of Brooklyn, New Hopes for a Park in Neglect
By TIM STELLOH
The hangar on the edge of Floyd Bennett Field has the familiar, post-apocalyptic look of urban decay, with “Danger Keep Out” spray painted in red across one of the building’s doors.
Many of the door panels have disappeared; so has most of the hangar’s roof. Inside, a forest of weeds has sprouted through the floor. Sections of guardrail lie on the ground beside large drain pipes, rotted pallets and discarded road signs.
This building — just steps from Flatbush Avenue and part of what maps identify as the “Hangar Row Historic District”— is an example of what Theresa Scavo, who grew up in the area and is chairwoman of Brooklyn Community Board 15, often refers to as the “total neglect” of this historic site, home to New York City’s first municipal airport and for almost four decades part of the Gateway National Recreation Area.
“It’s always been like this,” Ms. Scavo said. “It’s just, every time you pass, it looks a little worse.”
But if Floyd Bennett’s many users, boosters and officials can agree on a vision of the field’s future, better years may be ahead.
A blue-ribbon panel organized last April by Representative Anthony D. Weiner and Senator Charles E. Schumer has been asked to make recommendations for the park’s future. It will focus on the “overall vision” for the field, along with practical fixes, said Robert Pirani, a senior planner with Regional Plan Association, which is working with the panel.
The recommendations will be just that — ideas that could be incorporated into a larger National Park Service plan with the intention of making Floyd Bennett “worthy of being a national park,” as Mr. Pirani put it. Financing for the proposals is unclear.
The panel, which has two chairwomen, Marian S. Heiskell, a longtime conservationist, and Deborah Shanley, dean of the School of Education at Brooklyn College, is expected to release its report this winter.
Some panel members, park users and advocates have pressed for big and ambitious plans — building a drive-in movie theater or an Olympic-size swimming pool, for instance — while others have argued for more low-key, pragmatic repairs: erecting clearer signs, improving transportation to the field and within its more than 1,000 acres, and fixing a boat launch with potholes so large you can see the rebar below.
The park already has an archery range, a campground, protected grasslands, a private sports complex and a community garden. It is also used by fishermen, cyclists, kayakers, a large model airplane club and a historic aircraft renovation project.
There is “broad unanimity” among panel members that the park can be improved while keeping these multiple uses, Mr. Pirani said. The challenge is making sure that the recommendations can be addressed in a realistic way, he said.
Linda Canzanelli, the acting superintendent of Gateway National Recreation Area, said the process of improving Floyd Bennett Field has already begun with the restoration of the Ryan Visitor Center — once the airport’s grand terminal and administration building — which a Park Service spokesman described as “the heart” of the park. Work began this year, and the building is expected to reopen in 2012.
Pointing to the success of Aviator, a private sports and recreation complex that opened in 2006 in several run-down hangars, Ms. Canzanelli said the key to fixing the still-crumbling hangars was in public-private partnerships and leases to schools or nonprofit organizations.
“We inherited a bunch of older military buildings, but we don’t have a Department of Defense budget,” she said. “We need to do a better job of reaching out to the public, because the days of big government coming in and solving all the problems are over.”
At a well-attended public hearing in September, the Brooklyn borough president, Marty Markowitz, who is also a panel member, suggested bringing major trade shows to Floyd Bennett, starting a high-end antique fair — similar to the Brimfield Antique Show and Flea Market in Massachusetts — and building a drive-in movie theater.
The last idea drew jeers from Jill Weingarten, a longtime member of the Floyd Bennett Gardens Association and the editor of its newsletter.
“Everyone turned to each other,” Ms. Weingarten recalled, “and I went, ‘Boo.’ ”
One afternoon, Ms. Weingarten tended the tomatoes, jalapeños and water irises in her garden, which is close to nearly 500 other plots. She has had her garden since 1997, and has transformed it into a kind of sanctuary, with a pond, grapevine, barbecue and sunshade. She hesitated at a suggestion to expand the garden, which has a two-year waiting list, to accommodate more plots and urban gardeners.
“I see people who want this place to remain secret and quiet — and in a way you can’t blame them,” she said. “In another way, why not? Why not make it bigger and give people more opportunity?”
Ms. Weingarten said the association had pushed to make solar energy central to the park’s future.
“A lot of the buildings are closed because they can’t pay electricity,” she said. “Then they get vandalized.”
Ms. Scavo had a more modest request for the panel. “Fix what we have,” she said.
Ms. Scavo is just one interested party among many. There is New York City Audubon, which has run a grassland restoration project at the park since the mid-1980s, and has argued for more protections for sparrows, larks and other ground nesting birds that use the property. There is the Pennsylvania Avenue Radio Control Society, a 200-member model airplane flying club that has requested that development projects be kept modest; it has also asked for electrical hook-ups and wireless Internet.
There is the archery range and the Historic Aircraft Restoration Project. There are visitors like Jimmy Reco, 68, and David Davidson, 75, who have spent many mornings over the last 20 years on the park’s eastern shore, fishing, drinking coffee and reading the paper.
The men said the surrounding beaches are no longer plastered with garbage the way they once were — “It was a like a city dump,” Mr. Reco said — but that afternoon there was still plenty of trash around: beer bottles, wine bottles, soda bottles and, eerily, an empty urn from St. Michael’s Cemetery in East Elmhurst.
The scene was sufficiently disturbing to Mr. Reco, who had a simple message for the field’s overseers.
“We need help here,” he said. “S.O.S.”
On an Edge of Brooklyn, New Hopes for a Park in Neglect
By TIM STELLOH
The hangar on the edge of Floyd Bennett Field has the familiar, post-apocalyptic look of urban decay, with “Danger Keep Out” spray painted in red across one of the building’s doors.
Many of the door panels have disappeared; so has most of the hangar’s roof. Inside, a forest of weeds has sprouted through the floor. Sections of guardrail lie on the ground beside large drain pipes, rotted pallets and discarded road signs.
This building — just steps from Flatbush Avenue and part of what maps identify as the “Hangar Row Historic District”— is an example of what Theresa Scavo, who grew up in the area and is chairwoman of Brooklyn Community Board 15, often refers to as the “total neglect” of this historic site, home to New York City’s first municipal airport and for almost four decades part of the Gateway National Recreation Area.
“It’s always been like this,” Ms. Scavo said. “It’s just, every time you pass, it looks a little worse.”
But if Floyd Bennett’s many users, boosters and officials can agree on a vision of the field’s future, better years may be ahead.
A blue-ribbon panel organized last April by Representative Anthony D. Weiner and Senator Charles E. Schumer has been asked to make recommendations for the park’s future. It will focus on the “overall vision” for the field, along with practical fixes, said Robert Pirani, a senior planner with Regional Plan Association, which is working with the panel.
The recommendations will be just that — ideas that could be incorporated into a larger National Park Service plan with the intention of making Floyd Bennett “worthy of being a national park,” as Mr. Pirani put it. Financing for the proposals is unclear.
The panel, which has two chairwomen, Marian S. Heiskell, a longtime conservationist, and Deborah Shanley, dean of the School of Education at Brooklyn College, is expected to release its report this winter.
Some panel members, park users and advocates have pressed for big and ambitious plans — building a drive-in movie theater or an Olympic-size swimming pool, for instance — while others have argued for more low-key, pragmatic repairs: erecting clearer signs, improving transportation to the field and within its more than 1,000 acres, and fixing a boat launch with potholes so large you can see the rebar below.
The park already has an archery range, a campground, protected grasslands, a private sports complex and a community garden. It is also used by fishermen, cyclists, kayakers, a large model airplane club and a historic aircraft renovation project.
There is “broad unanimity” among panel members that the park can be improved while keeping these multiple uses, Mr. Pirani said. The challenge is making sure that the recommendations can be addressed in a realistic way, he said.
Linda Canzanelli, the acting superintendent of Gateway National Recreation Area, said the process of improving Floyd Bennett Field has already begun with the restoration of the Ryan Visitor Center — once the airport’s grand terminal and administration building — which a Park Service spokesman described as “the heart” of the park. Work began this year, and the building is expected to reopen in 2012.
Pointing to the success of Aviator, a private sports and recreation complex that opened in 2006 in several run-down hangars, Ms. Canzanelli said the key to fixing the still-crumbling hangars was in public-private partnerships and leases to schools or nonprofit organizations.
“We inherited a bunch of older military buildings, but we don’t have a Department of Defense budget,” she said. “We need to do a better job of reaching out to the public, because the days of big government coming in and solving all the problems are over.”
At a well-attended public hearing in September, the Brooklyn borough president, Marty Markowitz, who is also a panel member, suggested bringing major trade shows to Floyd Bennett, starting a high-end antique fair — similar to the Brimfield Antique Show and Flea Market in Massachusetts — and building a drive-in movie theater.
The last idea drew jeers from Jill Weingarten, a longtime member of the Floyd Bennett Gardens Association and the editor of its newsletter.
“Everyone turned to each other,” Ms. Weingarten recalled, “and I went, ‘Boo.’ ”
One afternoon, Ms. Weingarten tended the tomatoes, jalapeños and water irises in her garden, which is close to nearly 500 other plots. She has had her garden since 1997, and has transformed it into a kind of sanctuary, with a pond, grapevine, barbecue and sunshade. She hesitated at a suggestion to expand the garden, which has a two-year waiting list, to accommodate more plots and urban gardeners.
“I see people who want this place to remain secret and quiet — and in a way you can’t blame them,” she said. “In another way, why not? Why not make it bigger and give people more opportunity?”
Ms. Weingarten said the association had pushed to make solar energy central to the park’s future.
“A lot of the buildings are closed because they can’t pay electricity,” she said. “Then they get vandalized.”
Ms. Scavo had a more modest request for the panel. “Fix what we have,” she said.
Ms. Scavo is just one interested party among many. There is New York City Audubon, which has run a grassland restoration project at the park since the mid-1980s, and has argued for more protections for sparrows, larks and other ground nesting birds that use the property. There is the Pennsylvania Avenue Radio Control Society, a 200-member model airplane flying club that has requested that development projects be kept modest; it has also asked for electrical hook-ups and wireless Internet.
There is the archery range and the Historic Aircraft Restoration Project. There are visitors like Jimmy Reco, 68, and David Davidson, 75, who have spent many mornings over the last 20 years on the park’s eastern shore, fishing, drinking coffee and reading the paper.
The men said the surrounding beaches are no longer plastered with garbage the way they once were — “It was a like a city dump,” Mr. Reco said — but that afternoon there was still plenty of trash around: beer bottles, wine bottles, soda bottles and, eerily, an empty urn from St. Michael’s Cemetery in East Elmhurst.
The scene was sufficiently disturbing to Mr. Reco, who had a simple message for the field’s overseers.
“We need help here,” he said. “S.O.S.”
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Update Ridgewood Reservoir
Agency Is Still Weighing Wetland Ruling For Reservoir
Designation Could Alter Park Plans
by Robert Pozarycki
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) remains no closer to making a decision regarding the potential declaration of the Ridgewood Reservoir on the Brooklyn/Queens border as a wetland, according to an agency spokesperson.
“At this time, DEC has not made any determination to map the ponded or vegetated areas within the Ridgewood Reservoir as regulated freshwater wetlands,” said Thomas Panzone in an e-mail to the Times Newsweekly in response to a statement made during Community Board 5’s Oct. 13 meeting that the agency was “90 percent certain” that it would classify the 55-acre site as a wetland.
The co-chairperson of Board 5’s Parks Committee, Steven Fiedler, told board members on Oct. 13 that the statement was made by a DEC representative during a recent meeting convened by State Sen. Joseph Addabbo and community residents regarding the fate of the reservoir.
According to Panzone, “DEC is in communication with New York City Parks and DEP, which have committed to conduct hydrological studies of the reservoir district to determine the current sources of water entering and leaving the reservoir basins.”
“Once these studies are concluded, the [DEC] will determine whether to conduct further studies of the vegetation and make a decision regarding whether to map this area as freshwater wetlands,” Panzone said.
Should the agency declare the reservoir as a wetland, the spokesperson said, the city’s Parks Department would then be required to submit permits to the state agency for any potential improvements it wishes to make in any or all of the basins. All applications would be restricted to “certain regulated future activities in the freshwater wetland or 100-foot freshwater wetland adjacent area.”
“The designation would mean that the city would have to demonstrate, through a permit application, that future uses of the area would be consistent with protection and preser- vation of the wetland resources,” Panzone added. He noted that the Parks Department would maintain responsibility for the management and maintenance of the reservoir if the wetland designation is administered.
Formerly used as the source of drinking water for Brooklyn and Queens, the Ridgewood Reservoir was taken completely out of the city’s water system in the late 1980s. Since being shuttered and left inactive, the site has evolved into a natural habitat filled with a wide assortment of plant and wildlife.
In 2004, the city’s Department of Environmental Protection transferred ownership of the reservoir to the Parks Department. The agency later declared its intention of developing the site—along with the adjacent Highland Park—into one of eight regional parks as part of the PlaNYC 2030 master plan launched by Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2007.
