Oil Sheen on Newtown Creek

Perphaps this sign should read "No Wake - Pollution in Progress".

Newtown Creek

Patroled Newton Creek with Riverkeeper staff and the Regional Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Stranded Containment Boom Retrieved

12th: Patrol from Nyack to Ossining. Check stranded containment boom on village waterfront. Confirm that the boom is not oil contaminated before retrieval.

17th: Retrieved a section of stranded containment boom from the village shoreline and towed it to the public launch ramp. Pulled it ashore with help from several members of the Ossining Boat and Canoe Club. The village DPW agreed to dispose of the boom once we got it to the ramp.

Photos by John Lipscomb

Dumping in the waterways around Manhattan

Re-photograph site where trash is being dumped into the Harlem River at a property owned by a church in the Bronx. Riverkeeper is trying to negotiate a cleanup without resorting to litigation.

Also, photographed three wrecked pleasure craft at Dykeman Marina on Manhattan. Poor management at this marina results in one or two boats becoming stranded or sunk each season. The marina is owned by NY City Parks.

Photos by John Lipscomb

Water Quality Monitoring Study 2006

Water quality and sewage indicator sampling with Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University team - lower estuary from Nyack to NY Harbor. Sample at Sparkill Creek and Piermont, the mouth of the Saw Mill River, at the Yonkers sewer plant discharge, in the Harlem and East Rivers, in Newtown Creek at two locations and at the Battery. This pilot sampling program began during the summer. The preliminary data collected will be used to seek funding for a long term, full estuary study which Riverkeeper and Lamont-Doherty hope to begin early in 2007.

Photos by John Lipscomb

Painting Riverscapes and Collecting Trash

Patrol Nyack to Black Beach at Haverstraw. Picked up 5 cubic yards of trash and tires collected and bagged last month by students from the Greenmeadow School.

George Washington Bridge

Patrol from Nyack to Yonkers with landscape painter John Deerman. Research and photograph several areas for large scale riverscapes which John intends to paint.

Large Styrofoam Blocks found in lower estuary

Patrolled Nyack to Newtown Creek.

En-route to Newtown Creek found approximately one hundred and fifty 12" by 12" by 8' white styrofoam blocks washed up on the shore between Riverdale and Hastings. Begin investigation.

Patroled the creek with Basil Seggos and a film crew from "Court TV."

Dredging Fix at Alpine & Englewood Boat Basins

Patroled the Alpine and Englewood Boat Basins. Both are owned by the Palisades Interstate Park (PIP). In the past PIP has been conducting maintenance dredging at both marinas in a manner which appears to capture dredged sediment, but in fact, releases it right back into the Hudson through hidden discharge pipes. Riverkeeper has succeeded in pressuring the NJ Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) to tighten controls. Today we photo-documented changes being made to the dredge settling ponds to comply with the new permit.






Photos by John Lipscomb