Jamaica Bay Tree Ring An Afforestation Handbook
Jamaica Bay Tree Ring An Afforestation Handbook New York Guy Nordenson Andrew Macmillan Paul Lewis Joon Ma Catherine Seavitt*
Princeton University School of Architecture and *Spitzer School of Architecture at City College of New York
Contents
Cover Photo-collage of proposed afforestation along the Rockaway Peninsula between Beach 96th Street and Beach 105th Street
3
Introduction
5
The History of the Coastal Forest
17
Domains of Investigation
41
Precedent Afforestation
59
The Jamaica Bay Tree Ring
109
The Atlas
2 | INTRODUCTION
Figure 1
Figure 1 “Sunny day” flooding in Howard Park in 2017. Source: Naitian Kensinger.
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Introduction
Perhaps more than any other region of New York, the changing climate is most visible along the shores of Jamaica Bay. There have already been worsening and higher storm surges. High tide events are now accompanied by sunny-day flooding, damaging infrastructure and housing without the presence of a storm. Flood maps bleakly erase the entire Rockaway Peninsula by the close of the century. The future of the coastal communities of Jamaica Bay is an increasingly wet and uncertain one, where the escalating costs of shoring those regions against temporary and permanent forms of flooding is becoming an ever greater reality. Climate change will also have dramatic events on the Bay’s already fragile and complex maritime ecosystem where each ecotone is tightly pressed against the other, threatening always to collapse, but persisting. This proposal seeks to stabilize this ecosystem, through the widespread planting of a coastal forest around the entire Bay and along the seaward side of the Peninsula to provide additional benefits to the region and to assist in coastal resiliency. Numerous proposals abound to protect the region from the risk it carries. Many require expansive infrastructure, or pose new ecological challenges, some are ambitious but lack funding or support, others yet are mired in the struggles of property rights. A coastal forest gives us something to do today, to use up vacant and abandoned land, to fill parks, and to stabilize beaches. This proposal presents a project that is both alternative and adjacent to the others, an interim solution as much as a permanent one, a coastal imaginary that can be started as soon as today.
The benefits of a coastal forest are numerous, the more obvious are the creation of new human recreation zones and the formation of new ecological communities, however in the context of coastal resiliency, coastal forests much greater functional support, such as attenuating waves during storm surges, stabilizing dunes and other coastal landscapes, and the creating of safe zones either as lowland floodplains or as upland evacuation routes. Particular to this proposal, the planting of a coastal forest provides an opportunity for a new iconic green space in the city, a linear park and coastal resiliency project around which new conversations about the waters edge may emerge. A coastal forest determines a new resilient shoreline ecosystem which plays a vital role as a new mediator between the sea and the city. It is optimistic perhaps to think that a coastal forest may maintain the status quo in Jamaica Bay, however, changes to the region are certain to come as the planet warms over the next century. Even the most conservative flooding risk estimates illustrate the radical transformations that will occur in both coastal geography, and in human population. A changing climate has also meant that adaptation strategies may not be able to use pre-existing methodologies for success with coastal forest plantings today. Trees that may have been the right choice for planting 10 years ago, may no longer be the right choice today. This coastal forest proposal will be understood in this context of climactic and geophysical transformation, and provides an opportunity to rethink how the Rockaways may begin to adapt to the new realities of climate change through green infrastructure.
4 | THE HISTORY OF THE JAMAICA BAY COASTAL FOREST
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The History of the Jamaica Bay Coastal Forest
Adjacent Page Unrealized 1910 proposal to transform Jamaica Bay into an industrial port, with a north-south canal connecting Jamaica Bay with Flushing Bay. Source: Scientific American
6 | THE HISTORY OF THE JAMAICA BAY COASTAL FOREST
The Jansson-Visscher Map of New Netherlands Novae Belgiae Angliae nec non parties Virginiae multis locis emendata
1651-1655 This early map is a culmination of surveys by Dutch colonists and shows Jamaica Bay relatively correctly drawn in location and scale, uncommon into the eighteenth century. It specifically highlights variations in the landscape across the Northeast, giving special attention to illustrating remarkable natural areas. Of note is the careful drawing of the shores of Jamaica Bay. Although it is unclear what the landscape may have been like behind the dark green watercolor wash, it was notable enough to distinguish from the surrounding regions of Long Island. The additional marking of dark green to the northeast was the extent of the Central Long Island Grasslands, which are today almost completely lost to urbanization.
