Clumps of thinning and dying marsh grasses, left, contrast with healthier ones, foreground, lower right, in Jamaica Bay in New York, Thursday, June 21, 2007. Experts disagree on why, but a group of advocates led by retired firefighter Dan Mundy known as the Jamica Bay Ecowatchers, are determined to call attention to the problem before the grasses, home to native and breeding bird populations, will disappear, and along with them, the birds that live there. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
Photo Credit: AP Photo
Photo Credit: AP Photo
On this sunny day, the scene from Dan Mundy's living room window is worlds away from the normal urban views of New York City.
The sky is brilliantly blue, the waters lapping at the stone wall just feet away are clear and calm. A duck busily paddles off, and even a jellyfish looks more peaceful than dangerous as it undulates near Mundy's dock.
But the peaceful calm hides a truth well-known to Mundy and others who have spent their lives here - the numerous salt marsh islands dotting Jamaica Bay are disappearing. The loss of the islands could have huge ramifications for the environment: A quarter of the country's bird population makes its way through Jamaica Bay.
Marsh loss has always been part of life in the bay, but it has been accelerating over the past 10 to 15 years or so, says Mundy, a retired city firefighter whose passion has now turned to advocating for the marshes he's spent his life around.
Records show Jamaica Bay averaged a loss of 26 acres a year from the mid-1970s until the mid-1990s, but then the pace picked up to more than 40 acres a year by 1999, the last time a comprehensive look was taken, said Brad Sewell of the Natural Resources Defense Council, who serves as co-chair on an advisory committee for the bay.
Anecdotal information shows that the situation has probably gotten worse in the last couple years. "There's no reason to believe it's gotten better," Sewell said.
There are somewhere around 1,000 acres of salt marsh islands in the bay today. If the disappearance continues at this rate or accelerates, they could be gone in less than 20 years.
No one knows for sure why the marshes are disappearing. A host of possible reasons is being looked at, from lack of sediment to renew the marshes flowing into the bay because of urban development to sea level rise to the city's four wastewater treatment plants feeding the system more nitrogen than it can handle.
"Research has looked at a handful of contributing factors, none of them have emerged as a clear cause," said Steve Zahn, a program manager for a marine resources unit for the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
Some are convinced that excessive nitrogen from the city's wastewater treatment plants plays a big role. The nitrogen _ a byproduct from the water treatment process _ feeds algae blooms, which then die off and are decomposed by bacteria which end up using a lot of oxygen, leaving less in the system.
The city acknowledges that more nitrogen than the system can handle is being discharged into the bay, but also says the science isn't definitive for that being the main problem of the marshland loss.
The scientific model for water quality doesn't show that making the significant financial investment into reducing the amount of nitrogen coming out of the plants will significantly raise the dissolved oxygen level, said Angela Licata, deputy commissioner of environmental planning and analysis at the city Department of Environmental Protection. The water quality model did show an improvement in Long Island Sound, so the city did invest in reducing nitrogen output there, she said.
Restoration is one option to fix the problem, but such projects are expensive and money is limited.
Some restoration projects have been undertaken, replanting on a couple of the marsh islands, but the cost of them needs to come down, said Douglas Adamo, chief of the division of natural resources for Gateway National Recreation Area, of which Jamaica Bay is a part.
If they don't, "The cost will be so prohibitive that we're not going to get many acres for the dollar," he said.
But if something isn't done soon, the price of a bay without the marsh islands is higher than anyone would want to pay, Mundy and others said.
Mundy pointed out that the marsh islands act as a buffer for the waves coming across the bay, breaking up the wave action. If they weren't there, the waves would just roll across the bay and come in several feet higher than they already do.
"It's like a disaster waiting to happen here," he said.
And the important role the marshes play in the ecosystem can't be overstated, with so many fish and fowl in the bay, Sewell said.
Plus, he said, it's a resource for urban dwellers, and should be kept that way.
"It's the only unit of the National Park Service that's accessible by subway," he said.
