Wednesday, October 11th, 2023 from 10:30AM - 12:00PM EST in person and online via Zoom
Presented by: Georgina Cullman, Neha Savant, Carla Garcia, and Sara Donatich, Natural Resources Group, Environmental & Planning, NYC Parks
Salt marshes are particularly vulnerable to fragmentation by transportation infrastructure due to historical patterns of commerce and human settlement. Sea level rise is increasing the necessity of road raising projects. While these projects present a variety of challenges for maintaining salt marsh ecosystem function, they also present unique opportunities to incorporate new ecologically sensitive design features.
With the support of the Hudson River Foundation, NYC Parks studied how sufficient capacity and placement of culverts can improve hydrologic connectivity and how the inclusion of terrestrial wildlife passages may improve ecological connectivity for wildlife. The study provided important insights about the salt marshes’ hydrology and ecology and the importance of hydrologic and hydraulic modeling to anticipate the impacts of future conditions on hydrologic regime.