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The Ratzer Plan Plan of the City of New York in North America
1766-1777 This map was produced by Bernard Ratzer, a British military surveyor who was charged with producing a survey of the city and its surroundings in the years leading up to the American revolution. The map is remarkable for its painstaking detailing of the city, showing the extant wetlands, marshes, and forests in Manhattan and beyond. Notably, Ratzer illustrates the salt meadows of the East River and Paulus Hook, planted by the early settlers for livestock foraging. Unfortunately this highly detailed map does not show South Brooklyn or Queens, hiding Jamaica Bay off-frame, but it does give a good indication of what the wetland environments around New York would have been like at that time.
8 | THE HISTORY OF THE JAMAICA BAY COASTAL FOREST
Manuscript Map for the Battle of Long Island British and American troop positions in the New York City region
1776 Likely the finest map of New York City and the surrounding region from the eighteenth century, though geographically inaccurate in terms of its coastal geography even at that time. The map indicates the position of troops during the Battle of Long Island during the American Revolution. Of note are the illustration of an established coastal forest around Jamaica Bay including on a much wider Rockaway Peninsula, and an appropriately named Barren Island, which is both an island and barren of trees, neither of which is true today. This Map appears to be a composite copied from the De Barres sheets of the Atlantic Neptune. Newly scanned in 11/2018 to the Library of Congress Maps Collection.
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Stiles Map of the 1776 Battle of Long Island Plan of the Battle of Brooklyn, August 27th, 1776
1867 The Stiles map is a recreation of the Ratzer Plan for a historically captivated audience produced by the Civil War. It includes additional information compiled from other military and topographical surveys available since Ratzer’s time, and conveniently shows a portion of Jamaica Bay. The map shows abundant forested areas around Canarsie and Barren Island at the western extents of Jamaica Bay. The representation of the location of maritime forests is consistent with earlier maps. However, given the historiographical amis of Stiles’ map, a romanticization of the landscape is certainly possible.
10 | THE HISTORY OF THE JAMAICA BAY COASTAL FOREST
United States Coast Survey New-York Bay and Harbor and the Environs
1845 U.S. Coast Surveys were initiated in 1806, and the first survey of New York Harbor was published in 1845. These surveys were designed to assist with maritime navigation of complex coastal waters. The notation of the survey indicates extensive forests throughout the coastal lands around the bay. These include an; extensive maritime forest shown in the region of what is now Arverne and expanding into upland forest at Rockaway Neck, a small forested stand in on the peninsula that is now uninhabited; a small coastal forest on Barren Island; and a belt of maritime forest circling the tidal wetlands at the northern extent of the bay, extending from a heavily wooded area at Canarsie. IWithin the next fifty years, most of these areas would be cleared for housing and farmland.
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Bien’s Atlas of the Metropolitan District The Narrows to Jamaica Bay–Coney Island, North to Brooklyn.
1891 Produced by Julius R. Bien and C. C. Vermeule to comprehensively cover the metropolitan areas of New York and New Jersey. Bien was considered a master cartographer, producing thousands of U.S., Governmentissued and private maps, and was a pioneer the chromolithograph, used to render this 1891 map. By 1890 only a few notable tree stands are indicated in the upland areas from Plunders Neck to Jamaica South and a few stands in the Sheepshead Bay and Gravesend areas. The well-forested areas of Barren Island and the Rockaway Peninsula seem to have disappeared. Morphologically, the bay’s islands and marshes are shown fragmented, foreshadowing a long-term trend.
12 | THE HISTORY OF THE JAMAICA BAY COASTAL FOREST
Jamaica Bay and Rockaway Inlet U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, Nautical Chart No. 542
1903 Published almost 60 years after the 1845 U. S. Coast Survey map of the New York Harbor, this map shows a more detailed version Jamaica Bay, Rockaway Inlet, and the immediately adjacent coastal waters. This map highlights the advancements made since the original in understanding coastal morphodynamics. Of note is the notation of different tree species, the first time this appears, although by now there are very few stands of trees remaining around the bay. However, as the Peninsula has grown over time, a band of conifers has grown with it, a spontaneous forest spreading along the beach. Interestingly the beach is rendered as an island, as it was briefly severed by a navigable channel, likely created in an overwash event between Jamaica Bay and the now subsumed Bay of Far Rockaway.
