Join NCA, Sane Energy Project, and Center for Architecture on this bike tour exploring the past, present, and future of fossil fuel infrastructure along Newtown Creek!
This 5-mile bike tour will explore the past, present, and future of fossil fuel infrastructure along Newtown Creek. From the establishment of the world’s first kerosene refinery in 1854, to the ongoing cleanup of the country’s largest terrestrial oil spill, to the current environmental justice impacts stemming from National Grid’s 117 acre Liquified Natural Gas facility – Newtown Creek has a long and troubled history with fossil fuel production, storage, and pollution. We will see many of the historic and current operations along the Creek, learn more about the hazards they present, and discuss paths towards a cleaner energy future.
Registration and more info via Eventbrite.
This program is made possible through generous support from the NYC Green Fund administered by City Parks Foundation.
This Earth Day, April 22, Newtown Creek Alliance will be launching “TINA” — an experimental marsh tank, which will live Creekside at Kingsland Wildflowers for the next six months.
TINA is a 600-gallon aquaculture tank, planted with saltmarsh cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora) and hundreds of Atlantic ribbed mussels (Geuksensia demissa) — two native wetland species that used to exist in abundance in Newtown Creek. Twice daily, TINA fills up with Creek water, allowing the mussels and SparTINA to filter and clean the water before being released. Over the course of this 6-month trial, TINA will filter hundreds of thousands of gallons of Creek water, with NCA and partners taking water quality samples and data throughout.
To celebrate the start of TINA’s tenure, join us Creekside at Kingsland Wildflowers this Earth Day: check out the tank, look at some mussels and other Creek species, and learn more about our water quality advocacy. Food and drinks will be provided! Registration here on Eventbrite.
This project is made possible thanks to our climate resilience partnership with Con Edison.
Join us for Open Hours at Kingsland Wildflowers — an opportunity for the public to learn about the green roofs, the native plants present, and the Newtown Creek while enjoying the golden hour from our scenic wildflower meadows. Open hours are free and open to the public and will take place every Friday from April 24 to June 26, 2026, weather-permitting.
For the 2025 Open Hours season, we are excited to also be opening our Newtown Native Nursery, allowing visitors to explore (and purchase) native plants that we grow on site, and can be a great addition for any greenspace you may have or be involved in!
This is a family friendly event, kindly keep in mind that we use our green roofs as an educational resource, we prefer that furry friends stay at home.
A bicycle journey across every bridge over Newtown Creek!
Join Newtown Creek Alliance on Sunday, April 26, for our “Creek Crossings” bike tour – an ambitious passage over every bike-crossable bridge over the Creek! On this route, we’ll cover around nine miles, traverse eight bridges, and highlight several other historic creek crossings along the way. Our tour will depart from Kingsland Wildflowers shortly after 10 AM, and end by 1 PM in East Williamsburg.
Registration and more info via Eventbrite.
This program is made possible through generous support from the NYC Green Fund administered by City Parks Foundation.
Join the Newtown Creek Alliance for a walking tour to witness and discuss last mile warehouse pollution and other related environmental issues along Newtown Creek.
In recent years, mega-warehouses (dubbed ‘last mile’ facilities), have proliferated in industrial areas around Newtown Creek and other neighborhoods of New York City. The rise of e-commerce has seen a rapid increase in last-mile developments in the industrial business zones, like those surrounding Newtown Creek. These mega facilities bring significant amounts of increased truck traffic to overburdened communities leading to higher levels of congestion, worsened air quality, urban heat island impacts, stormwater runoff, as well as ongoing issues with worker protections, fair wagers, and labor rights.
The tour also highlights the growing movement for cleaner freight and introduces the proposed Clean Delivers Act, which would require large warehouses to reduce emissions and address their environmental impacts. We will begin at Onderdonk House in Ridgewood and make our way through industrial portions of Maspeth. In total, the walk is approximately 2.5 miles long.
Accessibility:
The route is approximately 2.5 miles and features some adverse sidewalk conditions, limited shade, and industrial activity. The route is not wheelchair accessible. There are nearby buses (Q59 & Q54), trains (L-Jefferson Street Station) and CitiBike stations within moderate walking distance from both start and end locations. Please bring a water bottle to stay hydrated!
Come to the water’s edge with NCA on this guided walking tour of the Newtown Creek Nature Walk and North Henry Inlet!
Stainless steel gates, petrified tree stumps, “paleocene” engraved on granite steps…
Curious about what it all means? Join Newtown Creek Alliance staff on this guided tour of the Newtown Creek Nature Walk, as we peel back layers of history and symbolism within this unique community space.
We’ll also talk through intertidal restoration projects undertaken by Newtown Creek Alliance, including a stop over at the nearby North Henry Inlet to explore our floating marsh structures.
At the close of the tour, attendees can visit Kingsland Wildflowers for sunset and skyline views, where the green roofs and native plant nursery will be open during our “Open Hours” series!
Start Location: Paige Ave. and Provost St.
End Location: Kingsland Wildflowers, 520 Kingsland Ave., Brooklyn
This program is made possible through generous support from the NYC Green Fund administered by City Parks Foundation.