Community and environmental activists fought plans initially put forth by the Parks Department to develop athletic fields in one of the reservoir’s three basins as part of a $50 million overhaul. Funds for the project were eventually scaled back due to the fiscal crisis that gripped the city and country in 2008.
Currently, the Parks Department is in the midst of the first phase of improvements to the reservoir, which includes installing new fencing and lighting around the perimeter of the site. The project would not be affected in any way by any potential wetland declaration, it was noted.
Posted By Rob Jett to Save Ridgewood Reservoir at 11/05/2010 09:38:00 AM
Designation Could Alter Park Plans
by Robert Pozarycki
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) remains no closer to making a decision regarding the potential declaration of the Ridgewood Reservoir on the Brooklyn/Queens border as a wetland, according to an agency spokesperson.
“At this time, DEC has not made any determination to map the ponded or vegetated areas within the Ridgewood Reservoir as regulated freshwater wetlands,” said Thomas Panzone in an e-mail to the Times Newsweekly in response to a statement made during Community Board 5’s Oct. 13 meeting that the agency was “90 percent certain” that it would classify the 55-acre site as a wetland.
The co-chairperson of Board 5’s Parks Committee, Steven Fiedler, told board members on Oct. 13 that the statement was made by a DEC representative during a recent meeting convened by State Sen. Joseph Addabbo and community residents regarding the fate of the reservoir.
According to Panzone, “DEC is in communication with New York City Parks and DEP, which have committed to conduct hydrological studies of the reservoir district to determine the current sources of water entering and leaving the reservoir basins.”
“Once these studies are concluded, the [DEC] will determine whether to conduct further studies of the vegetation and make a decision regarding whether to map this area as freshwater wetlands,” Panzone said.
Should the agency declare the reservoir as a wetland, the spokesperson said, the city’s Parks Department would then be required to submit permits to the state agency for any potential improvements it wishes to make in any or all of the basins. All applications would be restricted to “certain regulated future activities in the freshwater wetland or 100-foot freshwater wetland adjacent area.”
“The designation would mean that the city would have to demonstrate, through a permit application, that future uses of the area would be consistent with protection and preser- vation of the wetland resources,” Panzone added. He noted that the Parks Department would maintain responsibility for the management and maintenance of the reservoir if the wetland designation is administered.
Formerly used as the source of drinking water for Brooklyn and Queens, the Ridgewood Reservoir was taken completely out of the city’s water system in the late 1980s. Since being shuttered and left inactive, the site has evolved into a natural habitat filled with a wide assortment of plant and wildlife.
In 2004, the city’s Department of Environmental Protection transferred ownership of the reservoir to the Parks Department. The agency later declared its intention of developing the site—along with the adjacent Highland Park—into one of eight regional parks as part of the PlaNYC 2030 master plan launched by Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2007.
Community and environmental activists fought plans initially put forth by the Parks Department to develop athletic fields in one of the reservoir’s three basins as part of a $50 million overhaul. Funds for the project were eventually scaled back due to the fiscal crisis that gripped the city and country in 2008.
Currently, the Parks Department is in the midst of the first phase of improvements to the reservoir, which includes installing new fencing and lighting around the perimeter of the site. The project would not be affected in any way by any potential wetland declaration, it was noted.
Posted By Rob Jett to Save Ridgewood Reservoir at 11/05/2010 09:38:00 AM
Friday, November 5, 2010
Pine Barren Society action on Carmans River
Long Island Pine Barrens Society – November Update
Carmans River Plan Faces Calmer Waters
On October 20, the Society joined Brookhaven Town Supervisor Mark Lesko and other government officials to announce an agreement to protect the Carmans River from intrusive development. The initiative calls for a 90 day time out on all final development decisions surrounding the river. In the interim, a scientific based study will be conducted to analyze cumulative impacts associated with existing and proposed development in the watershed area and define a defensible watershed boundary. A formal Carmans River Study group led by Lee Koppelman, joined by several members of Brookhaven Town, the Central Pine Barrens Commission, the Department of Environmental Conservation and non-governmental stakeholders will draw upon the expertise of an appointed Technical Advisory Group to develop an official Carmans River Watershed Comprehensive Preservation and Management Plan. A final plan is set to be presented to Brookhaven Town Board for consideration of approval in January.
The Carmans River stretches 10 miles from North of Middle Country Road to the Great South Bay. It is designated by New York State as a “Recreational River” and is home to many species of endangered wildlife and native plants.
Society Sues Legislature for Making a Gift of Public Assets for Private Benefit
The Society has filed suit against the Suffolk County Legislature to prevent farmers from building on land where development rights have been sold and purchased by the County with taxpayer’s money. The suit asks that Suffolk prevent farm owners who have sold their development rights from developing on the land nonetheless.
The Society is challenging recent changes to the County’s Agricultural Regulations, which for the first time, explicitly authorizes development on land from which the public has purchased the development rights. It is unconstitutional for government to make a gift of public assets for private benefit, the suit says.
You are subscribed to the Pine Barrens Society email-list. The Pine Barrens Society is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in the State of New York. To unsubscribe or invite a friend, please call (631) 369-3300 or email info@pinebarrens.org. As a subscriber, your contact information will be kept private.
Carmans River Plan Faces Calmer Waters
On October 20, the Society joined Brookhaven Town Supervisor Mark Lesko and other government officials to announce an agreement to protect the Carmans River from intrusive development. The initiative calls for a 90 day time out on all final development decisions surrounding the river. In the interim, a scientific based study will be conducted to analyze cumulative impacts associated with existing and proposed development in the watershed area and define a defensible watershed boundary. A formal Carmans River Study group led by Lee Koppelman, joined by several members of Brookhaven Town, the Central Pine Barrens Commission, the Department of Environmental Conservation and non-governmental stakeholders will draw upon the expertise of an appointed Technical Advisory Group to develop an official Carmans River Watershed Comprehensive Preservation and Management Plan. A final plan is set to be presented to Brookhaven Town Board for consideration of approval in January.
The Carmans River stretches 10 miles from North of Middle Country Road to the Great South Bay. It is designated by New York State as a “Recreational River” and is home to many species of endangered wildlife and native plants.
Society Sues Legislature for Making a Gift of Public Assets for Private Benefit
The Society has filed suit against the Suffolk County Legislature to prevent farmers from building on land where development rights have been sold and purchased by the County with taxpayer’s money. The suit asks that Suffolk prevent farm owners who have sold their development rights from developing on the land nonetheless.
The Society is challenging recent changes to the County’s Agricultural Regulations, which for the first time, explicitly authorizes development on land from which the public has purchased the development rights. It is unconstitutional for government to make a gift of public assets for private benefit, the suit says.
You are subscribed to the Pine Barrens Society email-list. The Pine Barrens Society is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in the State of New York. To unsubscribe or invite a friend, please call (631) 369-3300 or email info@pinebarrens.org. As a subscriber, your contact information will be kept private.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
EPCAL latest bad bews
The story: http://calvertongrasslands.org/
Please see link to Newsday story below.
http://tinyurl.com/3a6fsu9
Newsday -
Saying it could not develop at Riverhead's Enterprise
Park at Calverton without making substantial changes
to its use, Rechler Equity Partners has pulled out
of its $18-million deal to purchase 300 acres of vacant
land at the town-owned industrial complex. The firm faced
a Friday deadline to sign its contract or pay for an extension.
Town officials said that, with Rechler dropping out, they are
now free to subdivide the property and sell it off in 10- or
15-acre blocks.
Please see link to Newsday story below.
http://tinyurl.com/3a6fsu9
Newsday -
Saying it could not develop at Riverhead's Enterprise
Park at Calverton without making substantial changes
to its use, Rechler Equity Partners has pulled out
of its $18-million deal to purchase 300 acres of vacant
land at the town-owned industrial complex. The firm faced
a Friday deadline to sign its contract or pay for an extension.
Town officials said that, with Rechler dropping out, they are
now free to subdivide the property and sell it off in 10- or
15-acre blocks.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
articles on extinction
Birds Could Signal Mass Extinction
ScienceDaily (Oct. 12, 2010) — The first detailed measurements of current extinction rates for a specific region have shown that birds are the best group to use to track the losses. The study also reveals Britain may be losing species over ten times faster than records suggest, and the speed of loss is probably increasing: the losses from England alone may exceed one species every two weeks.
The study, by Oxford University researchers, shows that many types of obscure organism in Britain are going extinct at the same rate as the birds -- evidence supporting fears of a global mass extinction. A report of the research is published in an upcoming issue of the journal Biological Conservation as countries prepare to meet in Japan 18-29 October to discuss biodiversity conservation targets.
'Biodiversity loss is arguably much more serious and more permanent than climate change,' said Clive Hambler of Oxford University's Department of Zoology, lead author of the research.
But it's impossible to know if policy targets to reduce the loss are being met without accurate measures of extinction rates. Until now, we had only crude estimates for a very few types of organism. Now we've got evidence that many groups of living things -- lichens, bugs, moths, fish, plants and so on -- are going extinct at a very similar rate to the birds.'
Using Britain's uniquely detailed natural history records, the researchers found that 1-5% of the region's species in many groups were lost since 1800, with higher losses in the Twentieth Century compared to the Nineteenth. Using further data from the USA and across the whole globe, the researchers show that the patterns of extinction in Britain are likely to be typical of those found on land and freshwater elsewhere.
Mr Hambler said: 'The birds are beautiful creatures, but they are also diverse, and many of them are specialised to particular habitats. This makes them sensitive to changes in their environment -- such as loss of mature trees, or the drying out of swampy ground, or coastal development. And what makes them really special for monitoring extinction is that they are also exceptionally easy to study, anywhere in the world -- so we can detect declines in their populations long before we notice losses of the more obscure things like slime moulds or mosses. It's no coincidence they can signal environmental change.'
'The underlying reason for the similarity of extinction rates in birds and the other living things is that habitat loss affects them in the same way. Our work supports the use of birds to indicate extinction rates in Britain, the USA and globally, and they should now be tried in places such as tropical forests where the bulk of other species will never be recorded.'
'The recorded extinctions in any region are just the tip of the iceberg, because there are not enough observers,' said Mr Hambler. For example, in March this year the British government's advisory body, Natural England, reported about 500 species lost from England since 1800. 'The losses reported by Natural England are under 0.5% per century, from England's 55,000 species,' notes Mr Hambler. 'Our research suggests that the actual losses could be over ten times this number, with about one species going extinct in England every fortnight.'
Natural England also reported species losses in England had apparently declined in recent decades, but the Oxford study suggests that this is not the case. Hambler and colleagues found there are about 1000 endangered species on the brink of extinction in Britain -- indeed many of these may already be extinct.
'People tend to be hesitant in declaring extinction, which leads to problems assessing the current rate,' said Mr Hambler. 'Many ancient and important habitats in Britain are threatened today because of human activity and population growth -- whether it's an increase in water use, growing use of wood fuel, or the growth of urban sprawl. Despite conservationists' efforts it's very likely extinction rates will continue to rise in Britain and globally for many years. These losses will impact on human welfare, and I'd say conservation needs a profile and resources even bigger than climate change.'
Alongside studies of birds, the researchers believe that recording rates of habitat loss will provide a good, simple measure of some elements of biodiversity loss.
Mr Hambler said: 'This work strengthens the claim that the world is suffering a mass extinction. We can now be much more confident that across the planet the less conspicuous and less well-known species are going extinct at a similar high rate to that already witnessed in birds, fish and amphibians.'
Journal Reference:
1. Clive Hambler, Peter A. Henderson, Martin R. Speight. Extinction rates, extinction-prone habitats, and indicator groups in Britain and at larger scales. Biological Conservation, 2010; DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2010.09.004
***********************************
An 'Unprecedented' Bat Die-Off Could Devastate U.S. Agriculture
By BRUCE KENNEDY
Posted 9:45 AM 10/12/10 Technology, Economy
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EmailShare on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on DiggShare on LifestreamMost people don't love bats, but like good health, you'll realize that you miss them after they're gone. Experts believe many species of bats may vanish pretty soon, and their disappearance could bring profound and long-term changes not only to the environment but also to agriculture, landscaping and gardening across North America.
For several years now, scientists have been sounding alarms about a devastating fungus, White-Nose Syndrome (WNS), that has literally decimated bat populations in the Northeastern U.S. The fungus leaves a white substance on the bat's nose, wings and body, and disrupts the bat's hibernation patterns, forcing it to burn through its fat reserves, which quickly leads to starvation. Earlier this year, a survey of the bat population in New Jersey estimated that 90% of that state's bats had been killed off.
"This is on a level unprecedented, certainly in mammals," says Rick Adams, a biology professor at the University of Northern Colorado and a renowned bat expert. "A mass extinction event, a thousand times higher than anything we've seen. It's going through [bat colonies] like wildfire, with 80% to 100% mortality."
"The disease is absolutely devastating, it's unprecedented," says Mylea Bayless, a biologist with Austin, Texas-based Bat Conservation International. "It's causing population declines in wildlife that we haven't seen since the passenger pigeon."
