April NCA meeting hosts Dr. Eric Sanderson

Mark your calendar:

April 26, 2012 at 6pm
Ridgewood Democratic Club
6070 Putnam Avenue
Ridgewood, NY 11385

In addition to important updates from our members – in particular the Bioremedition and Green Infrastructure Workgroups have been very busy! – we will be hosting a special presentation on the “Historical Ecology of Newtown Creek” by Dr. Eric Sanderson, senior conservation ecologist at the Wildlife Conservation Society and author of “Mannahatta:  A Natural History of New York City” (Abrams, 2009). Dr. Sanderson will describe recent studies of the historical ecology of Newtown Creek, describing the original wetlands, creek channels, topography and vegetation of the area.  He will show a series of 18th and 19th century maps of the watershed of the creek and discuss the process of synthesizing them into an integrated ecological picture that can be used to inform and inspire natural restoration and cultural appreciation of the Newtown Creek watershed.  This work is part of the Welikia Project (welikia.org), an investigation into the historical ecology of the five boroughs of New York City and surrounding waters, supported by the NYCEF Newtown Creek Fund.