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New York City Street Tree Map New York City Department of Parks and Recreation
2015-2016 Modern mapping of New York’s trees is now fully intentional. The NYC Street Tree Map was created through volunteer submissions of street tree counts on lands under the jurisdiction of NYC Parks, including on sidewalks and other public rights-of-way. Trees on NYCDOT, NPS, or state and federal government lands are not included, nor are trees on private property. This particular map shows street tree density by census tract, clearly indicating low densities in the Rockaway Peninsula with a few exceptions, and a mix of densities around the north shore of Jamaica Bay.
14 | THE HISTORY OF THE JAMAICA BAY COASTAL FOREST
MIT Senseable City Lab’s Treepedia New York City Tree Canopy Maps
2016 MIT’s Treepedia map utilizes a machine learning model and Google Street View to measure tree canopy. Using Street View, the model identifies the trees in the panoramas and plots their approximate locations, allowing for the measurement of the relative experience of canopy at any given Street View location. The map doesn’t provide an exact tree count, but rather illustrates the sensorial presence that canopy provides in each neighborhood while walking or driving through a city. The model is limited to areas where Street View exists, so it will give a false indication in unmapped areas. So, although the map shows few trees at Jamaica Bay, not all of these areas are mapped or mappable using Street View.
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Descartes Labs Tree Canopy Maps New York City Tree Canopy
2018 The Descartes Labs map of New York City uses a machine learning model to plot the urban tree canopy. The model was built using LIDAR data and NAIP imagery, but now runs exclusively on satellite and aerial imagery. The Descartes Labs map has an advantage over NDVI maps because the model exclusively identifies trees over all plant matter. It is perhaps the most accurate plotting of tree canopy that currently exists. Notably, and in line with the MIT map on the preceding page, there are almost no trees indicated along the Rockaway Peninsula and in large swaths of Jamaica Bay’s bordering lands. The impetus for afforestation comes from this notable contemporary absence of forest at the coastal edge of New York.
16 | DOMAINS OF INVESTIGATION
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Domains of Investigation
Climate Change
Coastal Ecology
Planning Trees
18 | DOMAINS OF INVESTIGATION: CLIMATE CHANGE
Changing Climate and Migrating Marshes
The mean annual temperature in Jamaica Bay has increased of 2° C of the past century. Of course this mirrors larger global trends, which have produced both increasing storm severity and storm surge damage, along with a projected sea-level rise of potentially catastrophic consequences for the health of the bay in the future. Jamaica Bay’s marshlands are particularly sensitive to these changes. A lack of sediment due to dredging, nutrient loading from sewage outflow, and a lack of sediment accretion due to upland urbanization are exacerbating the marsh’s vulnerability. Currently the marsh grasses are unable to migrate upland due to the urbanized edges of the shoreline. Instead, they are submerging into mudflats, and will eventually disappear, with open water remaining.
Figure 1
Figure 2
Mean Annual Temperature Change Jamaica Bay, 1895-2018 15
Mean Annual Temperature (°C)
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Figure 1
Figure 1 Mean Annual Temperature Change since 1895 in Jamaica Bay as reported by area weather stations. Figure 2 USACE marsh restoration project at Elders Point Marsh East, 2006. Source: Galvin Brothers Inc.
Figure 3
Figure 3 Transect of historic, current, and future conditions in Big Egg Marsh. Source: Hartig, Ellen, et al., “Anthropogenic and Climate-Change Impacts on Salt Marshes of Jamaica Bay, New York City,” in Wetlands, vol. 22, no. 1 (March 2002): 71-89.
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Forest Migration
The plant hardiness zones of flora across the United States are changing in response to climate, essentially constituting a floristic migration. Numerous studies indicate a slow migration northward as growing seasons lengthen and conditions allow for range expansion. Southerly species, previously unable to tolerate northerly conditions, will establish and eventually out-compete with existing forests at their frontiers. Some species may even completely disappear, outpaced by a rapidly shifting climate and strong competition. (Griesbauer and Green 2010; Kullman 1993; Pederson et al. 2004; Suarez et al. 1999; Wilmking et al. 2004) As Jamaica Bay lies on the coast, the shifting species effect will occur sooner, bringing potentially dramatic changes to the forests of the bay and greater Long Island.