Bayless notes that bats have slow reproductive rates, usually giving birth to just one pup a year. So bat populations, she says, are going to be very slow to recover, "if they ever do recover." The disease, adds Bayless, "is moving at a pace that's astonishing, about 450 miles per year. In four short years, it's now closer to the Pacific Ocean than it is to its point of origination in Albany, N.Y."
Your Billion-Dollar Bug Eaters
You might be saying good riddance, but think again. Bats are the primary predator of night-flying insects. That not only includes pests like mosquitoes but also insects like corn earworm moths and cotton bollworms. In their caterpillar forms, those insects can destroy crops. A 2006 study of several counties in South-Central Texas concluded that the local bat population had an annual value of over $740,000 a year as a pest control -- or up to 29% of the value of the local cotton crop.
A bat eats 60% to 100% of its body-weight in insects every day. Adams says one colony of Mexican free-tailed bats in Colorado's San Luis Valley, an important agricultural region, "pulls about 100 metric tons of insects out of the air in a year." And having bats in agricultural areas, he says, tends to move insects out of those areas, creating less need for dangerous and expensive pesticides.
And like honey bee colonies -- which have also been facing massive die-offs in recent years -- some bats are important pollinators and seed-distributors. Adams says bats are crucial to the reproduction of tropical fruits like mangos, papayas, figs and wild bananas. And in Arizona, bats are the primary pollinators for three large cactus species that support much of the region's ecosystem.
Government and Researchers Fight Back
The fungus associated with WNS is widespread in Europe, but it doesn't affect bats there. No one is sure yet how it became so lethal to North America's bat population -- but there's a possible human element. Scientists says WNS spores have been found on the clothing and gear of people exploring caves containing bat colonies. The pattern of its spread is also inconsistent with bat migration. "It went from Tennessee to Missouri and then to Western Oklahoma," says Adams, "and it doesn't seem like it would be moving like that if it was just bats."
In the meantime, humans are fighting back. Adams is hosting a conference on the crisis later this month in Denver. The event is expected to draw hundreds of bat experts from around the world. The Forest Service is banning visitors to the thousands of caves and abandoned mines that dot the landscape in at least five Rocky Mountain and Great Plains states. And the Fish and Wildlife Service has awarded $1.6 million in grants for WNS research and control.
"But we all know that's a drop in the bucket for a disease that's sweeping the country and killing 95% of an entire group of animals," says Bayless. "For some people, that may seem like money. . .not well-spent, but [what are] the economic and ecological consequences of losing an entire species? A little bit of money spent now will save us in the long term."
Tagged: agribusiness, agriculture, bat, bat colony, bat die-off, bat disappearance, bat fungus, bats, bees, colony collapse disorder, conservation
See full article from DailyFinance: http://srph.it/ajcpbF
ScienceDaily (Oct. 12, 2010) — The first detailed measurements of current extinction rates for a specific region have shown that birds are the best group to use to track the losses. The study also reveals Britain may be losing species over ten times faster than records suggest, and the speed of loss is probably increasing: the losses from England alone may exceed one species every two weeks.
The study, by Oxford University researchers, shows that many types of obscure organism in Britain are going extinct at the same rate as the birds -- evidence supporting fears of a global mass extinction. A report of the research is published in an upcoming issue of the journal Biological Conservation as countries prepare to meet in Japan 18-29 October to discuss biodiversity conservation targets.
'Biodiversity loss is arguably much more serious and more permanent than climate change,' said Clive Hambler of Oxford University's Department of Zoology, lead author of the research.
But it's impossible to know if policy targets to reduce the loss are being met without accurate measures of extinction rates. Until now, we had only crude estimates for a very few types of organism. Now we've got evidence that many groups of living things -- lichens, bugs, moths, fish, plants and so on -- are going extinct at a very similar rate to the birds.'
Using Britain's uniquely detailed natural history records, the researchers found that 1-5% of the region's species in many groups were lost since 1800, with higher losses in the Twentieth Century compared to the Nineteenth. Using further data from the USA and across the whole globe, the researchers show that the patterns of extinction in Britain are likely to be typical of those found on land and freshwater elsewhere.
Mr Hambler said: 'The birds are beautiful creatures, but they are also diverse, and many of them are specialised to particular habitats. This makes them sensitive to changes in their environment -- such as loss of mature trees, or the drying out of swampy ground, or coastal development. And what makes them really special for monitoring extinction is that they are also exceptionally easy to study, anywhere in the world -- so we can detect declines in their populations long before we notice losses of the more obscure things like slime moulds or mosses. It's no coincidence they can signal environmental change.'
'The underlying reason for the similarity of extinction rates in birds and the other living things is that habitat loss affects them in the same way. Our work supports the use of birds to indicate extinction rates in Britain, the USA and globally, and they should now be tried in places such as tropical forests where the bulk of other species will never be recorded.'
'The recorded extinctions in any region are just the tip of the iceberg, because there are not enough observers,' said Mr Hambler. For example, in March this year the British government's advisory body, Natural England, reported about 500 species lost from England since 1800. 'The losses reported by Natural England are under 0.5% per century, from England's 55,000 species,' notes Mr Hambler. 'Our research suggests that the actual losses could be over ten times this number, with about one species going extinct in England every fortnight.'
Natural England also reported species losses in England had apparently declined in recent decades, but the Oxford study suggests that this is not the case. Hambler and colleagues found there are about 1000 endangered species on the brink of extinction in Britain -- indeed many of these may already be extinct.
'People tend to be hesitant in declaring extinction, which leads to problems assessing the current rate,' said Mr Hambler. 'Many ancient and important habitats in Britain are threatened today because of human activity and population growth -- whether it's an increase in water use, growing use of wood fuel, or the growth of urban sprawl. Despite conservationists' efforts it's very likely extinction rates will continue to rise in Britain and globally for many years. These losses will impact on human welfare, and I'd say conservation needs a profile and resources even bigger than climate change.'
Alongside studies of birds, the researchers believe that recording rates of habitat loss will provide a good, simple measure of some elements of biodiversity loss.
Mr Hambler said: 'This work strengthens the claim that the world is suffering a mass extinction. We can now be much more confident that across the planet the less conspicuous and less well-known species are going extinct at a similar high rate to that already witnessed in birds, fish and amphibians.'
Journal Reference:
1. Clive Hambler, Peter A. Henderson, Martin R. Speight. Extinction rates, extinction-prone habitats, and indicator groups in Britain and at larger scales. Biological Conservation, 2010; DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2010.09.004
***********************************
An 'Unprecedented' Bat Die-Off Could Devastate U.S. Agriculture
By BRUCE KENNEDY
Posted 9:45 AM 10/12/10 Technology, Economy
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EmailShare on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on DiggShare on LifestreamMost people don't love bats, but like good health, you'll realize that you miss them after they're gone. Experts believe many species of bats may vanish pretty soon, and their disappearance could bring profound and long-term changes not only to the environment but also to agriculture, landscaping and gardening across North America.
For several years now, scientists have been sounding alarms about a devastating fungus, White-Nose Syndrome (WNS), that has literally decimated bat populations in the Northeastern U.S. The fungus leaves a white substance on the bat's nose, wings and body, and disrupts the bat's hibernation patterns, forcing it to burn through its fat reserves, which quickly leads to starvation. Earlier this year, a survey of the bat population in New Jersey estimated that 90% of that state's bats had been killed off.
"This is on a level unprecedented, certainly in mammals," says Rick Adams, a biology professor at the University of Northern Colorado and a renowned bat expert. "A mass extinction event, a thousand times higher than anything we've seen. It's going through [bat colonies] like wildfire, with 80% to 100% mortality."
"The disease is absolutely devastating, it's unprecedented," says Mylea Bayless, a biologist with Austin, Texas-based Bat Conservation International. "It's causing population declines in wildlife that we haven't seen since the passenger pigeon."
Bayless notes that bats have slow reproductive rates, usually giving birth to just one pup a year. So bat populations, she says, are going to be very slow to recover, "if they ever do recover." The disease, adds Bayless, "is moving at a pace that's astonishing, about 450 miles per year. In four short years, it's now closer to the Pacific Ocean than it is to its point of origination in Albany, N.Y."
Your Billion-Dollar Bug Eaters
You might be saying good riddance, but think again. Bats are the primary predator of night-flying insects. That not only includes pests like mosquitoes but also insects like corn earworm moths and cotton bollworms. In their caterpillar forms, those insects can destroy crops. A 2006 study of several counties in South-Central Texas concluded that the local bat population had an annual value of over $740,000 a year as a pest control -- or up to 29% of the value of the local cotton crop.
A bat eats 60% to 100% of its body-weight in insects every day. Adams says one colony of Mexican free-tailed bats in Colorado's San Luis Valley, an important agricultural region, "pulls about 100 metric tons of insects out of the air in a year." And having bats in agricultural areas, he says, tends to move insects out of those areas, creating less need for dangerous and expensive pesticides.
And like honey bee colonies -- which have also been facing massive die-offs in recent years -- some bats are important pollinators and seed-distributors. Adams says bats are crucial to the reproduction of tropical fruits like mangos, papayas, figs and wild bananas. And in Arizona, bats are the primary pollinators for three large cactus species that support much of the region's ecosystem.
Government and Researchers Fight Back
The fungus associated with WNS is widespread in Europe, but it doesn't affect bats there. No one is sure yet how it became so lethal to North America's bat population -- but there's a possible human element. Scientists says WNS spores have been found on the clothing and gear of people exploring caves containing bat colonies. The pattern of its spread is also inconsistent with bat migration. "It went from Tennessee to Missouri and then to Western Oklahoma," says Adams, "and it doesn't seem like it would be moving like that if it was just bats."
In the meantime, humans are fighting back. Adams is hosting a conference on the crisis later this month in Denver. The event is expected to draw hundreds of bat experts from around the world. The Forest Service is banning visitors to the thousands of caves and abandoned mines that dot the landscape in at least five Rocky Mountain and Great Plains states. And the Fish and Wildlife Service has awarded $1.6 million in grants for WNS research and control.
"But we all know that's a drop in the bucket for a disease that's sweeping the country and killing 95% of an entire group of animals," says Bayless. "For some people, that may seem like money. . .not well-spent, but [what are] the economic and ecological consequences of losing an entire species? A little bit of money spent now will save us in the long term."
Tagged: agribusiness, agriculture, bat, bat colony, bat die-off, bat disappearance, bat fungus, bats, bees, colony collapse disorder, conservation
See full article from DailyFinance: http://srph.it/ajcpbF
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Floyd Bennett grasslands in jeopardy if Brooklyn Borough President Markowitz has his way....
Peter's posting to the NYC/NYS internet listserves:
Dear Birders of Brooklyn,NYC and NYS:
I am bringing you this critical issue to your attention over Brooklyn's Floyd Bennett Fields grasslands ( formerly an decommissioned airport) now threatened by potential development discussions ( info also based from the recent Blue Ribbon Panel set up by US Senator Charles Schumer and Congressman Anthony Weiner, which last Tuesday eve I attended a listening session/public hearing at Floyd and Mr Markowitz spoke as well) ). Brooklyn Borough President, Marty Markowitz a NYC elective city official is trying to tell the Federal Gateway National Parks Service to turn it into more recreation amusement emphasis. Floyd Bennett is located on the southeastern part of Brooklyn , NYC, a critical bird migration hotspot where for the few past weeks Buff-breasted Sandpipers were feeding right next to the Aviator Sports complex ( which itself opened the Pandora's box for more potential commercial development ). Mr Markowitz's zeal obviously has no idea of the potential habitat loss and impact to threatened and fragile grass birds that use Floyd Bennett , especially rare birds including RED KNOT(seen on the runway in 2007) and Upland Sandpiper recorded on the Ebird Cornell database ( Check out the list http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ and see "View and Explore Data"). Since 2003, over 215 species have touched down or used Floyd for breeding or migration purposes.The grasslands have been impacted over the years and it needs a buffer perimeter which currently is impacted by overabundance of speeding cars and motorcycles ( the main old airport runway ) using Aviator Sports purposes.
I am hoping you will be deeply concerned and act on Brooklyn Birds' behalf to stop this nonsense and save the last grassland spot in Brooklyn and which grasslands of this size is rare for NYC. This preserve , though it is not pretty in some spots, is a rich bird spot where in recent days also saw Bairds Sandpiper and numerous raptors ( frequent Peregrine Falcon) as well as some wintering owls ( Saw-whet, Long-eared, Snowy sometimes, Barn and on occasions Short-eared) . I hope you will act on behalf of New York City birders. You can contact Mr Markowitz's office or further, contact Gateway NPS administrator ( google Gateway National Park or NYC Harbors Parks ) or the Director of the Interior Ken Salazar. A city official should not delve into Federal natural habitat ( but they do).