This walking tour through Long Island City explores the impacts of our delivery economy and the communities living and working at the center of it. As E-commerce has exploded since the COVID-19 pandemic, so has the rise of massive warehouses and the diesel truck traffic that serves them. What feels like everyday convenience like same-day shipping and doorstop delivery, has rapidly transformed neighborhoods like those surrounding Newtown Creek. On this tour, participants will trace the “last mile” of the delivery supply chain, seeing firsthand how these massive fulfillment centers and constant truck traffic shape the streets, air quality, and daily life of nearby residents.
Along the route, we will discuss how diesel delivery trucks release harmful pollutants like PM2.5 and NOx, contributing to asthma, heart disease, and other health risks. The tour highlights the growing movement for cleaner freight and introduces the proposed Clean Delivers Act, which would require large warehouses to reduce emissions and address their environmental impacts. By walking through LIC together, participants will better understand the connection between online shopping, environmental justice, and the policies that could help create cleaner and healthier neighborhoods.
Past Events
Newtown Creek Alliance invites you to join us at Manhattan Ave Street End Park for a clean up + planting volunteer event!
This public space sits at the former site of the Vernon Avenue Bridge (replaced by the Pulaski in the late1940’s). In the years since, it had been used as a parking lot and dumping site, before being transformed into a park space with water access and a native wildflower meadow.
This event will include:
- Landscaping the existing vegetation
- Trash cleanup throughout the space
- Removing specific plant aggressive species like bindweed
- Planting of native wildflowers and grasses from our nursery!
Newtown Creek Alliance invites you to join us at Maspeth Creek for a clean up + planting!
The 49th Street – Maspeth Creek site is a public right-of-way sidewalk strip that is situated directly above NCQ-077, a combined sewage outfall that contributes an estimated 300+ million gallons of sewage yearly into Newtown Creek. Despite this frequent disturbance, Maspeth Creek is still home to a rich diversity of bird and marine life!
NCA has been working to restore native ecology, add visibility to the water, and improve pedestrian accessibility along this stretch of 49th Street. We aim to engage folks with this rare public waterfront access area through hands-on projects that can help improve environmental conditions along the shore and in the Creek itself.
This event will include:
- Landscaping the existing vegetation and paths
- Trash cleanup along the sidewalk
- Removing specific plant aggressive species like knotweed
- Planting of native wildflowers and grasses from our nursery!
Thursday, October 23, 2025
Tidal Toast is Newtown Creek Alliance’s annual celebration of Newtown Creek! Bringing together community members, local businesses, and long-time champions of the Creek, Tidal Toast is an evening of inspiration and impact.
We’re thrilled to announce our 2025 Tidal Toast Honorees!
REVITALIZE: El Puente is a human rights institution founded in 1982 with a mission to inspire and nurture leadership for peace and justice. Based in NYC and Puerto Rico with national and international impact, El Puente directly serves approximately 12,000 individuals annually from nine youth Leadership Centers across the Southside of Williamsburg and Bushwick, Brooklyn, and within Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico. El Puente creates community-led movements of self determination among low-income, oppressed peoples, Latine and communities of color through a holistic leadership and membership model, and high impact youth and community development programs.
REVEAL: The Welikia Project aims to illuminate the rich ecological history that underwrites the development of New York City, drawing awareness to how drastically our own neighborhoods have changed over time, and suggesting possible alternative futures. It roots us in place, helps us understand the place we live in, and fosters the long view. The goal of the project is not to go back to the past but rather to go forward into the future, taking on the wisdom and inspiration that nature provides.
RESTORE: Seaweed City is a regenerative urban aquaculture organization with the mission to restore our marine ecosystems, clean our water, and promote community investment in the NYC estuary. As climate change accelerates, seaweed aquaculture is a powerful nature-based solution, improving environmental conditions by serving as marine habitats, providing an alternative to plastic, acting as a storm surge buffer, and aiding in pollution extraction. We aim to create an open-source research and development laboratory for community members, scientists, artists, students, entrepreneurs, and advocates to explore the benefits of seaweed and connect with the local marine environment.
Join the NCA crew as we look to the future of the Creek and dance the night away. Featuring an exciting silent auction, open bar, dinner, and a shared love of the waterway, join us as we *CHEERS* to the Creek!
Join the Newtown Creek Alliance on this 5-mile bike tour to witness and discuss a number of key environmental issues and public access opportunities along Newtown Creek. The tour will bring us to key street-end areas that we are targeting for enhanced public access, improved safety, and opportunities for restoration and ecological benefits.
Stainless steel gates, petrified tree stumps, “paleocene” engraved on granite steps…
Curious about what it all means? Join Newtown Creek Alliance staff on this guided tour of the Newtown Creek Nature Walk, as we peel back layers of history and symbolism within this unique community space.
We’ll also talk through intertidal restoration projects undertaken by Newtown Creek Alliance, including a stop over at the nearby North Henry Inlet to explore our floating marsh structures.
At the close of the tour, attendees can visit Kingsland Wildflowers for sunset and skyline views, where the green roofs and native plant nursery will be open during our “Autumn Evenings” series!