Brooklyn College to Host Conference on the Gowanus Canal, June 10

Sunset at Gowanus Bay in the Bay New York (1851) by Henry Gritten                   Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts

What does the future hold for the Gowanus Canal? In recent years, as real estate values in Brooklyn continue to climb, there has been a concerted effort to clean up the waterway and improve this gritty area of South Brooklyn. But how do you clean up a pollution-choked channel like the Gowanus Canal?

     On June 10, the Gowanus Canal Community Development Corporation, in conjunction with Brooklyn College's Aquatic Research and Environmental Assessment Center (AREAC) and the United States Army Corps of Engineers, will sponsor the Gowanus Canal Conference: Perspectives on Urban Environmental Restoration. The scope of the conference is impressive, ranging from the historical and biological perspectives to the present use and future plans for the urban canal. Highlights will include the unveiling of the preliminary results of an extensive survey conducted last year by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to determine what lives in the water and ooze of the Gowanus. Representatives from dozens of environmental organizations will also be on hand to describe reclamation efforts on waterways across the United States, including the Bronx River and Jamaica Bay. The conference, which will open with greetings from Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and Brooklyn College President Christoph M. Kimmich, is funded in part from a grant from Consolidated Edison.

Keynote speaker Dr. John Teal

     The keynote speaker is Dr. John Teal, scientist emeritus of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and author, with wife Mildred, of the 1969 environmental classic Life and Death of the Salt Marsh. The head of his own environmental consulting firm, he has led several successful wetlands reclamation efforts, the largest in New Jersey, where he recreated 10,000 acres of salt marsh on land that had been drained and turned into hayfields centuries earlier.

    The winners of the Gowanus Canal Student Research Competition will also be announced at the conference. High school, undergraduate, and graduate students have submitted ideas for future research projects, and the authors of the ten best proposals will receive cash awards, including a grand prize of $1,500. The awardees will be on hand to discuss their work during an afternoon poster session.

   The conference takes place at the Brooklyn College Student Center from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., concluding with a wine and cheese reception. Admission is free, but space is limited and pre-registration is required. To register, please call Brooklyn College AREAC at (718) 951-5631.