Regards,
Peter Dorosh
President
Brooklyn Bird Club
If you want to contact Mr Markowitz's office , go to this website http://www.brooklyn-usa.org/
Check out the following articles from the NEW YORK POST of 9/20 and 9/23
From the NEW YORK POST
Updated: Mon., Sep. 20, 2010, 5:07 PM
Floyd Bennett 'next hot spot'
By RICH CALDER
Last Updated: 5:07 PM, September 20, 2010
Posted: 5:36 AM, September 20, 2010
Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz wants the feds to turn Floyd Bennett Field into the next hot green space.
The city made Governors Island and Brooklyn Bridge Park overnight hot spots this summer by boosting transit services there -- especially ferries.
Markowitz said that bringing ferry, water taxi and jitney service to the 1,400-acre former Navy airfield in Mill Basin that's now an underused federal park must be considered. Increasing its limited bus service and creating bike lanes leading to and from it are other options, he said.
He plans to make his pitch tomorrow night during a public hearing on the future of Floyd Bennett Field, the borough's biggest open space and one of the nation's lowest ranked federal parks. It begin 6 pm at Aviator Sports Center on Flatbush Avenue.
The pitch, Markowitz says, will also focus on how Floyd Bennett Field is perfect for hosting “cultural celebrations” and other big events, such as "antique shows" similar to a famous three-week show held annually in Brimfield, Mass. that attracts 6,000 vendors and hundreds of thousands of visitors.
The meeting will be run by a Blue Ribbon Panel created by Sen. Charles Schumer and Rep. Anthony Weiner to guide the National Park Service draft a plan on how to boost services and cleanup Floyd Bennett Field. Improving transit options and educational opportunities at the park are among the ideas the panel says it plans to review.
Since the park is on the Queens border, a similar meeting will be held in that borough on Sept. 27.
Floyd Bennett Field was the city’s first commercial airport. In 1972, it became part of the federal Gateway National Recreation Area system.
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Markowitz wants large antiques show, drive-in movies at Floyd Bennett Field
More <!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]-->Print
6:40 PM, September 23, 2010 ι By RICH CALDER
Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz wants the feds to turn Brooklyn’s biggest open space into a massive antiques road show.
During a meeting Monday night on the future of Floyd Bennett Field in Mill Basin, Markowitz said the 1,358-acre former Navy airfield is perfect for hosting antique shows similar to a famous three-week show held annually in Brimfield, Mass. that attracts 6,000 vendors and hundreds of thousands of visitors.
“I’m not talking about a flea market,” he later told the Post. “This could be huge.”
His other pitches for the underused site include giving the borough its own drive-in movie theater there and also using the parkland for cultural celebrations and even family reunions.
A blue ribbon panel created by Sen. Charles Schumer and Rep. Anthony Weiner is pushing the National Parks Service for greater cleanup and to boost transit services and programming at Floyd Bennett Field, which is the lowest-rated federal park in the nation.
About 100 community members convened at the Aviator Sports Center to discuss the park’s future and make recommendations on how to improve.
Among the better ideas brought up at a table of local residents that this reporter sat in on was changing the main entrance to a little-used roadway near heavily-used Aviator, instead of the existing entrance further south on Flatbush Avenue by the Marine Parkway Bridge into the Rockaways.
Others include adding ferry service, increasing bike access and opening up access to the entire waterfront.
A second community meeting will be held Monday at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens.
Go to www.rpa.org/floydbennett for more information on the meeting and the Blue Ribbon Panel.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I took the liberty of correlating Specis Great Conservation Need ( SGCN) bird species listed by the NYS Dept of Environmental Conservation ( see link above) with the Cornell's EBIRD first sightings list for Floyd Bennett and found that 69 out of 118 SGCN bird species were recorded in Floyd since 2003. Of course this is not counting rare or extralimital bird species like Connecticut Warbler, Ross Goose, etc. not on SGCN. And also what OTHER non bird species on the SGCN seen in Floyd? was there ever a bio blitz done and I think there was one very recent ? hmm, just a thought for more data to present as an logical argument for total PRESERVATION or protection of the core grasslands + a buffer perimeter at least.
That means 58 % of SGCN bird species seen in Floyd Bennett which makes it a avian wonderland. A real treasure we have to fight for before its ruined .It has always been my personal opinion that Floyd ( along with JBWR) should be National Wildlife Refuges , NOT Recreation Area administered by National Parks Service. There is greater protective restrictions as NWR and run by better knowledgeable ecological minded US Fish and Wildlife. Up in Rhode Island, there is a former naval airport called NINIGRET -- like Floyd but administered by USFW and they tore up a runway for grassland restoration !! ( I was there after the tear up during a BBC weekend trip).. Its a question of who is the manager running the place.
Hard to believe some of the more common species we take for granted but check out the SGCN list
http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/9406.html
P.
Here's the list below from NYSDEC 's SGCN list
American Black Duck
American Golden Plover
American Oystercatcher
American Woodcock ( BREEDING)
Atlantic Brant
Bald Eagle
Barn Owl
Bay-breasted Warbler
Black-crowned Night Heron
Black-bellied Plover
Black Skimmer
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Blue-winged Teal
Blue-winged Warbler
Bobolink
Brown Thrasher
Buff-breasted Sandpiper
Canada Warbler
Cattle Egret
Common Goldeneye
Common Nighthawk
Common Loon
Common Tern
Cooper's Hawk
Dickcissel
Dunlin
Eastern Meadowlark
Forster's Tern
Glossy Ibis
Golden-winged Warbler
Grasshopper Sparrow ( used to breed )
Great Egret
Greater Yellowlegs
Greater Scaup
Horned lark
Horned Grebe
Laughing Gull
Least Tern
Lesser Scaup
Little Blue Heron
Long-tailed Duck
Long-eared Owl
Northern Pintail
Northern Harrier ( used to breed)
Osprey
Peregrine Falcon ( formerly ESA species)
Prairie Warbler
RED KNOT ( endangered species)
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-headed Woodpecker
Red-throated Loon
Ruddy Duck
Sanderling
Scarlet Tanager
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Short-eared Owl
Short-billed Dowitcher
Snowy Egret
Tennessee Warbler
Upland Sandpiper
Vesper Sparrow
Willet
Willow Flycatcher
Wood Thrush
Worm-eating Warbler
Yellow-breasted Chat
Yellow-crowned Night Heron
**
FROM EBIRD CORNELL First sightings
Floyd Bennett Field
First Sightings
All-time records
First Sightings, 1900-2010
Species # Observer Location Date
1 Snow Goose 2 Roseanne Caleca Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jan 28, 2005
2 Ross's Goose 3 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jan 20, 2009
3 Brant 60 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
4 Canada Goose 17 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
5 Mute Swan 5 Coby Klein Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jun 24, 2004
swan sp. 2 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Feb 18, 2010
6 Wood Duck 2 Coby Klein Floyd Bennett Field (map) Mar 12, 2006
7 Gadwall 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Sep 16, 2006
8 Eurasian Wigeon 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jan 8, 2006
9 American Wigeon X Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jan 6, 2006
10 American Black Duck 36 Unknown Observer Floyd Bennett Field (map) Feb 5, 2006
American Black Duck x Mallard (hybrid) 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Mar 14, 2010
11 Mallard 2 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
12 Blue-winged Teal 2 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 16, 2006
13 Northern Shoveler X Coby Klein Floyd Bennett Field (map) Mar 12, 2006
14 Northern Pintail 1 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Mar 12, 2008
15 Green-winged Teal 2 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
16 Canvasback 1 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Mar 21, 2008
17 Greater Scaup 1600 Unknown Observer Floyd Bennett Field (map) Feb 5, 2006
18 Lesser Scaup 3 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Dec 19, 2009
Greater/Lesser Scaup 20 Scott Whittle Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jan 25, 2009
19 Long-tailed Duck X Unknown Observer Floyd Bennett Field (map) Feb 5, 2006
20 Bufflehead X Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jan 6, 2006
21 Common Goldeneye 1 Unknown Observer Floyd Bennett Field (map) Feb 5, 2006
22 Hooded Merganser 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jan 20, 2009
23 Red-breasted Merganser X Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jan 6, 2006
24 Ruddy Duck 8 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Dec 8, 2007
25 Ring-necked Pheasant 1 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
26 Red-throated Loon 1 Unknown Observer Floyd Bennett Field (map) Mar 4, 2006
27 Common Loon X Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jan 6, 2006
28 Horned Grebe X Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jan 6, 2006
29 Red-necked Grebe 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 1, 2007
30 Northern Gannet 1 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Dec 20, 2008
31 Double-crested Cormorant 10 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
32 Great Cormorant X Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jan 6, 2006
cormorant sp. 3 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 8, 2010
33 Great Blue Heron 1 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
34 Great Egret X Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jul 5, 2005
35 Snowy Egret 2 Avi Lewis Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 19, 2006
36 Little Blue Heron 1 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 21, 2008
37 Cattle Egret 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 12, 2007
38 Green Heron 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 12, 2007
39 Black-crowned Night-Heron 5 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
40 Yellow-crowned Night-Heron 2 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jun 10, 2007
41 Glossy Ibis 1 Steven Plust Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 13, 2006
42 Turkey Vulture 1 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 30, 2008
43 Osprey 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Sep 16, 2006
44 Bald Eagle 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 6, 2009
45 Northern Harrier 2 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
46 Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Oct 1, 2006
47 Cooper's Hawk 1 Unknown Observer Floyd Bennett Field (map) Oct 1, 2006
48 Red-shouldered Hawk 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Nov 7, 2009
49 Red-tailed Hawk 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Nov 4, 2006
50 Rough-legged Hawk 1 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Dec 15, 2007
51 American Kestrel 6 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
52 Merlin 1 Avi Lewis Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 4, 2006
53 Peregrine Falcon 1 Unknown Observer Floyd Bennett Field (map) Aug 31, 2006
54 American Coot X Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jan 20, 2009
55 Black-bellied Plover X Unknown Observer Floyd Bennett Field (map) Aug 31, 2006
56 American Golden-Plover 1 Heydi Lopes Floyd Bennett Field (map) Oct 29, 2009
57 Semipalmated Plover 5 Avi Lewis Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 21, 2006
58 Killdeer 2 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jul 5, 2005
59 American Oystercatcher 1 Coby Klein Floyd Bennett Field (map) Mar 12, 2006
60 Spotted Sandpiper 1 Steven Plust Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 13, 2006
61 Solitary Sandpiper 2 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Aug 23, 2007
62 Greater Yellowlegs 2 Steven Plust Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 13, 2006
63 Willet 1 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jun 27, 2007
64 Lesser Yellowlegs 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Aug 19, 2008
Tringa sp. 8 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Aug 22, 2010
65 Upland Sandpiper 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Aug 22, 2009
66 Ruddy Turnstone X Unknown Observer Floyd Bennett Field (map) Aug 31, 2006
67 Red Knot 2 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Aug 21, 2007
68 Sanderling X Unknown Observer Floyd Bennett Field (map) Aug 31, 2006
69 Semipalmated Sandpiper X Unknown Observer Floyd Bennett Field (map) Aug 31, 2006
70 Western Sandpiper 2 Joseph O'Sullivan Floyd Bennett Field (map) Aug 22, 2008
71 Least Sandpiper X Unknown Observer Floyd Bennett Field (map) Aug 31, 2006
72 White-rumped Sandpiper 1 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Aug 12, 2009
73 Baird's Sandpiper 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Aug 22, 2007
74 Pectoral Sandpiper 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Oct 28, 2008
75 Purple Sandpiper X Unknown Observer Floyd Bennett Field (map) Nov 19, 2006
76 Dunlin X Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jan 6, 2006
77 Stilt Sandpiper 1 Joseph O'Sullivan Floyd Bennett Field (map) Aug 22, 2008
78 Buff-breasted Sandpiper 1 Benjamin Van Doren Floyd Bennett Field (map) Aug 31, 2010
79 Short-billed Dowitcher 4 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Aug 21, 2007
80 Wilson's Snipe 2 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 16, 2006
81 American Woodcock X Avi Lewis Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 4, 2006
shorebird sp. 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Aug 23, 2010
82 Black-headed Gull 1 Danielle Gustafson Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jan 24, 2009
83 Laughing Gull X Coby Klein Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jun 24, 2004
84 Ring-billed Gull X Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jan 6, 2006
85 Herring Gull 25 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
86 Lesser Black-backed Gull 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 3, 2010
87 Great Black-backed Gull X Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jul 5, 2005
88 Least Tern X Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jul 5, 2005
89 Common Tern X Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jul 5, 2005
90 Forster's Tern X Unknown Observer Floyd Bennett Field (map) Aug 31, 2006
91 Black Skimmer X Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jul 5, 2005
92 Rock Pigeon X Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jul 5, 2005
93 Mourning Dove 1 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
94 Yellow-billed Cuckoo 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jun 10, 2007
95 Barn Owl 1 Rob Jett Floyd Bennett Field (map) Feb 21, 2009
96 Snowy Owl 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Dec 14, 2008
97 Long-eared Owl 1 Corey Finger Floyd Bennett Field (map) Nov 15, 2009
98 Common Nighthawk 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Aug 29, 2009
99 Chimney Swift 1 Unknown Observer Floyd Bennett Field (map) Aug 31, 2006
100 Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Sep 16, 2006
101 Belted Kingfisher 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Sep 23, 2006
102 Red-headed Woodpecker 1 D. Edward Davis Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 9, 2009
103 Red-bellied Woodpecker 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Sep 29, 2008
104 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 2 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 13, 2008
105 Downy Woodpecker 1 Coby Klein Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jan 25, 2006
106 Hairy Woodpecker X Unknown Observer Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 1, 2006
107 Northern Flicker 5 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
108 Eastern Wood-Pewee 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Sep 16, 2007
109 Willow Flycatcher 10 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jun 10, 2007
