From Tree-hugger blog by Bonnie Hulkower:
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On a recent cold, Thursday evening, a friend and I squeezed our way into a filled-to-capacity room at the Arsenal in Central Park to hear Dr. Eric Sanderson speak about the Mannahatta Project-an impressive undertaking sure to gain attention as we approach the quadricentennial of Henry Hudson’s famous voyage of 1609. Sanderson, a ruddy-cheeked and ebullient man, began his talk by showing some photos of two dramatically magnificent natural areas: the California Redwood Forests and the Rockies. Then he told us that Landscape of New York City 400 years ago would have rivaled that of Yellowstone or Yosemite today.
Manhattan, or what the Lenape Indians called Mannahatta, was more biologically diverse than either of those two areas, and with its hardwood forests, freshwater, and estuarine environments, Mannahatta’s 54 different ecological communities (that is, interacting species living in the same place, bound together by a network of influences) and lush greenery would have dazzled any nature lover.
