Newtown Creek Alliance Videos

Thank you all for making 2023 another productive year for Newtown Creek Alliance as we push towards a cleaner, healthier, and more just Newtown Creek. We brought on new staff, expanded programming and partnerships, and responded to emerging issues on and around the waterway. The hard work in reversing long standing environmental harms and transforming Newtown Creek from a plagued burden to an environmental asset serving those that live, work, and study in the watershed is far from over. We could not make progress in this revitalization without our partnerships, our volunteers, and our supporters. If you’d like to contribute to NCA for Giving Tuesday you can support the org through a tax-deductible donation at the 🔗 in bio and help spread the word by sharing this post. Or just enjoy a quick look at some of the sights from around the Creek this past year!

We’ve got one more ✨Creek Cam highlight✨ to share with you: here’s a timelapse of Maspeth Creek from early October. This one features one of our favorites (and many of yours!), the cormorant.

Last week, NCA’s Executive Director went out on the Creek with @cbsnewyork reporter @hannahkliger to discuss the Greenpoint Oil Spill’s legacy. While the oil spill was discovered over 45 years ago this month and remediation has been ongoing for decades, it still requires extensive monitoring and maintenance. Additionally, there are numerous other spills and contamination sources along the Creek with minimal cleanup measures in place. View the full video of our outing with CBS at the 🔗 in bio.

🎟️✨🛥️TICKETS AVAILABLE🛥️✨🎟️: We’re one month away from our annual Tidal Toast! Join us on a chartered boat as we cruise along Newtown Creek and honor our partnership with LaGuardia Community College (LGCC). The boat will depart from and return to a dock in Greenpoint. We’re excited to take you on the water with us and look forward to enjoying food & drinks, music, the Newtown Oracle, and more together as we celebrate our work with LGCC! Click here to purchase tickets: https://secure.qgiv.com/for/newcreall/event/880187/

“I loved using 3D software to tell short, funny stories about the fascinating history of Newtown Creek. Beneath the humor of many of these animated scenes, there are insidious truths that have an impact on all of us as New York City residents. I love imagining that we will be able to swim in and eat from Newtown Creek in our lifetime, but we face immense obstacles in remedying systematic pollution and neglect. Does a GIF have the power to change industry? I am excited to find out.” – Wyatt Bertz @wyatt_bertz

A Mallard Miracle! 🦆 ⭐️ About a month ago we setup a temporary “pond” on the @kingslandwildflowers rooftop to keep some salt marsh grasses for a restoration project in collaboration with @laguardiacc Within a few days the makeshift marsh soon attracted a female mallard who quickly made a nest and laid 10 eggs on top of the spartina grasses. A month later (last Friday), 9 of the eggs hatched! While the wannabe wetlands and surrounding nursery offered shade, water to drink and bath in, and numerous human caretakers to keep an eye on and feed, Mama Mallard was eager to get her ducklings to the Creek. Only issue is that the roof is on the 4th floor- with no easy way down to the water. After much wrangling, and even some ducklings falling down a whole story trying to follow mom, we were able to safely capture all 9 ducklings and bring them across the various roofs and down to the Creek where mom awaited them. They soon rejoined in the water, swimming single file behind Mamma Mallard. Keep an eye out for the family as they do their best to endure the harsh conditions of Newtown Creek- including predators, marine traffic, toxins, bulkheads, and more. Major thanks to Professor Durand from LaGuardia, as well as Marni and staff from @alivestructures for helping care for the ducklings during their visit and adventurous day getting from Kingsland Wildflowers rooftop to the Creek today. #mallard #mallardduck #newtowncreek #nycwildlife #superfund #industrialwildlife #birdsofnyc #ducklings #greenroof #spartina #saltmarsh

Our field trips always love seeing and interacting with a tug and barge slowly moving through the Creek, but when the Captain plays the SpongeBob SquarePants theme for a class of 4th graders, that’s truly a rare treat. Make sure to follow our stories for more field trip updates! #workingharbor #tugboat #tuglife #newtowncreek #spongebob

🚨 Wildlife Alert 🚨 2 Common Dolphins spotted in Whale Creek Tributary! Yesterday we got an email from a pedestrian who spotted two dolphins near the Grand Street bridge, about an hour later an instagram message from a visitor at the Newtown Creek Nature Walk with video of two dolphins swimming through Whale Creek.* Sightings like this are just another reminder of the need to rid Newtown Creek of historical toxins, oil seeps, sewage overflow, and floatable debris. Many thanks to Jesse P for the email and @paced_adventure for sharing these amazing videos! Keep an eye out for these amazing visitors around the area and remember that they are protected marine mammals (don’t attempt to feed or touch them). #newtowncreek #nycwildlife #dolphins #superfund NYC Water NYS Department of Environmental Conservation U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Riverkeeper *Whale Creek was unfortunately not named after the prescence of marine mammals, but the processing of Whale Oil that took place here in the mid 1800s.

Press Conference at 29th Street Bulkead Collapse
Press Conference at the site of a recently collapsed bulkhead. NCA and community planning group the Dutch Kills Loop Committee unveiled drafted plans for a vision of ecological restoration, public reclamation, and community access along this degraded and unmaintained MTA owned street. Download the press release (containing full draft plans by Interval Projects for the Dutch Kills Loop Committee) here: http://www.newtowncreekalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Press-Release-29th-St-Press-Event-July-2022.pdf Part 2: [In order of speaking] Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, State Assembly member elect Juan Ardila, Kenneth Adams; President of Laguardia Community College, District Leader Emilia Decaudin, District Leader-elect Nicholas Berkowitz, Shelia Lewandowski; Transportation Co-Chair for Community Board 2, Tom Mituzas; Transportation Co-Chair for Community Board 2 and Office of Congressmember Carolyn Maloney, and Office of Nydia Velazquez.

Press Conference at the site of a recently collapsed bulkhead. NCA and community planning group the Dutch Kills Loop Committee unveiled drafted plans for a vision of ecological restoration, public reclamation, and community access along this degraded and unmaintained MTA owned street. Download the press release (containing full draft plans by Interval Projects for the Dutch Kills Loop Committee) here: http://www.newtowncreekalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Press-Release-29th-St-Press-Event-July-2022.pdf Part one of livestream: Council member Julie Won