Alder/Willow Flycatcher (Traill's) 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jul 5, 2005
110 Least Flycatcher 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 12, 2007
Empidonax sp. 2 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Sep 17, 2008
111 Eastern Phoebe 3 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Sep 23, 2006
112 Great Crested Flycatcher 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Sep 23, 2006
113 Eastern Kingbird 1 Avi Lewis Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 19, 2006
114 White-eyed Vireo 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Sep 16, 2006
115 Yellow-throated Vireo 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 13, 2006
116 Blue-headed Vireo 1 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 4, 2008
117 Warbling Vireo 2 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 13, 2006
118 Red-eyed Vireo 2 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Sep 16, 2006
119 Blue Jay 2 Coby Klein Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jun 24, 2004
120 American Crow 20 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
121 Fish Crow 4 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
crow sp. 2 Scott Whittle Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jan 25, 2009
122 Horned Lark 7 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Feb 11, 1996
123 Tree Swallow 11 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
124 Bank Swallow 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jul 29, 2008
125 Barn Swallow X Coby Klein Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jun 24, 2004
126 Black-capped Chickadee 6 Coby Klein Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jan 25, 2006
127 Tufted Titmouse 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Oct 6, 2008
128 Red-breasted Nuthatch 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Dec 2, 2006
129 White-breasted Nuthatch X Heydi Lopes Floyd Bennett Field (map) Oct 29, 2009
130 Brown Creeper 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jan 14, 2007
131 Carolina Wren 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jan 8, 2006
132 House Wren 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Sep 16, 2006
133 Winter Wren 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Sep 23, 2006
134 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 30, 2008
135 Golden-crowned Kinglet X Unknown Observer Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 1, 2006
136 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1 Unknown Observer Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 1, 2006
137 Eastern Bluebird 2 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Oct 1, 2006
138 Veery 1 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 14, 2008
139 Swainson's Thrush 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Sep 23, 2006
140 Hermit Thrush 40 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Nov 4, 2006
141 Wood Thrush 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 12, 2007
142 American Robin 3 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
143 Gray Catbird 3 Coby Klein Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jun 24, 2004
144 Northern Mockingbird 3 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
145 Brown Thrasher 1 Coby Klein Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jun 24, 2004
146 European Starling X Coby Klein Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jun 24, 2004
147 American Pipit 6 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Oct 7, 2008
148 Cedar Waxwing X Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jul 5, 2005
149 Golden-winged Warbler X Leonor Chavez Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 20, 2009
150 Tennessee Warbler 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Oct 10, 2008
151 Orange-crowned Warbler 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Nov 11, 2008
152 Nashville Warbler 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Sep 11, 2008
153 Northern Parula 1 Avi Lewis Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 11, 2006
154 Yellow Warbler X Coby Klein Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jun 24, 2004
155 Chestnut-sided Warbler 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 12, 2007
156 Magnolia Warbler X Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 13, 2006
157 Black-throated Blue Warbler 1 Avi Lewis Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 19, 2006
158 Yellow-rumped Warbler 1 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
159 Black-throated Green Warbler 1 Avi Lewis Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 11, 2006
160 Blackburnian Warbler 3 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 20, 2007
161 Pine Warbler 2 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Sep 16, 2006
162 Prairie Warbler 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 13, 2006
163 Palm Warbler 3 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 16, 2006
164 Bay-breasted Warbler 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 20, 2007
165 Blackpoll Warbler 2 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 12, 2007
166 Black-and-white Warbler 1 Avi Lewis Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 11, 2006
167 American Redstart 1 Avi Lewis Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 11, 2006
168 Worm-eating Warbler 1 Heydi Lopes Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 7, 2009
169 Ovenbird 3 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 12, 2007
170 Northern Waterthrush 3 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Sep 16, 2006
171 Connecticut Warbler 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Sep 15, 2007
172 Common Yellowthroat 2 Avi Lewis Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 12, 2006
173 Hooded Warbler X Leonor Chavez Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 20, 2009
174 Wilson's Warbler 1 Avi Lewis Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 15, 2006
175 Canada Warbler 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 20, 2007
176 Yellow-breasted Chat 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Oct 10, 2008
177 Eastern Towhee 2 Coby Klein Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jun 24, 2004
178 American Tree Sparrow 6 Unknown Observer Floyd Bennett Field (map) Mar 4, 2006
179 Chipping Sparrow 1 Avi Lewis Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 11, 2006
180 Clay-colored Sparrow 1 Scott Whittle Floyd Bennett Field (map) Oct 4, 2008
181 Field Sparrow 4 Coby Klein Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jan 25, 2006
182 Vesper Sparrow X Scott Whittle Floyd Bennett Field (map) Oct 21, 2007
183 Lark Sparrow 1 Rob Jett Floyd Bennett Field (map) Sep 17, 2009
184 Savannah Sparrow 1 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
185 Grasshopper Sparrow 2 Joseph O'Sullivan Floyd Bennett Field (map) Aug 22, 2008
186 Fox Sparrow 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Nov 4, 2006
187 Song Sparrow 2 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
188 Lincoln's Sparrow 2 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Oct 14, 2007
189 Swamp Sparrow 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jan 8, 2006
190 White-throated Sparrow X Unknown Observer Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 1, 2006
191 White-crowned Sparrow 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Sep 23, 2006
192 Dark-eyed Junco 2 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Oct 14, 2006
193 Lapland Longspur 1 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Dec 7, 2007
194 Snow Bunting 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Nov 21, 2007
195 Scarlet Tanager 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 20, 2007
196 Northern Cardinal 5 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
197 Rose-breasted Grosbeak 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 12, 2007
198 Blue Grosbeak 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 29, 2009
199 Indigo Bunting 2 Avi Lewis Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 12, 2006
200 Dickcissel 2 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jul 5, 2005
201 Bobolink 100 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Aug 29, 2007
202 Red-winged Blackbird 6 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
203 Eastern Meadowlark X Scott Whittle Floyd Bennett Field (map) Oct 21, 2007
204 Common Grackle X Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 13, 2006
205 Boat-tailed Grackle 4 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
206 Brown-headed Cowbird 2 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
207 Orchard Oriole 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jun 10, 2007
208 Baltimore Oriole 1 Avi Lewis Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 12, 2006
209 Purple Finch 1 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Nov 14, 2007
210 House Finch X Avi Lewis Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 12, 2006
211 White-winged Crossbill 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Feb 5, 2009
212 Common Redpoll 1 Michael Mayer Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jan 24, 2009
213 Pine Siskin 10 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Nov 2, 2008
214 American Goldfinch 1 Unknown Observer Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 1, 2006
215 House Sparrow X Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jul 5, 2005
Dear Birders of Brooklyn,NYC and NYS:
I am bringing you this critical issue to your attention over Brooklyn's Floyd Bennett Fields grasslands ( formerly an decommissioned airport) now threatened by potential development discussions ( info also based from the recent Blue Ribbon Panel set up by US Senator Charles Schumer and Congressman Anthony Weiner, which last Tuesday eve I attended a listening session/public hearing at Floyd and Mr Markowitz spoke as well) ). Brooklyn Borough President, Marty Markowitz a NYC elective city official is trying to tell the Federal Gateway National Parks Service to turn it into more recreation amusement emphasis. Floyd Bennett is located on the southeastern part of Brooklyn , NYC, a critical bird migration hotspot where for the few past weeks Buff-breasted Sandpipers were feeding right next to the Aviator Sports complex ( which itself opened the Pandora's box for more potential commercial development ). Mr Markowitz's zeal obviously has no idea of the potential habitat loss and impact to threatened and fragile grass birds that use Floyd Bennett , especially rare birds including RED KNOT(seen on the runway in 2007) and Upland Sandpiper recorded on the Ebird Cornell database ( Check out the list http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ and see "View and Explore Data"). Since 2003, over 215 species have touched down or used Floyd for breeding or migration purposes.The grasslands have been impacted over the years and it needs a buffer perimeter which currently is impacted by overabundance of speeding cars and motorcycles ( the main old airport runway ) using Aviator Sports purposes.
I am hoping you will be deeply concerned and act on Brooklyn Birds' behalf to stop this nonsense and save the last grassland spot in Brooklyn and which grasslands of this size is rare for NYC. This preserve , though it is not pretty in some spots, is a rich bird spot where in recent days also saw Bairds Sandpiper and numerous raptors ( frequent Peregrine Falcon) as well as some wintering owls ( Saw-whet, Long-eared, Snowy sometimes, Barn and on occasions Short-eared) . I hope you will act on behalf of New York City birders. You can contact Mr Markowitz's office or further, contact Gateway NPS administrator ( google Gateway National Park or NYC Harbors Parks ) or the Director of the Interior Ken Salazar. A city official should not delve into Federal natural habitat ( but they do).
Regards,
Peter Dorosh
President
Brooklyn Bird Club
If you want to contact Mr Markowitz's office , go to this website http://www.brooklyn-usa.org/
Check out the following articles from the NEW YORK POST of 9/20 and 9/23
From the NEW YORK POST
Updated: Mon., Sep. 20, 2010, 5:07 PM
Floyd Bennett 'next hot spot'
By RICH CALDER
Last Updated: 5:07 PM, September 20, 2010
Posted: 5:36 AM, September 20, 2010
Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz wants the feds to turn Floyd Bennett Field into the next hot green space.
The city made Governors Island and Brooklyn Bridge Park overnight hot spots this summer by boosting transit services there -- especially ferries.
Markowitz said that bringing ferry, water taxi and jitney service to the 1,400-acre former Navy airfield in Mill Basin that's now an underused federal park must be considered. Increasing its limited bus service and creating bike lanes leading to and from it are other options, he said.
He plans to make his pitch tomorrow night during a public hearing on the future of Floyd Bennett Field, the borough's biggest open space and one of the nation's lowest ranked federal parks. It begin 6 pm at Aviator Sports Center on Flatbush Avenue.
The pitch, Markowitz says, will also focus on how Floyd Bennett Field is perfect for hosting “cultural celebrations” and other big events, such as "antique shows" similar to a famous three-week show held annually in Brimfield, Mass. that attracts 6,000 vendors and hundreds of thousands of visitors.
The meeting will be run by a Blue Ribbon Panel created by Sen. Charles Schumer and Rep. Anthony Weiner to guide the National Park Service draft a plan on how to boost services and cleanup Floyd Bennett Field. Improving transit options and educational opportunities at the park are among the ideas the panel says it plans to review.
Since the park is on the Queens border, a similar meeting will be held in that borough on Sept. 27.
Floyd Bennett Field was the city’s first commercial airport. In 1972, it became part of the federal Gateway National Recreation Area system.
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Markowitz wants large antiques show, drive-in movies at Floyd Bennett Field
More <!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]-->Print
6:40 PM, September 23, 2010 ι By RICH CALDER
Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz wants the feds to turn Brooklyn’s biggest open space into a massive antiques road show.
During a meeting Monday night on the future of Floyd Bennett Field in Mill Basin, Markowitz said the 1,358-acre former Navy airfield is perfect for hosting antique shows similar to a famous three-week show held annually in Brimfield, Mass. that attracts 6,000 vendors and hundreds of thousands of visitors.
“I’m not talking about a flea market,” he later told the Post. “This could be huge.”
His other pitches for the underused site include giving the borough its own drive-in movie theater there and also using the parkland for cultural celebrations and even family reunions.
A blue ribbon panel created by Sen. Charles Schumer and Rep. Anthony Weiner is pushing the National Parks Service for greater cleanup and to boost transit services and programming at Floyd Bennett Field, which is the lowest-rated federal park in the nation.
About 100 community members convened at the Aviator Sports Center to discuss the park’s future and make recommendations on how to improve.
Among the better ideas brought up at a table of local residents that this reporter sat in on was changing the main entrance to a little-used roadway near heavily-used Aviator, instead of the existing entrance further south on Flatbush Avenue by the Marine Parkway Bridge into the Rockaways.
Others include adding ferry service, increasing bike access and opening up access to the entire waterfront.
A second community meeting will be held Monday at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens.
Go to www.rpa.org/floydbennett for more information on the meeting and the Blue Ribbon Panel.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I took the liberty of correlating Specis Great Conservation Need ( SGCN) bird species listed by the NYS Dept of Environmental Conservation ( see link above) with the Cornell's EBIRD first sightings list for Floyd Bennett and found that 69 out of 118 SGCN bird species were recorded in Floyd since 2003. Of course this is not counting rare or extralimital bird species like Connecticut Warbler, Ross Goose, etc. not on SGCN. And also what OTHER non bird species on the SGCN seen in Floyd? was there ever a bio blitz done and I think there was one very recent ? hmm, just a thought for more data to present as an logical argument for total PRESERVATION or protection of the core grasslands + a buffer perimeter at least.