Figure 1
Figure 1 Projected shifts in forest types. The maps show recent and projected forest types. Major changes are projected for many regions. For example, in the Northeast, under a lower emissions scenario, the currently dominant maple-beech-birch forest type (red shading) is projected to be displaced by the oak-hickory forest type (dark green shading) in a warmer future. Source: USGCRP (2009)
Figure 2
Figure 2 Maps of current and potential future suitable habitat for Pinus elliottii (slash pine) including the FIA estimate of current distribution of abundance, the modeled current map, and scenarios of PCM Parallel Climate Model – low emissions (PCM Lo), average of three models – low emissions (Avg Lo), average of three models – high emissions (Avg Hi), and HadleyCM3 model – high emissions (HADLEY Hi). Source: Iverson, Louis R., et al. 2008. “Estimating Potential Habitat for 134 Eastern US Tree Species under Six Climate Scenarios.” Forest Ecology and Management.
20 | DOMAINS OF INVESTIGATION: CLIMATE CHANGE
Flooding
In the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy thousands of trees were uprooted along the shorelines of New York City. However, the greatest losses came in the ensuing years. Sandy flooded salt water onto the shores adjacent to Jamaica Bay and Long Island for upwards of 12 hours. This temporary inundation caused widespread death of thousands of trees, whose root systems were injured by the salt water. London plane trees, one of New York City’s most emblematic urban plantings, experienced widespread death in the years following the storm. Though the leaves of the London plane are resistant to salt spray, their roots were unable to tolerate the saltwater inundation. Arborvitae, cypress, tulip trees, Japanese maple, and cedars all experienced dramatic short-term losses.
Figure 1
In total, 10,926 of the city’s trees were lost to storm damage. Superstorm Sandy brought increased awareness that species in proximity to storm surge areas must be able to tolerate periods of saltwater inundation, in addition to coastal spray and soil salts. The map on the adjacent page illustrates those zones which would need to be evacuated during a Hurricane event, revealing areas where significant flooding may occur. Although, afforestation carries the potential for trees to resist attenuate the impacts of storm surge events in these zones, it is also here where forests are most vulnerable.
Figure 2
Figure 1 Photo by Susanna Stein. Source: BKLYNR, October 29, 2018. Figure 2 Sunny-day flooding in Broad Channel, Jamaica Bay. Source: Photo by Nathan Kensinger, appearing in “In Queens, chronic flooding and sea-level rise go hand in hand,” Curbed, NY, October 12, 2017.
Figure 3 Map of Hurricane Evacuation Zones produced with source data from the NYC Office of Emergency Management. These zones indicative varying threat levels of flooding resulting from the storm surges of increasingly severe hurricanes.
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Figure 3
22 | DOMAINS OF INVESTIGATION: COASTAL ECOLOGY
Atlantic Coastal Pine Barrens Barrier Islands and Coastal Marshes
The Atlantic Coastal Pine Barrens are distinguished by its coarser-grained soils, cooler climate, and northeastern oakpine barrens vegetation. The coastal climate is more moderate than that inland climate with a narrower range of seasonal temperatures and a longer growing season. The characteristic sandy beaches, grassy dunes, bays, marshes, and scrubby oakpine forests exist in contrast to the rocky, forested coastline found farther north. The xeric, quartz-sand soils are acidic and have limited nutrient availability. Salt marshes, swamps, and floodplain forests are present in low sites on hydric soils. Freshwater wetlands and marshes may be present in dune swales. Beaches, dunes, barrier islands, salt marshes, bluffs, and bays compose the Barrier Islands/Coastal Marshes ecoregion. These coastal features were created from the terminal moraines of Pleistocene ice sheets. Barrier islands protect the mainland from erosion by ocean storms, but they are often eroded on their seaward side by wave action and sometimes breached or overwashed by violent storms or hurricanes. Barrier islands are nourished by eroded sediments carried along shore by littoral currents and deposited on the islands. Today these landscapes are increasingly held in place by human processes.
