Accomplishments: Bronx and Harlem Urban Waters Location
2024
Artist in Residence Program
The Bronx and Harlem Rivers UWFP along with the Lower Passaic River UWFP is selected as one of six pilot locations for a new Artist in Residence program with EPA and the National Endowment for the Arts.
2023
Starlight Park
In 2023, Starlight Park construction on the Bronx River was completed and the Bronx River Alliance and NYC Parks hosted the official opening ceremony in April 2023. The Department of the Interior and the Bronx and Harlem UWFP played a role in securing Department of Transportation funding for the pedestrian bridge over the Amtrak Line.
UN World Water Day
The Partnership co-hosted an event to celebrate UN World Water Day at Mill Pond Park and the Bronx Children’s Museum.
2022
1st Annual Harlem River Environmental Justice Boat Tour
In June of 2022, Congressman Espaillat hosted the first annual Harlem River Environmental Justice Boat Tour, in conjunction with the Bronx and Harlem River Watersheds Urban Waters Federal Partnership, Harlem River Working Group, Bronx Council for Environmental Quality, Hudson River Foundation, and West Harlem Environmental Action (WE ACT). The tour was attended by Partnership and federal agency staff as well as elected officials and featured Partnership speakers, highlighting UWFP and community needs along the Harlem River. Conducted to help assess the needs of the location and community members.
Natural and Nature-Based Features
In August of 2022 the Bronx and Harlem Rivers UWFP, in collaboration with Natural Areas Conservancy, City University of New York, New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, and New York Sea Grant, completed the second year of Natural and Nature-Based Features on the Bronx and Harlem Rivers using the New York State Department of State’s Measuring Success of Living Shorelines
2021
Bronx and Harlem River Communities Celebrate 10 Years of Accomplishments in the Urban Waters Federal Partnership Program
On October 13th, 2021, the Bronx & Harlem Rivers Urban Waters Federal Partnership celebrated its 10th Anniversary on the High Bridge over the Harlem River in New York City. "For the past decade, the Bronx and Harlem river communities have made great progress towards achieving environmental justice thanks to vital partnerships of every level of government and local stakeholder advocates, and we all recognize that more work is to be done to improve our waterfront. By working tirelessly to reverse decades of environmental injustice in our neighborhoods, The Urban Waters Federal Partnership has become an integral part of our community - and for that we're forever grateful. And as we celebrate their dignified decade of service, we reaffirm our commitment to doing all we can to revitalize our city's river systems from the bottom up.” Congressman Adriano Espaillat (NY-13)
2020
Harlem River Watershed & Natural Resources Management Plan
With support from the Bronx & Harlem Rivers UWFP, NYC Parks publishes a Harlem River Watershed & Natural Resources Management Plan for the Bronx that builds off of past community-led planning efforts. This plan serves as a road map for agencies, community partners, and other stakeholders to use to pursue coordinated resource protection and restoration goals in the Bronx portion of the Harlem River watershed.
2019
$100M in improvements at Roberto Clemente State Park
NYS Parks unveils nearly $100M in improvements at Roberto Clemente State Park, including a redesigned resilient waterfront and the only recreational dock on the Bronx side of the Harlem River. The park’s redesigned waterfront and gateway with newly constructed ballfields, cap nearly $100 million in improvements to the park’s nearly 50-year-old infrastructure since 2011 to make the park more resilient, inviting, and enhance youth programming.
2018
The Bronx and Harlem River Watersheds Partnership is developing a plan for a shoreline access project along the Hudson River Estuary in the Bronx at a site known as Bridge Park South. The site will revitalize over 215,000 square feet of unused waterfront parkland using state funding. The project will focus on access planning for environmental education and habitat enhancement, and will include a site survey and analysis, hydrodynamic assessment, community outreach and a concept design. The plan will be finalized in 2019.
2017
Alewife herring return to the Bronx River
In April 2017, NYC Parks, in partnership with the Bronx River Alliance, Wildlife Conservation Society, and the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, stocked 400 alewife herring in the Bronx River . This stocking is one piece in an on-going effort to re-establish a self-sustaining population of these native fish, including completion of a fish ladder over the 182nd Street dam in 2015.
Ambassador is brought on board
In February 2017, the Hudson River Foundation and the New York-New Jersey Harbor & Estuary Program, in collaboration with USGS, EPA, & the Natural Areas Conservancy & NYC Parks Natural Resources Group, hired an Ambassador to support and coordinate efforts between partner agencies and local stakeholders.
2016
USGS publishes comprehensive water quality review on the Harlem River
In cooperation with the New York City Department of Education, USGS led an effort to compile over 100 years of water quality data and provide analyses of the current water quality conditions in the Harlem River. The report can be accessed through the USGS Publication Warehouse via this link: https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/sir20165044
2015
$10m in TIGER funding for Bronx River greenway connections
DOI was instrumental in helping NYC Parks & Bronx River Alliance obtain a $10 million award through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) Discretionary Grant program in 2015. This TIGER award will help construct critical links needed to safely connect roughly 400,000 South Bronx residents to parkland and the Bronx River over rail lines, improve nine acres of parkland, and mark the completion of key piece of a greenway system that will ultimately run for 23 miles along the entire length of the Bronx River.
2013
Demonstration pop-up wetland captures stormwater from Harlem River elevated highway
In 2013, Bronx Council for Environmental Quality (BCEQ), working with NYC Parks, USGS, and other partners, installed an innovative pop-up wetland to capture stormwater runoff from an elevated highway adjacent to the Harlem River.
USGS install real-time water quality data kiosk in Bronx Zoo
USGS (with support from NOAA, Wildlife Conservation Society, & NYC Parks) constructed an educational kiosk at the Bronx Zoo that displays real-time Bronx River conditions to zoo patrons.
2012
Bronx River gets a National Water Trail
With the help of NPS, the Bronx River Blueway was designated as one of the first National Water Trails in 2012. This designation gives the river national promotion & visibility as well as opportunities to obtain technical assistance and funding for water trail projects.
Harlem River Greenway Vision Plan is Published
A community-initiated vision plan for a continuous Harlem River greenway in the Bronx was published by The Trust for Public Land and the Harlem River Working Group in 2012.
2011
Harlem & Bronx Rivers Designated as an Urban Waters Federal Partnership Location