Lower Bronx River—A Community-Led Restoration Initiative

COOPERATIVE CONSERVATION CASE STUDY

Reclaimed Concrete Plant Becomes a Community Resource

Location: Northeastern/Mid-Atlantic Region: New York

Project Summary: With many partners, the Bronx River Alliance re-established salt marshes and created parkland at the site of an abandoned concrete plant.

Salt marsh restoration work at the Concrete Plant on the Bronx River.

Resource Challenge

The lower Bronx River shows little of the lush vegetation that once dominated its shores. Centuries of channel dredging and bank fortiﬁcation destroyed much of the ﬁsh and shellﬁsh habitat. Filling and dumping in tidal wetlands raised elevations and contaminated soils. Nonetheless, the river offers residents of the South Bronx, who suffer from some of the highest asthma rates in the nation, vital open space and rare contact with nature.

In 1997, the New York City Partnerships for Parks brought together community organizations, public agencies, and businesses for the common goal of restoring the river and improving access along its length. A focal point of their efforts was an abandoned concrete plant, now in city hands. Visionary residents saw the site’s potential as a park and as a critical link in a greenway that could stretch the length of the river. They fought to save it from auction and prevent it from becoming a truck route. Technical specialists joined with community organizations to begin restoring the site, removing concrete and tires, re-grading the banks, installing mats loaded with cordgrass, and replacing invasive plants with native species. The coalition, which has grown to more than 80 groups, eventually formed the nonproﬁ t Bronx River Alliance to coordinate the riverwide restoration effort.

Examples of Key Partners

Bronx River Alliance, City of New York Parks and Recreation, Congressman José E. Serrano, Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School, Partnerships for Parks, The Point CDC, Pratt Institute Center for Community and Environmental Development, Rocking the Boat, Sustainable South Bronx, Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice, and other partners.

Results and Accomplishments

Nearly an acre of salt marsh and upland plants now ﬂourish at the concrete plant, and the Parks Department operates a nursery there for other river projects. Partner groups host festivals, launch boats built by high school students, and use the three-acre site as an outdoor classroom and research station. Hundreds of people visit the site by canoe and on bike tours.

Construction of the park begins this year. The park design implements plans developed in community visioning sessions— including further salt marsh restoration—and creates a key link in the greenway that will soon run the full length of the river.

Innovation/Highlight

The Initiative brings together natural resource restoration with community revitalization and social justice.

Project Contact

Linda R. Cox
Executive Director
Bronx River Alliance

718-430-4668
Linda.Cox@parks.nyc.gov

Website: www.bronxriver.org

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