Figure 1
Ecologically speaking, Jamaica Bay contains largely successional ecosystems which are disturbed by anthropogenic and climactic events. The coastal forests of the southern New England and the New York bight, and the Coastal Pine Barrens communities are dominated by a few tree species, including Pitch Pine, Scrub Oak, and American Holly. Figure 1 Source: Bryce, S.A., Griffith, G.E., Omernik, J.M., Edinger, G., Indrick, S., Vargas, O., and Carlson, D., 2010, Ecoregions of New York (color poster with map, descriptive text, summary tables, and photographs): Reston, Virginia, U.S. Geological Survey, Map scale 1:1,250,000
Figure 2 Plane flying over Island Beach State Park, NJ. Island Beach is a typical barrier island ecosystem.
Figure 2
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Risk Reduction Benefits of Coastal Forests
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Wave attenuation and/or dissipation. (USACE, 2013)
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Shoreline stabilization. (USACE, 2013)
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Soil retention. (USACE, 2013)
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Reduce wind and salt spray. (Arcadis et al., 2014)
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Usually located above spring tide/behind a dune, and are able to withstand high winds, periodic flooding, salt spray, so may act as an inland barrier to surge and waves during severe storms. (Takle et al., 2007)
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Wetlands and maritime forests of a sufficient size are a natural coastal defense and may be effective in providing wave dissipation (Anderson et al., 2011), flow impedance (Wu et al., 2001), and sediment retention. Consequently, these measures can improve erosion control and mitigate shoreline retreat. (Shepard et al., 2011; Wolanski, 2006)
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Have a direct impact on wind conditions during storm events. (Berg and Limited, 2007; Takle et al., 2007; Wolanski, 2006, Arcadis et al., 2014)
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With sufficient sediment load and nutrient load, maritime forests can self-recover from moderate damage due to storm events. (Arcadis et al., 2014)
Figure 1
References: Cunniff, Shannon, and Aaron Schwartz. “Literature Review: Performance of Natural Infrastructure and Nature-Based Measures as Coastal Risk Reduction Features.” Environmental Defense Fund, September:2015. Figure 1 Partial dependence plots of maximum tsunami height, coastal forest area, and flooded areas with mean destruction rate.The red lines represent bootstrapped confidence intervals around model estimates. Source: Nateghi R, Bricker JD, Guikema SD, Bessho A (2016), Statistical Analysis of the Effectiveness of Seawalls and Coastal Forests in Mitigating Tsunami Impacts in Iwate and Miyagi Prefectures. PLOS ONE 11(8): e0158375. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. pone.0158375 Figure 2 Source: Godfrey P.J., Godfrey M.M. (1982) Biotic zonation. In: Beaches and Coastal Geology. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Boston, MA
d
24 | DOMAINS OF INVESTIGATION: COASTAL ECOLOGY
Biotic Zonation
From Paul J. Godfrey and Melinda M. Godfrey: The arrangement of groups of organisms having similar ecological tolerances and requirements into bands perpendicular to environmental gradients can be called biotic zonation. Where gradients are short and changes abrupt, these groups tend to be discrete and take the appearance of well-defined communities. Biotic interactions such as competition, predation, or grazing may force a particular species to occupy a narrower band than its ecological requirements alone would dictate. The transition from the marine to the terrestrial environment gives rise to especially clear examples of zonation. Some environmental influences that produce distinct gradients in the coastal zone include degree of exposure to air, salinity (of water, soil, and aerosols), temperature, light, oxygen availability, and the presence of various nutrients.