That means 58 % of SGCN bird species seen in Floyd Bennett which makes it a avian wonderland. A real treasure we have to fight for before its ruined .It has always been my personal opinion that Floyd ( along with JBWR) should be National Wildlife Refuges , NOT Recreation Area administered by National Parks Service. There is greater protective restrictions as NWR and run by better knowledgeable ecological minded US Fish and Wildlife. Up in Rhode Island, there is a former naval airport called NINIGRET -- like Floyd but administered by USFW and they tore up a runway for grassland restoration !! ( I was there after the tear up during a BBC weekend trip).. Its a question of who is the manager running the place.
Hard to believe some of the more common species we take for granted but check out the SGCN list
http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/9406.html
P.
Here's the list below from NYSDEC 's SGCN list
American Black Duck
American Golden Plover
American Oystercatcher
American Woodcock ( BREEDING)
Atlantic Brant
Bald Eagle
Barn Owl
Bay-breasted Warbler
Black-crowned Night Heron
Black-bellied Plover
Black Skimmer
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Blue-winged Teal
Blue-winged Warbler
Bobolink
Brown Thrasher
Buff-breasted Sandpiper
Canada Warbler
Cattle Egret
Common Goldeneye
Common Nighthawk
Common Loon
Common Tern
Cooper's Hawk
Dickcissel
Dunlin
Eastern Meadowlark
Forster's Tern
Glossy Ibis
Golden-winged Warbler
Grasshopper Sparrow ( used to breed )
Great Egret
Greater Yellowlegs
Greater Scaup
Horned lark
Horned Grebe
Laughing Gull
Least Tern
Lesser Scaup
Little Blue Heron
Long-tailed Duck
Long-eared Owl
Northern Pintail
Northern Harrier ( used to breed)
Osprey
Peregrine Falcon ( formerly ESA species)
Prairie Warbler
RED KNOT ( endangered species)
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-headed Woodpecker
Red-throated Loon
Ruddy Duck
Sanderling
Scarlet Tanager
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Short-eared Owl
Short-billed Dowitcher
Snowy Egret
Tennessee Warbler
Upland Sandpiper
Vesper Sparrow
Willet
Willow Flycatcher
Wood Thrush
Worm-eating Warbler
Yellow-breasted Chat
Yellow-crowned Night Heron
**
FROM EBIRD CORNELL First sightings
Floyd Bennett Field
First Sightings
All-time records
First Sightings, 1900-2010
Species # Observer Location Date
1 Snow Goose 2 Roseanne Caleca Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jan 28, 2005
2 Ross's Goose 3 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jan 20, 2009
3 Brant 60 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
4 Canada Goose 17 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
5 Mute Swan 5 Coby Klein Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jun 24, 2004
swan sp. 2 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Feb 18, 2010
6 Wood Duck 2 Coby Klein Floyd Bennett Field (map) Mar 12, 2006
7 Gadwall 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Sep 16, 2006
8 Eurasian Wigeon 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jan 8, 2006
9 American Wigeon X Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jan 6, 2006
10 American Black Duck 36 Unknown Observer Floyd Bennett Field (map) Feb 5, 2006
American Black Duck x Mallard (hybrid) 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Mar 14, 2010
11 Mallard 2 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
12 Blue-winged Teal 2 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 16, 2006
13 Northern Shoveler X Coby Klein Floyd Bennett Field (map) Mar 12, 2006
14 Northern Pintail 1 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Mar 12, 2008
15 Green-winged Teal 2 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
16 Canvasback 1 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Mar 21, 2008
17 Greater Scaup 1600 Unknown Observer Floyd Bennett Field (map) Feb 5, 2006
18 Lesser Scaup 3 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Dec 19, 2009
Greater/Lesser Scaup 20 Scott Whittle Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jan 25, 2009
19 Long-tailed Duck X Unknown Observer Floyd Bennett Field (map) Feb 5, 2006
20 Bufflehead X Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jan 6, 2006
21 Common Goldeneye 1 Unknown Observer Floyd Bennett Field (map) Feb 5, 2006
22 Hooded Merganser 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jan 20, 2009
23 Red-breasted Merganser X Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jan 6, 2006
24 Ruddy Duck 8 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Dec 8, 2007
25 Ring-necked Pheasant 1 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
26 Red-throated Loon 1 Unknown Observer Floyd Bennett Field (map) Mar 4, 2006
27 Common Loon X Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jan 6, 2006
28 Horned Grebe X Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jan 6, 2006
29 Red-necked Grebe 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 1, 2007
30 Northern Gannet 1 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Dec 20, 2008
31 Double-crested Cormorant 10 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
32 Great Cormorant X Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jan 6, 2006
cormorant sp. 3 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 8, 2010
33 Great Blue Heron 1 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
34 Great Egret X Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jul 5, 2005
35 Snowy Egret 2 Avi Lewis Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 19, 2006
36 Little Blue Heron 1 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 21, 2008
37 Cattle Egret 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 12, 2007
38 Green Heron 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 12, 2007
39 Black-crowned Night-Heron 5 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
40 Yellow-crowned Night-Heron 2 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jun 10, 2007
41 Glossy Ibis 1 Steven Plust Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 13, 2006
42 Turkey Vulture 1 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 30, 2008
43 Osprey 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Sep 16, 2006
44 Bald Eagle 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 6, 2009
45 Northern Harrier 2 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
46 Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Oct 1, 2006
47 Cooper's Hawk 1 Unknown Observer Floyd Bennett Field (map) Oct 1, 2006
48 Red-shouldered Hawk 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Nov 7, 2009
49 Red-tailed Hawk 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Nov 4, 2006
50 Rough-legged Hawk 1 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Dec 15, 2007
51 American Kestrel 6 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
52 Merlin 1 Avi Lewis Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 4, 2006
53 Peregrine Falcon 1 Unknown Observer Floyd Bennett Field (map) Aug 31, 2006
54 American Coot X Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jan 20, 2009
55 Black-bellied Plover X Unknown Observer Floyd Bennett Field (map) Aug 31, 2006
56 American Golden-Plover 1 Heydi Lopes Floyd Bennett Field (map) Oct 29, 2009
57 Semipalmated Plover 5 Avi Lewis Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 21, 2006
58 Killdeer 2 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jul 5, 2005
59 American Oystercatcher 1 Coby Klein Floyd Bennett Field (map) Mar 12, 2006
60 Spotted Sandpiper 1 Steven Plust Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 13, 2006
61 Solitary Sandpiper 2 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Aug 23, 2007
62 Greater Yellowlegs 2 Steven Plust Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 13, 2006
63 Willet 1 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jun 27, 2007
64 Lesser Yellowlegs 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Aug 19, 2008
Tringa sp. 8 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Aug 22, 2010
65 Upland Sandpiper 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Aug 22, 2009
66 Ruddy Turnstone X Unknown Observer Floyd Bennett Field (map) Aug 31, 2006
67 Red Knot 2 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Aug 21, 2007
68 Sanderling X Unknown Observer Floyd Bennett Field (map) Aug 31, 2006
69 Semipalmated Sandpiper X Unknown Observer Floyd Bennett Field (map) Aug 31, 2006
70 Western Sandpiper 2 Joseph O'Sullivan Floyd Bennett Field (map) Aug 22, 2008
71 Least Sandpiper X Unknown Observer Floyd Bennett Field (map) Aug 31, 2006
72 White-rumped Sandpiper 1 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Aug 12, 2009
73 Baird's Sandpiper 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Aug 22, 2007
74 Pectoral Sandpiper 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Oct 28, 2008
75 Purple Sandpiper X Unknown Observer Floyd Bennett Field (map) Nov 19, 2006
76 Dunlin X Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jan 6, 2006
77 Stilt Sandpiper 1 Joseph O'Sullivan Floyd Bennett Field (map) Aug 22, 2008
78 Buff-breasted Sandpiper 1 Benjamin Van Doren Floyd Bennett Field (map) Aug 31, 2010
79 Short-billed Dowitcher 4 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Aug 21, 2007
80 Wilson's Snipe 2 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 16, 2006
81 American Woodcock X Avi Lewis Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 4, 2006
shorebird sp. 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Aug 23, 2010
82 Black-headed Gull 1 Danielle Gustafson Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jan 24, 2009
83 Laughing Gull X Coby Klein Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jun 24, 2004
84 Ring-billed Gull X Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jan 6, 2006
85 Herring Gull 25 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
86 Lesser Black-backed Gull 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 3, 2010
87 Great Black-backed Gull X Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jul 5, 2005
88 Least Tern X Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jul 5, 2005
89 Common Tern X Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jul 5, 2005
90 Forster's Tern X Unknown Observer Floyd Bennett Field (map) Aug 31, 2006
91 Black Skimmer X Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jul 5, 2005
92 Rock Pigeon X Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jul 5, 2005
93 Mourning Dove 1 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
94 Yellow-billed Cuckoo 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jun 10, 2007
95 Barn Owl 1 Rob Jett Floyd Bennett Field (map) Feb 21, 2009
96 Snowy Owl 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Dec 14, 2008
97 Long-eared Owl 1 Corey Finger Floyd Bennett Field (map) Nov 15, 2009
98 Common Nighthawk 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Aug 29, 2009
99 Chimney Swift 1 Unknown Observer Floyd Bennett Field (map) Aug 31, 2006
100 Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Sep 16, 2006
101 Belted Kingfisher 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Sep 23, 2006
102 Red-headed Woodpecker 1 D. Edward Davis Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 9, 2009
103 Red-bellied Woodpecker 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Sep 29, 2008
104 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 2 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 13, 2008
105 Downy Woodpecker 1 Coby Klein Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jan 25, 2006
106 Hairy Woodpecker X Unknown Observer Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 1, 2006
107 Northern Flicker 5 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
108 Eastern Wood-Pewee 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Sep 16, 2007
109 Willow Flycatcher 10 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jun 10, 2007
Alder/Willow Flycatcher (Traill's) 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jul 5, 2005
110 Least Flycatcher 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 12, 2007
Empidonax sp. 2 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Sep 17, 2008
111 Eastern Phoebe 3 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Sep 23, 2006
112 Great Crested Flycatcher 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Sep 23, 2006
113 Eastern Kingbird 1 Avi Lewis Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 19, 2006
114 White-eyed Vireo 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Sep 16, 2006
115 Yellow-throated Vireo 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 13, 2006
116 Blue-headed Vireo 1 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 4, 2008
117 Warbling Vireo 2 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 13, 2006
118 Red-eyed Vireo 2 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Sep 16, 2006
119 Blue Jay 2 Coby Klein Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jun 24, 2004
120 American Crow 20 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
121 Fish Crow 4 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
crow sp. 2 Scott Whittle Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jan 25, 2009
122 Horned Lark 7 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Feb 11, 1996
123 Tree Swallow 11 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
124 Bank Swallow 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jul 29, 2008
125 Barn Swallow X Coby Klein Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jun 24, 2004
126 Black-capped Chickadee 6 Coby Klein Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jan 25, 2006
127 Tufted Titmouse 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Oct 6, 2008
128 Red-breasted Nuthatch 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Dec 2, 2006
129 White-breasted Nuthatch X Heydi Lopes Floyd Bennett Field (map) Oct 29, 2009
130 Brown Creeper 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jan 14, 2007
131 Carolina Wren 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jan 8, 2006
132 House Wren 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Sep 16, 2006
133 Winter Wren 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Sep 23, 2006
134 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 30, 2008
135 Golden-crowned Kinglet X Unknown Observer Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 1, 2006
136 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1 Unknown Observer Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 1, 2006
137 Eastern Bluebird 2 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Oct 1, 2006
138 Veery 1 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 14, 2008
139 Swainson's Thrush 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Sep 23, 2006
140 Hermit Thrush 40 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Nov 4, 2006
141 Wood Thrush 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 12, 2007
142 American Robin 3 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
143 Gray Catbird 3 Coby Klein Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jun 24, 2004
144 Northern Mockingbird 3 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
145 Brown Thrasher 1 Coby Klein Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jun 24, 2004
146 European Starling X Coby Klein Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jun 24, 2004
147 American Pipit 6 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Oct 7, 2008
148 Cedar Waxwing X Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jul 5, 2005
149 Golden-winged Warbler X Leonor Chavez Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 20, 2009
150 Tennessee Warbler 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Oct 10, 2008
151 Orange-crowned Warbler 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Nov 11, 2008
152 Nashville Warbler 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Sep 11, 2008
153 Northern Parula 1 Avi Lewis Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 11, 2006
154 Yellow Warbler X Coby Klein Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jun 24, 2004
155 Chestnut-sided Warbler 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 12, 2007
156 Magnolia Warbler X Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 13, 2006
157 Black-throated Blue Warbler 1 Avi Lewis Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 19, 2006
