Bronx River Ecomedia Blog

Some intruders are troubling the waters of the Bronx River and the lands around it, and restoration workers are devoted to cleaning them out. The intruders are invasive plants that are not native to this area. The workers travel the river on foot and by canoe, digging the plants out root and branch wherever they find them.

In a workshop held on Oct.16, Jennifer Plewka, the environmental educator for Phipps Community Development Corporation, explained how the invasive plants got here and showed students how they could help the workers clear some of them out of Drew Gardens. Ten-year-old Scott Mitchell helped her out by showing students how to use special tool she called a “root grabber” and he called a “picker.”

The first step was learning to identify the offending plants:

Japanese knotweed, a nice-looking plant that originally was brought to Europe from Asia to ornament gardens. Then it traveled here where it has become a pest. It establishes its dominance when dead leaves and stems around it spread a chemical in the soil that prevents other plants from growing.

Bindweed also came from Europe and Asia, probably arriving along with farm and garden seeds. It might also have been brought in as an ornament because of its pretty purplish white flowers and climbing vine. First noticed growing wild in California, it quickly became notorious as the worst weed in the western states.

The white mulberry tree was brought to this country from Asia in colonial times as a food source for silkworms. It became a threat when it started mixing with the native red mulberry tree, transmitting a root disease.

Purple loosestrife was growing densely along the river bank at Drew Gardens. This “beautiful killer,” which has lovely purple flowers in the summer, likes wet places and once it gets started crowds out all the local vegetation that wildlife depend on. It’s especially hard to get rid of because it can regenerate from any tiny piece of root left in the soil.

All the offending plants usually get started in polluted areas or places that have been disturbed by urban development, road-building and such. They can travel by air, in the water, or in soil that is moved from place to place.

After the students, who came from Bronx River Art Center after school programs, collected some specimens of the plants, Jennifer showed them how to preserve the specimens by layering them in sheets of newspaper and corrugated cardboard.

On the table at the West Farmer’s Market at Drew Gardens, you will find small plastic bears filled with honey made by our own Bronx River bees. They live on Franklin Avenue in hives kept by Roger Repohl in the Genesis Park Community Garden next to St. Augustine church and in the churchyard.

I was curious about these bees, so I visited Roger on one of the last warm days of October. The bees were buzzing around busily, bringing in some last minute nectar before the winter closes in. Once the weather gets cold, bees stay inside, clustering together and vibrating to keep each other warm.

Roger told me there are about 60,000 bees in each of his three hives. Pretty scary, huh? But not to worry. They are not going to come after you. Honey bees are only interested in flowers, not in people. They will not bother you unless you step on them when they are sipping nectar from clover or if you get too near their hive. Do not mistake them for those yellow and black wasps that ruin your picnic by settling on your hamburger or soda can. Those are yellow jackets, not honey bees, which are brown and black and have a wider abdomen than wasps.

I got to taste some honey produced by these bees. They roam around in a three-mile radius from their home, gathering nectar from flowering trees in the spring, clover in the summer, and wild flowers like goldenrod and asters in the fall. The honey made in each season has a slightly different flavor. The spring honey has a light minty taste. The summer version tasted to me like clover honey, while the fall harvest seemed richer but not as sweet. I liked the fall honey the best.

I worried a bit about exploiting these good workers who pollinate our gardens and trees, giving us honey and wax, but Roger assured me that bees make lots more than they need. He leaves plenty of honey (about 100 pounds) in each hive for the bees to live on over the winter. Although people used to steal honey by destroying hives and even killing bees (making the surviving bees pretty angry), modern methods are gentler. Roger showed me wooden trays he inserts into the hives that the bees obligingly fill up with honey. He claims they aren’t much disturbed when he opens the hives and removes them.

People have been going after honey for as long as we know about. Pictures of bee hives have been found in Spanish caves dating back 8,000 years. And honey never spoils. If you happened to find some that was 8,000 years old, it would still be good to eat. Archeologists once found a honey pot from ancient Egypt containing crystallized but still edible honey.

Roger’s honey is definitely a treat. He keeps bees for the satisfaction it gives him to learn about these fascinating creatures, and we get to enjoy the product. For more information you can reach Roger by e-mail at repohl@att.net.

–Peggy Ray

Why should I care whether the Bronx River is healthy or not? I don’t need to drink out of it (a good thing!). I don’t need to eat the fish that live in it. But I do feel peaceful whenever I get a chance to walk along it in, say, the New York Botanical Garden, where it is lined by trees and the water sparkles. I’d like the whole river to be clean and beautiful, all the way from Westchester to the South Bronx.

That’s why I went to a demonstration on monitoring water quality that was offered Sept. 30 by the Bronx River Art Center (BRAC) and why I was excited to learn that the river has guardian angels, volunteers who check the water every week.

Donna Piluso, a long-time guardian of the waters, gave the demonstration at Drew Gardens.along with her 8-year-old daughter Oshiana. Other child-parent teams were there to watch. Some were taking BRAC classes on how to use digital cameras and some on how to use audio equipment.