Figure 1
Barrier structures provide a paradigm of zonation in the coastal zone. Figure 1 shows a general pattern of plant communities to be found across a typical barrier island of the United States east coast. Each physical region contains a group of organisms adapted to the conditions of that region. Reference: Godfrey P.J., Godfrey M.M. (1982) Biotic zonation. In: Beaches and Coastal Geology. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Boston, MA Figure 1 General physiography and vegetation zonation of a dynamic coastal barrier island, Cape Hatteras National Seashore, North Carolina. Burkett, Virginia R., et al. 2005. Source: “Nonlinear Dynamics in Ecosystem Response to Climatic Change: Case Studies and Policy Implications.” Ecological Complexity 2 (4): 357–94. Figure 2 View of the transition zone between sand dunes and maritime forest along the sand road leading to Barnegat Inlet within the Southern Natural Area of Island Beach State Park, in Berkeley Township, Ocean County, New Jersey
Figure 2
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Figure 3
Figure 3 Ecological zonation on a barrier beach. From Barrier Beaches of the East Coast by Paul Godfrey, 1976. Source: Godfrey, Paul J, and Melinda M Godfrey. 1982. “Biotic Zonation.” In Beaches and Coastal Geology. Encyclopedia of Earth Science, 169–71. Boston, MA: Springer. Figure 4 The relationships between successional stages of coastal vegetation (from Au, 1974) Source: Burkett, Virginia R., et al. 2005. “Nonlinear Dynamics in Ecosystem Response to Climatic Change: Case Studies and Policy Implications.” Ecological Complexity 2 (4): 357–94.
Figure 4
26 | DOMAINS OF INVESTIGATION: COASTAL ECOLOGY
Anthrosols
Anthropogenic forces have influenced the surface soils that are now found in the Jamaica Bay watershed. Many of the soils found along the shoreline of Jamaica Bay have been greatly influenced by residential, commercial, and industrial development; landfilling with waste materials; and dredging operations, and are generally disturbed in some form even if they consist of local material. The maps below illustrate the intervention into bay morphology through urban development in the last 100 years. The map on the left indicates the location of anthrosols, or soils produced by human activity. This map uses the dataset of the 2005 NYC Reconnaissance Soil Survey, which classifies the location and makeup of soils across the five boroughs.
Figure 1 Dumping in Jamaica Bay landfills in the 1960s. Source: National Archives Documerica Project, 1972-1977.
The map on the right indicates the locations of land reclamation efforts beginning in 1921 until today. Major fill projects are documented such as the forming of Canarsie Pol, the shoring of Breezy Point, the filling of Barren Island, the creation of numerous landfills and the extension of JFK Airport.
Figure 2 The locations of various anthrosols around Jamaica Bay and beyond. Source: NYC Reconnaissance Soil Survey, 2005. Figure 3 Filled land created through dumping, dredging and other human reclamation activities indicated in shades of red. Darker shades indicate more recent reclamation efforts. Source: US Coastal Survey data and USACE planning documents.
Figure 2
Figure 3
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Nitrification Age and Extent of Surface Water Mixing 40
Nitrogen loading in Jamaica Bay is a serious problem, which potentially affects the success of a coastal forest. Nitrogen loading occurs due to sewage outflow from the four New York City sewage treatment plants located along the Jamaica Bay shoreline. Elevated nitrogen levels in the bay are blamed for marsh erosion, algal blooms, and the direct decline of finfish and shellfish populations as well as the indirect decline of local and Atlantic-flyway migratory bird populations. The city has committed to reducing nitrogen discharge and has begun nitrogen recovery, but bay nitrification remains a significant issue.
35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Age and extent of surface-water mixing at three sites on Jamaica Bay, Long Island, N.Y., as defined by a coupled hydrodynamic/water-quality model (From Richard Isleib, HydroQual, Inc., written commun., 2006).
Reference: NYC Audubon, 2010. http://www.nycaudubon.org/issues-of-concern/excessnitrogen-in-the-water-at-jamaica-bay
Site C: Grassy Bay (poor mixing)
Site B: Canarsie Pier (moderate mixing)
Figure 1 Source: Benotti, Mark J., Michele Abbene, and Stephen A. Terracciano. 2007. “Nitrogen Loading in Jamaica Bay, Long Island, New York: Predevelopment to 2005: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2007–5051.” Reston, Virginia. USACE planning documents.
Age of water (days)
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Site A: Outside Jamaica Bay (extensive mixing)
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2 MILES 2 KILOMETERS
28 | DOMAINS OF INVESTIGATION: PLANNING
Visions for Jamaica Bay
There have been countless visions for Jamaica Bay produced over the past century. At the end of the 1800s Jamaica Bay was a productive landscape for the city’s oyster industry. Some 80 million oysters a year were harvested in the bay’s waters, but fears of typhoid and other diseases saw the bay’s aquaculture industry eventually shuttered by the NYC Department of health in 1921. By the 1900s the bay was increasingly becoming a site of speculation. An amusement park proposal inspired by the canals of Venice made the headlines of the New-York Tribune in 1903. And in 1910, the first documented proposal to turn Jamaica Bay into a seaport appeared, seeking to capitalize on the burgeoning NYC transcontinental shipping industry. Over the next thirty years numerous proposals were tabled to transform the bay’s various marshlands and islands into a port, some versions of which included a canal from Jamaica Bay all the way to Flushing Bay running along what is now the Van Wyck Expressway.