158 Yellow-rumped Warbler 1 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
159 Black-throated Green Warbler 1 Avi Lewis Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 11, 2006
160 Blackburnian Warbler 3 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 20, 2007
161 Pine Warbler 2 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Sep 16, 2006
162 Prairie Warbler 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 13, 2006
163 Palm Warbler 3 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 16, 2006
164 Bay-breasted Warbler 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 20, 2007
165 Blackpoll Warbler 2 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 12, 2007
166 Black-and-white Warbler 1 Avi Lewis Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 11, 2006
167 American Redstart 1 Avi Lewis Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 11, 2006
168 Worm-eating Warbler 1 Heydi Lopes Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 7, 2009
169 Ovenbird 3 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 12, 2007
170 Northern Waterthrush 3 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Sep 16, 2006
171 Connecticut Warbler 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Sep 15, 2007
172 Common Yellowthroat 2 Avi Lewis Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 12, 2006
173 Hooded Warbler X Leonor Chavez Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 20, 2009
174 Wilson's Warbler 1 Avi Lewis Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 15, 2006
175 Canada Warbler 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 20, 2007
176 Yellow-breasted Chat 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Oct 10, 2008
177 Eastern Towhee 2 Coby Klein Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jun 24, 2004
178 American Tree Sparrow 6 Unknown Observer Floyd Bennett Field (map) Mar 4, 2006
179 Chipping Sparrow 1 Avi Lewis Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 11, 2006
180 Clay-colored Sparrow 1 Scott Whittle Floyd Bennett Field (map) Oct 4, 2008
181 Field Sparrow 4 Coby Klein Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jan 25, 2006
182 Vesper Sparrow X Scott Whittle Floyd Bennett Field (map) Oct 21, 2007
183 Lark Sparrow 1 Rob Jett Floyd Bennett Field (map) Sep 17, 2009
184 Savannah Sparrow 1 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
185 Grasshopper Sparrow 2 Joseph O'Sullivan Floyd Bennett Field (map) Aug 22, 2008
186 Fox Sparrow 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Nov 4, 2006
187 Song Sparrow 2 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
188 Lincoln's Sparrow 2 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Oct 14, 2007
189 Swamp Sparrow 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jan 8, 2006
190 White-throated Sparrow X Unknown Observer Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 1, 2006
191 White-crowned Sparrow 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Sep 23, 2006
192 Dark-eyed Junco 2 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Oct 14, 2006
193 Lapland Longspur 1 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Dec 7, 2007
194 Snow Bunting 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Nov 21, 2007
195 Scarlet Tanager 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 20, 2007
196 Northern Cardinal 5 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
197 Rose-breasted Grosbeak 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 12, 2007
198 Blue Grosbeak 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 29, 2009
199 Indigo Bunting 2 Avi Lewis Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 12, 2006
200 Dickcissel 2 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jul 5, 2005
201 Bobolink 100 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Aug 29, 2007
202 Red-winged Blackbird 6 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
203 Eastern Meadowlark X Scott Whittle Floyd Bennett Field (map) Oct 21, 2007
204 Common Grackle X Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 13, 2006
205 Boat-tailed Grackle 4 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
206 Brown-headed Cowbird 2 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 20, 2003
207 Orchard Oriole 1 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jun 10, 2007
208 Baltimore Oriole 1 Avi Lewis Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 12, 2006
209 Purple Finch 1 Ronald Bourque Floyd Bennett Field (map) Nov 14, 2007
210 House Finch X Avi Lewis Floyd Bennett Field (map) May 12, 2006
211 White-winged Crossbill 1 Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Feb 5, 2009
212 Common Redpoll 1 Michael Mayer Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jan 24, 2009
213 Pine Siskin 10 Tom Preston Floyd Bennett Field (map) Nov 2, 2008
214 American Goldfinch 1 Unknown Observer Floyd Bennett Field (map) Apr 1, 2006
215 House Sparrow X Doug Gochfeld Floyd Bennett Field (map) Jul 5, 2005
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Floyd Bennett Field's future in your hands --we need public support
National Park Conservation Association "Action Alert"
NPCA and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz invite you to attend a public meeting to share your thoughts about the future of Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, the 1,400 acre unit of Gateway National Recreation Area. One of New York City's largest public spaces, Floyd Bennett Field provides many environmental, recreational, and cultural benefits to the people of Brooklyn and beyond, but its full potential has never been realized.
The National Park Service is now drafting a plan to shape Gateway's future, and Senator Charles Schumer and Congressman Anthony Weiner have formed a Blue Ribbon Panel to provide recommendations about Floyd Bennett Field for this plan. NPCA is working with the Regional Plan Association (RPA) and our elected officials to make sure your voice is heard by the people creating the plan for Gateway's future.
Please join this important conversation.
WHAT: Brooklyn public meeting about Floyd Bennett Field
WHEN: Tuesday, September 21, 6 - 8 p.m.
WHERE: Aviator Sports Center, Hangar 5, Floyd Bennett Field, 3159 Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11234
WHO: Event is FREE and open to the public. Meeting hosted by Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, NPCA, and RPA.
CONTACT: Questions? Contact Maya Borgenicht with the Regional Plan Association at maya@rpa.org or 917.652.6359.
For more information, go to www.rpa.org/floydbennett
More history
http://www.npca.org/search.jsp?query=floyd%20bennett&x=12&y=9
The National Park Service MISSION STATEMENT
The National Park System
Caring for the American Legacy
"...to promote and regulate the use of the...national parks...which purpose is to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations."
Thursday, August 5, 2010
What you can do to save Ridgewood Reservoir.
About a month ago , I sent out a note about Ridgewood Reservoir coming under review by the NYS Dept of Environmental Conservation for wetland protection. We have a chance as a concerned birding community to save a critical habitat from destruction for sports fields by the city parks.
NYC Audubon created a form letter ( if letter writing isn't your strong suit) you can use to copy and paste unto a Microsoft word document ( or similar software) and mail. Its that simple. Our appreciation to NYC Audubon for coming up with the form letter.See the link above.
We do need to save this wonderful place on the north Brooklyn border.
Please act today.
---Kinsgboider
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
NYS Hydrofracking moratorium bill passed
----- Original Message -----
From: Catskill Mountainkeeper
To: amlazarus@earthlink.net
Sent: Wednesday, August 04, 2010 1:15 PM
Subject: CORRECTED Action Alert: ASSEMBLY BILL # IS A11443-b NYS Drilling Moratorium Passes Senate
Catskill Mountainkeeper Action Alert
August 4, 2010
CORRECTED ASSEMBLY BILL NUMBER BELOW
The New York State Senate Passes Gas Drilling Moratorium Bill
The fight to prevent unsafe gas drilling in New York State received a huge boost last night when at 12:17 AM the New York State Senate passed a bill that would impose a moratorium on granting permits for hydrofracking until May 15, 2011.
The bill, sponsored by Senator Antoine Thompson (D-Buffalo), was passed by a margin of 48-9. The vote had strong bipartisan support and included 15 Republicans.
The next step is for the Assembly version of the bill (A11443-b) to be voted on by the Assembly when they return from their summer break after September 15th.
Many had considered the bill "dead on arrival", but legislators were positively affected by the unrelenting efforts of Catskill Mountainkeeper and a broad coalition of our environmental and grass roots partners. According to Wes Gillingham who managed Mountainkeeper's field efforts to generate public support for the bill, and was on the Senate Floor this morning pushing up to the last minute "this important step is a
tremendous display of what can happen when citizens stand up and take action."
It is very important to note that the passage of this bill by the State Senate does not make this a done deal. We now must make sure the bill is passed by the Assembly and be signed by the Governor as quickly as possible.
Here's how you can help!
Email and call Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and your own Assembly Members (contact your member here) now to tell them to bring the bill (A11443-B in that house) to a vote as soon as possible.
Call Governor Paterson and tell him to heed the call of New Yorkers across the state who are calling for the state to slow new gas drilling down and to make sure it can be done safely before our communities, our drinking water, our air quality and our landscapes are sacrificed.
This has been a long, hard and expensive fight. We weren't given a chance to win two years ago when we picked up the gauntlet on behalf of the citizens of the Catskill region and New York State. Today an important victory is within sight if we can continue to build public pressure. Please help us continue this positive momentum by donating to Catskill Mountainkeeper today.
Support Mountainkeeper
We act as your advocate in protecting the Catskills. Our only funding comes from individual contributions and foundation grants. Help us continue to work for you by making a donation of any size.
About Catskill Mountainkeeper
Catskill Mountainkeeper is a community based environmental advocacy organization, dedicated to creating a flourishing sustainable economy in the Catskills and preserving and protecting the area's long term health. We address issues of water integrity for the Delaware and Susquehanna River Systems, the defense of the vast woodlands that encompass the Catskill Forest Preserve and the New York City Watershed as well as farmland protection. We promote "smart" development that balances the economic needs and concerns of the Catskill regions' citizens and the protection of our abundant but exceedingly vulnerable natural resources. Catskill Mountainkeeper is fiscally sponsored by the Open Space Institute, Inc. as part of its Citizen Action Program.
From: Catskill Mountainkeeper
To: amlazarus@earthlink.net
Sent: Wednesday, August 04, 2010 1:15 PM
Subject: CORRECTED Action Alert: ASSEMBLY BILL # IS A11443-b NYS Drilling Moratorium Passes Senate
Catskill Mountainkeeper Action Alert
August 4, 2010
CORRECTED ASSEMBLY BILL NUMBER BELOW
The New York State Senate Passes Gas Drilling Moratorium Bill
The fight to prevent unsafe gas drilling in New York State received a huge boost last night when at 12:17 AM the New York State Senate passed a bill that would impose a moratorium on granting permits for hydrofracking until May 15, 2011.
The bill, sponsored by Senator Antoine Thompson (D-Buffalo), was passed by a margin of 48-9. The vote had strong bipartisan support and included 15 Republicans.
The next step is for the Assembly version of the bill (A11443-b) to be voted on by the Assembly when they return from their summer break after September 15th.
Many had considered the bill "dead on arrival", but legislators were positively affected by the unrelenting efforts of Catskill Mountainkeeper and a broad coalition of our environmental and grass roots partners. According to Wes Gillingham who managed Mountainkeeper's field efforts to generate public support for the bill, and was on the Senate Floor this morning pushing up to the last minute "this important step is a
tremendous display of what can happen when citizens stand up and take action."
It is very important to note that the passage of this bill by the State Senate does not make this a done deal. We now must make sure the bill is passed by the Assembly and be signed by the Governor as quickly as possible.
Here's how you can help!
Email and call Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and your own Assembly Members (contact your member here) now to tell them to bring the bill (A11443-B in that house) to a vote as soon as possible.
Call Governor Paterson and tell him to heed the call of New Yorkers across the state who are calling for the state to slow new gas drilling down and to make sure it can be done safely before our communities, our drinking water, our air quality and our landscapes are sacrificed.
This has been a long, hard and expensive fight. We weren't given a chance to win two years ago when we picked up the gauntlet on behalf of the citizens of the Catskill region and New York State. Today an important victory is within sight if we can continue to build public pressure. Please help us continue this positive momentum by donating to Catskill Mountainkeeper today.
Support Mountainkeeper
We act as your advocate in protecting the Catskills. Our only funding comes from individual contributions and foundation grants. Help us continue to work for you by making a donation of any size.
About Catskill Mountainkeeper
Catskill Mountainkeeper is a community based environmental advocacy organization, dedicated to creating a flourishing sustainable economy in the Catskills and preserving and protecting the area's long term health. We address issues of water integrity for the Delaware and Susquehanna River Systems, the defense of the vast woodlands that encompass the Catskill Forest Preserve and the New York City Watershed as well as farmland protection. We promote "smart" development that balances the economic needs and concerns of the Catskill regions' citizens and the protection of our abundant but exceedingly vulnerable natural resources. Catskill Mountainkeeper is fiscally sponsored by the Open Space Institute, Inc. as part of its Citizen Action Program.
Friday, July 9, 2010
NYS Smarth Growth bill needs the Governor's signature
Conservation means the wise use of the earth and its resources for the lasting good of men.
-----Gifford Pinchot , first Chief of the United States Forest Service (1905–1910)
http://tinyurl.com/2eb9egq
Dear Peter,
Last month's action alert worked. Many of you sent letters to your legislators about the Smart Growth Public Infrastructure Policy Act, and it passed in both houses! Thank you! But we still need your help now: the Governor only has a couple days to sign this bill into law.
We're close to getting a Smart Growth plan in NY, which means ensuring that planning and land use decisions focus development in downtowns, main streets and community areas with existing infrastructure, helping to eliminate suburban sprawl, and saving open space and habitat for birds and other wildlife. If you took action before, THANK YOU! Now we need to send letter to Governor Paterson urging him to sign this bill today! Click here to send your letter!
Thank you!
Laura McCarthy, Grassroots Coordinator and Sean Mahar, Director of Government Relations and Communications for Audubon New York
Audubon New York
200 Trillium Lane, Albany, New York 12203
(518) 869-9731 | NYaction@audubon.org
-----Gifford Pinchot , first Chief of the United States Forest Service (1905–1910)
http://tinyurl.com/2eb9egq
Dear Peter,
Last month's action alert worked. Many of you sent letters to your legislators about the Smart Growth Public Infrastructure Policy Act, and it passed in both houses! Thank you! But we still need your help now: the Governor only has a couple days to sign this bill into law.
