The Living Marsh
The Salt Marsh Nature Center is an ecological restoration project that has reclaimed nature’s ecosystem. The tidal marsh is a time capsule in American history incorporating political transitions and their effect upon its ecosystem.
In 1665 the marsh depicted wide tracts of green grassy fertile salt marsh meadows, filled with wildflowers, thickets of shrubs and vines that dominated the landscape. Myrtle warblers, grasshopper sparrows, cotton-tailed rabbits, ring-necked pheasants, horseshoe and fiddler crabs were but a small sampling of the plant and wildlife that inhabited the marsh.
By 1935 the marsh had become a dump, major land filling from 1945 to 1962 buried the marshes around Gerritsen Creek under eight feet of garbage and construction debris. Unlawful dumping of chemicals, cars, refrigerators, stoves, tires, pollutants from leaky septic systems, and runoffs from oil stained roadways contributed to the environmental degradation and water pollution of the living marsh.
The Salt Marsh Nature Center has reclaimed nature’s ecosystem through the ecological restoration of its salt marsh by the City of New York Parks and Recreation, New York Department of Environmental Conservation, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The restoration process is a long term project currently in progress today.
Read MoreIn 1665 the marsh depicted wide tracts of green grassy fertile salt marsh meadows, filled with wildflowers, thickets of shrubs and vines that dominated the landscape. Myrtle warblers, grasshopper sparrows, cotton-tailed rabbits, ring-necked pheasants, horseshoe and fiddler crabs were but a small sampling of the plant and wildlife that inhabited the marsh.
By 1935 the marsh had become a dump, major land filling from 1945 to 1962 buried the marshes around Gerritsen Creek under eight feet of garbage and construction debris. Unlawful dumping of chemicals, cars, refrigerators, stoves, tires, pollutants from leaky septic systems, and runoffs from oil stained roadways contributed to the environmental degradation and water pollution of the living marsh.
The Salt Marsh Nature Center has reclaimed nature’s ecosystem through the ecological restoration of its salt marsh by the City of New York Parks and Recreation, New York Department of Environmental Conservation, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The restoration process is a long term project currently in progress today.