Figure 1
Although some dredging for the ports occurred during this period, and dozens of plans were approved, the outbreak of two world wars and opposition from New Jersey, which sought to build the port of Newark, dragged the Jamaica Bay seaport projects out until well into the 1930s. The rise to power of Robert Moses in NYC planning would finally kill the port proposals. As New York City Parks Commissioner, Moses placed 9,158 acres of wetlands and beaches under NYC Parks jurisdiction. Additionally, Moses oversaw the construction of the Belt Parkway, the Marine Parkway Bridge, the Cross Bay bridge, and the creation of Jacob Riis Park and the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, stitching Jamaica Bay into a single infrastructural project supporting New York City’s largest recreational area.
Figure 1 Workers at an oyster barge in New York City circa 1890. Source: Getty Images Figure 2 Source: New-York tribune. July 3, 1910. Source: Library of Congress
Figure 2
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Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
Figure 3 Plan for transforming Jamaica Bay into a port. Source: Jamaica Bay Improvement Commission,1907
Figure 4 Source: Construction of the Marine Parkway Bridge, connection Floyd Bennett Field with Riis Park (bottom right), and Fort Tilden (bottom left) in 1937. Source: New York City Transit Authority
Figure 5 Proposal for “A Really Greater New York,� that shows the East River landfill, a New East River canal, and a southern extension of Manhattan. Source: Popular Science Monthly, 1916
Figure 6 An aerial view of Jacob Riis Park and the Marine Parkway Bridge (background) in 1956. Source: New York City Transit Authority
30 | DOMAINS OF INVESTIGATION: PLANNING
The 1970s saw widespread urban decline in New York City, which dramatically affected the communities and parks around Jamaica Bay. In 1972, Congress established the Gateway National Recreation Area, which brought much of the Moses-created Jamaica Bay Parks System under its purview along with lands in Sandy Hook and Staten Island. Gateway, also known as GNRA, was formed to preserve and protect the deteriorating New York and New Jersey waterfront by setting aside a landmark 26,000 acres as a national recreation area and wildlife refuge. The formation of Gateway helped Jamaica Bay become understood as part of the vital and increasingly rare embayments of the northeast, and recognized the bay’s ecological function as part of a larger system the shores of Staten Island and Sandy Hook. In the early twenty-first century, two regional planning visions emerged. The first was the 2009 proposal from the NYC Department of Transportation, the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation, and the Jamaica Bay Greenway Coalition to create a 28-mile network of bicycle and pedestrian paths to connect various sites around Jamaica Bay. The second was the 2012 announcement of the Jamaica Bay Partnership, which restructured management responsibilities of all 10,000 acres of federal and city-owned parkland in Jamaica Bay under cooperative oversight by the National Park Service, the U.S. Department of the Interior, and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.