We're close to getting a Smart Growth plan in NY, which means ensuring that planning and land use decisions focus development in downtowns, main streets and community areas with existing infrastructure, helping to eliminate suburban sprawl, and saving open space and habitat for birds and other wildlife. If you took action before, THANK YOU! Now we need to send letter to Governor Paterson urging him to sign this bill today! Click here to send your letter!
Thank you!
Laura McCarthy, Grassroots Coordinator and Sean Mahar, Director of Government Relations and Communications for Audubon New York
Audubon New York
200 Trillium Lane, Albany, New York 12203
(518) 869-9731 | NYaction@audubon.org
Thursday, July 8, 2010
The benefits of walking thru native habitat
July 5, 2010
The Claim: Exposure to Plants and Parks Can Boost Immunity By ANAHAD O’CONNOR
THE FACTS
This time of year, allergies and the promise of air-conditioning tend to drive people indoors.
But for those who can take the heat and cope with the pollen, spending more time in nature might have some surprising health benefits. In a series of studies, scientists found that when people swap their concrete confines for a few hours in more natural surroundings — forests, parks and other places with plenty of trees — they experience increased immune function.
Stress reduction is one factor. But scientists also chalk it up to phytoncides, the airborne chemicals that plants emit to protect them from rotting and insects and which also seem to benefit humans.
One study published in January included data on 280 healthy people in Japan, where visiting nature parks for therapeutic effect has become a popular practice called “Shinrin-yoku,” or “forest bathing.” On one day, some people were instructed to walk through a forest or wooded area for a few hours, while others walked through a city area. On the second day, they traded places. The scientists found that being among plants produced “lower concentrations of cortisol, lower pulse rate, and lower blood pressure,” among other things.
A number of other studies have shown that visiting parks and forests seems to raise levels of white blood cells, including one in 2007 in which men who took two-hour walks in a forest over two days had a 50-percent spike in levels of natural killer cells. And another found an increase in white blood cells that lasted a week in women exposed to phytoncides in forest air.
THE BOTTOM LINE
According to studies, exposure to plants and trees seems to benefit health.
ANAHAD O’CONNOR scitimes@nytimes.com
Monday, July 5, 2010
New Federal Duck Stamp out July 1st
*****************************************************
Every July 1st, the new federal duck stamp comes out for sale.Its
great for collecting but better as an entry pass for the National
Wildlife refuges for the next whole year ( most refuges ask for 4
dollars entrance fee).
Available from www.usps.com ( look for on
menu bar "shop for stamps" ,then search "Duck Stamp")
$15.00 + $ 1 shipping.
The stamp raises funds for wetlands/property purchase and conservation programs.
here's the image on this link
http://www.fws.gov/duckstamps/
Every July 1st, the new federal duck stamp comes out for sale.Its
great for collecting but better as an entry pass for the National
Wildlife refuges for the next whole year ( most refuges ask for 4
dollars entrance fee).
Available from www.usps.com ( look for on
menu bar "shop for stamps" ,then search "Duck Stamp")
$15.00 + $ 1 shipping.
The stamp raises funds for wetlands/property purchase and conservation programs.
here's the image on this link
http://www.fws.gov/duckstamps/
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Ridgewood Reservoir needs your urgent action !
Dear Birders and Nature supporters:
http://ridgewoodreservoir.blogspot.com/2010/06/appeal-for-protection.html
(click on link above ,then click on the attached letter to enlarge after reading this urgent post)
There is a required time we as a birding community need to unite in conserving our city's natural resources particularly a birding hotspot like Ridgewood Reservoir on the Brooklyn /Queens border. Silence cannot help unless we act in the best interests of our birds , habitats and natural biodiversity.
http://ridgewoodreservoir.blogspot.com/2010/06/appeal-for-protection.html
(click on link above ,then click on the attached letter to enlarge after reading this urgent post)
There is a required time we as a birding community need to unite in conserving our city's natural resources particularly a birding hotspot like Ridgewood Reservoir on the Brooklyn /Queens border. Silence cannot help unless we act in the best interests of our birds , habitats and natural biodiversity.
For the past few years ever since its fortunate timely discovery, Ridgewood Reservoir has been at the foreground a battleground between the park's conservationist advocates with the supporting communities versus the NYC Parks Department over its future . Ridgewood Reservoir's ecological balance and integrity ( especially as a critical watershed for Jamaica Bay) is under dire threat from development --namely ballfields inside the reservoir's basin--by NYC Parks, potentially impacting wildlife and habitats severely, unless you take action. The only recourse LEFT was to appeal to New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) for its preservation as a rich wetland with its supporting rich woodlands.
Attached above at the header is a link to an important announcement letter sent out by the non-profit organization Highland Park/ Ridgewood Reservoir Alliance. Please read and we hope you will write a letter based on its contents. No matter how well versed or whatever its length ( best one page or less is fine) , any concise letter sent to NYSDEC receives attention . It is the number of letters stressing concerns for preservation that makes the greatest impact for NYSDEC to designate Ridgewood Reservoir stringent protective wetland status.
It is our strong belief as birders we each must be a conservationist- in whatever measure- in saving our habitats for birds and wildlife now and for future generations assuring enjoyment for the general public of all ages. You do make a difference ! Please write in saving a viable critically important birding location in support of our birds ,our natural riches and in supporting our friends at Highland Park and Ridgewood Reservoir Alliance. It is hoped someday this wonderful greenspot will be a nature preserve with a visitors center, for exploring nature, particularly for children the primary benefactors .Click on the link above at the heading and act for conservation of an urban treasure.Remember: the more of us replying to NYSDEC, the better.
Regards
Your friends at Brooklyn Bird Club
Thursday, June 17, 2010
CBS News on Jamaica Bay ecosystem
"Jamaica Bay hoped to be cleaned by 2020"
http://wcbstv.com/local/jamaica.bay.pollution.2.1756044.html
http://wcbstv.com/local/jamaica.bay.pollution.2.1756044.html
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill-keeping tabs; NYS bill on Smart Growth land planning
Here are some links to the nature of the disastrous oil spill and updates for your information:
http://www.abcbirds.org/abcprograms/oilspill.html
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/06/16/louisiana.trampled.nests/index.html?hpt=T1
From Defenders of Wildlife
http://www.blogger.com/www.gulfoilspillrecovery.org
Please help get the word out about an online resource regarding wildlife impacts from the Gulf Oil Spill by forwarding this message to your members, relevant listservs, etc. Thanks.
Please visit Defenders of Wildlife's Gulf Oil Spill Response and Recovery web site (www.gulfoilspillrecovery.org) to help advance effective responses to save wildlife and keep track of recovery efforts, needs and long term impacts of the spill.
This visual mapping tool allows responders, volunteers and eye witnesses to map and share information on impacts from the gulf oil spill and projects being done to promote recovery. It also provides a way for the general public to understand the environmental affects of the disaster and what is being done to protect wildlife and coastal habitats.
Anyone can search the map for impacts and projects by activity type, species and habitats and view impacts and projects in relation to sea turtle nesting sites, manatee locations, coastal federal lands and other relevant map layers. Users can access the latest news on the spill and recovery efforts.
To report an impact or enter a project, a user must create an account through a simple one step sign-up which requires a name and email address. Users can report sea turtle strandings, boom placements, impacts to birds, wildlife rehabilitation efforts, and other oil spill related impacts and projects. Logged in users can also share photos and highlight volunteer and funding needs.
To help facilitate recovery efforts, anyone visiting the site will be able to easily access information on what projects need volunteers and which need funding.
The Gulf Oil Spill Response and Recovery web site is part of the Conservation Registry, another project initiated by Defenders of Wildlife with the help of many federal, state and local agencies, foundations and non-profit organizations. The Conservation Registry is an easily accessible database and mapping system that allows users to enter, search, map and track conservation and wildlife projects across the landscape. You can access it here: http://www.conservationregistry.org/
***************************************************************************************
NYS Audubon News Alert
https://secure3.convio.net/nasaud/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&cmd=display&page=ActionAlertTakenPage&id=874
Dear Peter,
We are in the home stretch of the 2010 legislative session here in Albany, and the Legislature is only a few hours away from voting on a critical measure to combat suburban sprawl! We need your help NOW to ensure it passes!
Audubon has long been a leading organization working to promote Smart Growth in New York State, and now we’re poised to realize significant progress with passage of the Smart Growth Infrastructure Policy Act!
What is Smart Growth? It means ensuring that planning and land use decisions focus development in downtowns, main streets and community areas with existing infrastructure, helping to eliminate suburban sprawl and save open space and habitat for birds and other wildlife. This bill would promote Smart Growth by ensuring State Agency infrastructure funding decisions follow Smart Growth principles and target funding to already developed areas and not green spaces.
Habitat loss fueled by sprawl development continues to be a leading threat to birds and other wildlife in New York. The American Kestrel, North Americas smallest falcon, is an example of a bird under threat by sprawl, as it's open grassland habitat is quickly being taken away by development. While we are working with Audubon chapters and Centers and the NYS Dept. of Transportation to establish more nest locations for Kestrels, without measures to combat suburban sprawl, birds like the Kestrel face an uncertain future.
You can help us take a big step forward for Smart Growth by sending a letter urging your elected officials to pass the Smart Growth Infrastructure Policy Act today!
Please send a letter today, as the Legislative session is quickly coming to an end!
Photo: Tim Baker
Audubon New York
200 Trillium Lane, Albany, New York 12203
(518) 869-9731 NYaction@audubon.org
Update your profile Modify your communications preferences or unsubscribe
http://www.abcbirds.org/abcprograms/oilspill.html
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/06/16/louisiana.trampled.nests/index.html?hpt=T1
From Defenders of Wildlife
http://www.blogger.com/www.gulfoilspillrecovery.org
Please help get the word out about an online resource regarding wildlife impacts from the Gulf Oil Spill by forwarding this message to your members, relevant listservs, etc. Thanks.
Please visit Defenders of Wildlife's Gulf Oil Spill Response and Recovery web site (www.gulfoilspillrecovery.org) to help advance effective responses to save wildlife and keep track of recovery efforts, needs and long term impacts of the spill.
This visual mapping tool allows responders, volunteers and eye witnesses to map and share information on impacts from the gulf oil spill and projects being done to promote recovery. It also provides a way for the general public to understand the environmental affects of the disaster and what is being done to protect wildlife and coastal habitats.
Anyone can search the map for impacts and projects by activity type, species and habitats and view impacts and projects in relation to sea turtle nesting sites, manatee locations, coastal federal lands and other relevant map layers. Users can access the latest news on the spill and recovery efforts.
To report an impact or enter a project, a user must create an account through a simple one step sign-up which requires a name and email address. Users can report sea turtle strandings, boom placements, impacts to birds, wildlife rehabilitation efforts, and other oil spill related impacts and projects. Logged in users can also share photos and highlight volunteer and funding needs.
To help facilitate recovery efforts, anyone visiting the site will be able to easily access information on what projects need volunteers and which need funding.
The Gulf Oil Spill Response and Recovery web site is part of the Conservation Registry, another project initiated by Defenders of Wildlife with the help of many federal, state and local agencies, foundations and non-profit organizations. The Conservation Registry is an easily accessible database and mapping system that allows users to enter, search, map and track conservation and wildlife projects across the landscape. You can access it here: http://www.conservationregistry.org/
***************************************************************************************
NYS Audubon News Alert
https://secure3.convio.net/nasaud/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&cmd=display&page=ActionAlertTakenPage&id=874
Dear Peter,
We are in the home stretch of the 2010 legislative session here in Albany, and the Legislature is only a few hours away from voting on a critical measure to combat suburban sprawl! We need your help NOW to ensure it passes!
Audubon has long been a leading organization working to promote Smart Growth in New York State, and now we’re poised to realize significant progress with passage of the Smart Growth Infrastructure Policy Act!
What is Smart Growth? It means ensuring that planning and land use decisions focus development in downtowns, main streets and community areas with existing infrastructure, helping to eliminate suburban sprawl and save open space and habitat for birds and other wildlife. This bill would promote Smart Growth by ensuring State Agency infrastructure funding decisions follow Smart Growth principles and target funding to already developed areas and not green spaces.
Habitat loss fueled by sprawl development continues to be a leading threat to birds and other wildlife in New York. The American Kestrel, North Americas smallest falcon, is an example of a bird under threat by sprawl, as it's open grassland habitat is quickly being taken away by development. While we are working with Audubon chapters and Centers and the NYS Dept. of Transportation to establish more nest locations for Kestrels, without measures to combat suburban sprawl, birds like the Kestrel face an uncertain future.
You can help us take a big step forward for Smart Growth by sending a letter urging your elected officials to pass the Smart Growth Infrastructure Policy Act today!
Please send a letter today, as the Legislative session is quickly coming to an end!
Photo: Tim Baker
Audubon New York
200 Trillium Lane, Albany, New York 12203
(518) 869-9731 NYaction@audubon.org
Update your profile Modify your communications preferences or unsubscribe
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