After putting on neoprene wet suits and rubber boots, Donna and Oshiana waded into the river to check the water temperature with a special thermometer and to fill two bottles with water from the river. After they had collected the water, Donna showed us some of the chemicals monitors add to the water to check for such things as the amount of dissolved oxygen, salinity, level of nitrogen/nitrates, and turbidity.

Water monitors also make note of the water level in the river and look for signs of algae blooms that cloud the water so sunlight can’t get through to plants that need it. They try to get rid of invasive plants like Japanese knotweed that have blown in from far away and are spreading along the shoreline, crowding out the native plants.

Along with the demonstration, Donna gave us a lot of information about the river. Among other things, I learned that the water in the river at Drew Gardens (in the West Farms neighborhood) is “brackish.” I always thought brackish water was unclear or murky. But no. Brackish water is a mixture of fresh and salt water. Ocean tides run up the Bronx River as far as West Farms, making the water there slightly salty.

There are a number of things people can do to help keep the river clean.

·We can dispose of trash properly. Small pieces of litter from the streets wash into the river where fish eat them thinking they are getting food. Not good for fish digestion.

·If we see or smell raw sewage or other pollutants in the river, we can report it to the city’s Dept. of Environmental Protection either by calling the Bronx River Alliance if it’s a weekday (718-430-4665) or calling 311 any time.

·If we witness someone dumping trash in the river, we can call 911 right away. Dumping is against the law.

·To prevent nitrogen from running off our lawns and gardens into the river, we can fertilize with natural compost. This is frequently offered free of charge by the New York City Dept. of Sanitation. For information, see www.nyccompost.org.

·If we want to volunteer to monitor the water ourselves, we can get information by calling the Bronx River Alliance or e-mailing teresa.crimmens@parks.nyc.gov.

–Peggy Ray

I like to buy fresh vegetables and fruits grown by farmers right here in the New York region, so I often hop on the #6 train and make a long trip downtown to Union Square to get my produce. No more! I have discovered the West Farmers’ Market at Drew Gardens, practically at my doorstep, where I will be able to buy local produce every Wednesday until November 15 between 10 am and 3 pm.

DrewGardens, in case you don’t know, is on Tremont Ave., a block or so from the West Farms stop on the #2 train and across the street from the Bronx River Art Center.

Last Wednesday, I stopped by and was personally waited on by Jennifer Plewka, the Environmental Educator at Phipps Community Development Corporation. Jennifer not only organized the market in the first place, but she and market manager Sara Katz begin work at 6 am on market days, themselves loading 50-pound bags of potatoes and onions and other vegetables onto a truck at the Botanical Garden site where they meet their farmers. They then go on to spend the day setting up the market and selling the produce with the help of one volunteer.

“We’re superheros,” Jennifer told me, and I couldn’t agree more. She said the market has been very successful, with lots of repeat customers and people lining up early to get items that move quickly, like peaches or corn.

There’s more. Some of the produce sold at the West Farmers Market was grown right in Drew Gardens, where 30 community gardeners have plots. This project was also organized by Jennifer. She’s proud that the garden has been certified by New York State’s Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program, which gives vouchers to buy produce to women eligible for WIC and some eligible senior citizens. They can spend the vouchers at the West Farmers’ Market.

The community gardeners grow their vegetables without using artificial fertilizers or pesticides, and the garden has been certified by the New York Botanical Garden as “organic.” To get this certification, all gardeners had to take a course in proper composting and pass an exam on it.

The farm that supplies most of the vegetables for the market, Rogowski Farm, also uses organic methods, sending the produce into New York from Pine Island in Orange County. The farmer who supplies fruit, The Orchards of Concklin, comes from Pomona, NY. (By the way, if you want to pick your own apples and have a car available, The Orchards at Concklin is about 45 miles north of the city.)

I bought enough peaches (the last of the season), pears, greens, beets, lettuce, and corn (also the last of the season) to last me for the week. I’m already thinking about the cabbage, butternut squash and apples I couldn’t fit into my bag on Wednesday but will certainly try out next week.

For more information, see:
http://www.phippsny.org
http://www.rogowskifarm.net”>
http://www.theorchardsofconklin.com>”>

–Peggy Ray

Today’s environmental workshop about the Bronx River took place in Drew Gardens, a pretty place across the street from the Bronx River Art Center. Because of all the recent rain the river was unusually wide and full. The trees and undergrowth along it were still thick and green. Crossing busy Tremont Avenue and going into the garden seemed like making a quick trip to the country.

Children and teen-agers who are taking classes at the art center took part in the workshop which was taught by Anne Marie Rufola of the Bronx River Alliance. We learned that we live in the Bronx River watershed. The river runs through low-lying land and when it rains water flows from the high ground around it into the river. The definition of a watershed is “an area of land that drains into a body of water.”

During heavy rains water cannot soak into the city’s brick and concrete as it would into soil and so flooding occurs carrying garbage, gasoline and other pollutants into the river. Sewers also overflow into the river during heavy rains. When it’s hot the rain heats up from the streets. The warm rain entering the river dissolves oxygen from the water and then fish die off.

We learned that we could help clean up the Bronx River by joining restoration projects. There will be restoration work going on behind the art center.

–Peggy