Bronx River Ecomedia Blog

On a Bronx History tour last Saturday, I walked along a pleasant stretch of the Bronx River between Allerton Avenue and Gun Hill Road. Cars whizzed along the Bronx River Parkway to the east, while Metro North trains rumbled on the west, but in between, the woods were tranquil. Tall stalks of pussy willows bloomed yellow along the river bed and the branches of a few weeping willow trees with leaves and flowers of the same hopeful yellow hung over the stream. Tiny yellow flowers hugging the forest floor were said to be alien plants, but I found them charming immigrants.

Along the way, Lloyd Ultan, official historian of the Bronx Historical Society, communicated more information about the Bronx than I could ever tell you. One tidbit that fascinated me was that before the Kensico reservoir captured water that once flowed into the Bronx River, it was wider and deeper. French immigrants who settled in the area opened restaurants on houseboats moored out on the water, accessible only by rowboat. Weary city dwellers who wanted a nice outing in the country would take the train, then the New York & Harlem River RR, to the Bronx and enjoy French cuisine on the boats along with a walk in the woods.

About midway through our walk, we began to follow what was once a piece of the original Bronx River Parkway. Back in the day, it seems the parkway was a narrow road meandering back and forth across the river. It was intended for bicycle travel. When today’s parkway was built to accommodate big cars driven by more people, both the road the river were straightened.

Along the river’s flood plain, Rob Benaton of the Neighborhood Initiative Development Corp. (NIDC) sponsor of the tour, told us about efforts to eradicate Japanese knotweed there. Japanese knotweed is a notorious invasive plant that grows thick and tall, crowding out native vegetation. After pulling some out and hacking it back systematically, the next step is to replant the area. As part of this effort, NIDC is having a spring tree planting next Saturday, April 21, from 10 am to 1 pm. All are welcome. To help, meet in front of the NIDC office at 2523 Olinville Ave., near Mace.

In the peace of the river and woods, it was possible to imagine what the Bronx looked like 100 years ago, all woods, wetlands, and truck farms, before the subway came and the city expanded north along its route.

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Take your pick of Earth Day events on Saturday, April 14.  You could enjoy a Bronx River History Walk with noted Bronx historian Lloyd Ultan or participate in a National Day of Climate Action with a Bronx River Tribute.

During the Bronx River History Walk, you will find out about the restaurants that once lined the river, why the Co-ops are historic landmarks and other Northeast Bronx “trivia.”  This is sponsored by the Neighborhood Initiative Development Corp. (NIDC) and will start at 1 pm in front of its office at 2523 Olinville Ave, near Mace Ave.  A RSVP is required — call 718-231-9800 x16.

The Bronx River Tribute is part of a nation-wide call for Congressional action on climate change.  It is sponsored by Step-It-Up, a group created by author Bill McKibben, and it is calling for Congress to enact immediate cuts in carbon emissions and to pledge an 80% reduction of emissions by 2050.  McKibben inisists that ”the time has come to take the real actions that can stabilize our climate.” 

The Bronx River Tribute will take place from noon to 2pm.  You meet at the intersection of Allerton Ave. and Bronx Park East and will walk north from there 1/4 mile to a bridge/walkway over the Bronx River.  You can get more information and RSVP to this at http://events.stepitup2007.org/events/show/32.

If you feel like going downtown, Step-It-Up is organizing a “sea of people” that will surge up from Battery Park to mark the areas that would be submerged if the threatened melting of Antarctic and Greenland ice shelves actually takes place.  The event begins at noon at Battery Park — wear blue to be part of the sea of people surge.  For more info, go to http://events.stepitup2007.org/events/show/103. 

Armies of youngsters were making a traditional spring trip to the zoo when I visited one day last week, but around 250 of them were high school students bent on serious scientific investigation. They were there to study macroinvertebrates in an event sponsored by the Bronx River Alliance.

Scientists study macroinvertebrates in streams – insect larvae, aquatic worms, little crustaceans and such — because they provide food for fish and because the type of macroinvertebrates found in a particular river or stream indicates how healthy the water is.

I learned a little about them and got a preview of the event, Macroinvertebrate Day, when I dropped in on a meeting of a Bronx River Alliance Education Team a few weeks ago. There I found teachers delicately probing around in bundles of decaying leaves that had been marinating in a stream upstate. The leaves had been placed in the stream because macroinvertebrates like to eat decomposing matter and would be lured inside the leaf packs.

The teachers gently teased wormlike crane fly larvae and tiny stone fly larvae out of the leaves with little brushes and carefully spooned them into plastic petri dishes where the larvae could wiggle around in some water. One teacher excitedly located a leech. For Macroinvertebrate Day, bundles of leaves would be placed in the Bronx River so the students could follow the same procedure to find out which of the little critters are living in the Bronx.

The number and type of macroinvertebrates in a river are indicators of water quality. When the teachers found crane fly larvae in the leaf pack from the upstate stream it was a good sign because crane flies can’t survive in polluted water. In polluted water, only more resistant species can survive. At the teachers’ meeting I wondered: Will the students find crane flies in leaf packs from the Bronx River?

At Macroinvertebrates Day there were several activities introducing the students to the lives and habits of invertebrates. In a food web activity, students made an actual web by tossing a ball of yarn from student to student. Some of the students represented decaying leaves, some represented crane flies, may flies, stone flies, caddis flies and other macroinvertebrates, some represented fish or birds. Through the web thus created, the facilitating teacher taught about a food chain where plants (decaying leaves) furnish food for small animals (macroinvertebrates) that in turn are eaten by larger ones (fish and birds).

In another activity, students got a picture of how macroinvertebrates indicate water quality. Where there is pollution or loss of habitat, an animal has only three options: It can move, adapt or die (MAD). The activity demonstrated that since macroinvertebrates cannot move out of polluted waters or quickly adapt to them, pollution will kill them off. It led to the conclusion that if macroinvertebrates die off because of pollution, so will all the other creatures that depend on them for food.

After these and other introductory activities, the students were seated at tables where they were given leaf packs where they could hunt for living macroinvertebrates. I was eager to find out which ones the students would find in the leaf packs that had been soaking in the Bronx River. In the dishes I examined, they did not find any crane flies or stone flies or leeches. They found tiny shrimp-like creatures called scuds. Finding scuds indicates that the Bronx River is not the sewer it was for many years, but, though greatly improved, it’s still not in the condition of the cleaner upstate waters.

Later in the day, the students walked along an interpretive trail in the zoo. There they were to keep an eye out for a beaver that has recently been spotted swimming in the Bronx River. Beavers are also a biological indicator because they can’t survive in severely polluted water. I later learned that two groups actually did spot the beaver, near the “twin dams” area. I missed it on Macroinvertebrate Day, but maybe I’ll get back to the zoo another time to take a look.