Figure 1
On October 29th, 2012 Superstorm Sandy, which had weakened to a post-tropical cyclone, made landfall at Brigantine, New Jersey, causing some $80 billion in damages in the states of New Jersey and New York. A 13.8-foot storm surge overwhelmed the East River and flooded Lower Manhattan. In Jamaica Bay and the Rockaways, storm surges of eight to ten feet overwhelmed already flood-prone neighborhoods. Thousands of homes were destroyed either directly by flooding or fires, or indirectly as part of managed retreat programs in the years since. Few neighborhoods were left untouched by the damage that the superstorm brought, uniting Jamaica Bay neighborhoods around a new common project: recovery and resilience at the increasingly fragile coastal edge of New York. Figure 1 Old Refrigerators and Shell of Highrise at Breezy Point. Source: National Archives Documerica Project, 1972-1977. Figure 2 Gateway National Recreation Area, New York-New Jersey. Source: National Park Service and Library of Congress
Figure 2
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Figure 3
Figure 4
Jamaica Bay Greenway Implementation Plan
Figure 5
Figure 6
Figure 3 Jamaica Bay Improvements: Existing and Proposed, c. 1945. Source: New York City Department of Parks
Figure 4 New York after Superstorm Sandy: a proving ground for climate-change forensics. Source: AP Images
Figure 5 Jamaica Bay Greenway: Implementation Plan, 2017. Source: NYC DOT and Regional Plan Association
Figure 6 Damaged homes in Broad Channel after Hurricane Sandy. Source: Don Riepe
32 | DOMAINS OF INVESTIGATION: PLANNING
Recent Projects
Over the last two decades numerous tree planting projects have been undertaken in Jamaica Bay and its adjacent lands. The map on the facing page documents these projects. The Bloomberg Administration implemented the successful MillionTreesNYC campaign which saw thousands of new trees planted in the area. An ambitious 3-year planting effort in Jamaica Bay numbering 28,000 new trees was undertaken by the the National Park Service, the Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy, and the Nature Conservancy. Figure 1
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 1 Tree planting efforts at Floyd Bennett Field in 2012. 5,000 trees were planted as part of the Bloomberg administration’s MillionTreesNYC project. Source: John Harlan Warren/NPS
Figure 2 Saplings planted at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. Broad Channel, New York. Source: Ryan McGrady Figure 3 Vision for Shirley Chisholm State Park. Source: NYCDPR.
JAMAICA BAY TREE RING | 33
Forestry Project Status
Completed Planting Projects Proposed Planting Projects
Spring Creek Park South Proposed Management: DEP and NYS OPRHP Number of Trees: Unknown Shirley Chisholm State Park
Parkland + Other Greenspace
2002-Ongoing
Beaches + Dunes
Management: DEP and NYS OPRHP Number of Trees: 35,000
Data from the NPS, NYC Parks,, NYCDPR, PlaNYC, NYS OPRHP
Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge Restoration 2015-2017 Management: NPS Number of Trees: 28,000
Shore Parkway 2019 W-Architecture w/ Handel and Kaunzinger (Rutgers) Management: NPS and NYCDPR
Sunset Cove Park 2019 Management: NYCDPR Trees Planted: 2000 North Forty 2012 Million Trees NYC - PlaNYC Management: NPS and NYCDPR Belt Parkway Tree Planting Proposed In Design Phase Management: NYC Parks
Figure 4: Map denotes the status of recent and ongoing reforestation and afforestation projects in the Jamaica Bay region. Source: NPS, NYCDPR, PlaNYC and the NYS OPRH.
34 | DOMAINS OF INVESTIGATION: TREES
Existing Vegetation and Vulnerability
Land around Jamaica Bay is habitat to a wide mix of native and non-native vegetation. Native species are threatened by invasive pests such as the Southern Pine Beetle and the Emerald Ash Borer, and by invasive vegetation that is readily able to outcompete in the highly urbanized estuarine ecosystem that the region has become over the last two centuries. Before Superstorm Sandy, the National Park Service mapped all vegetation within the Gateway National Park Region. This is the most accurate census of the plant communities in the bay that exists today. The map at the upper right shows all plant communities within the National Park Service borders, while the map at the lower right indicates only tree species. All of these plant communities are highly vulnerable to encroachment.
Figure 1 and Figure 2 The Gateway National Recreation Area Vegetation Inventory Project was undertaken to map and classify vegetation with the National Park Service’s Gateway National Recreation Area lands. The Jamaica Bay Unit spatial vegetation data is shown in Figure 1, and tree species are isolated in Figure 2. More information from this study can be found at; Edinger GJ and et al., 2008. Vegetation Classification and Mapping at Gateway National Recreation Area. Natural Resource Technical Report: Northeast Region. National Park Service, Northeast Region. Philadelphia, PA
Figure 1
Figure 2
JAMAICA BAY TREE RING | 35
Forest Type Vulnerability Coastal Plain Maritime Forest Vulnerability: High Coastal Plain Oak-Pine Hardwood Vulnerability: Moderate-Low Coastal Plain Swamp Vulnerability: Moderate-Low (contested) Coastal Plain Pine-Oak Barrens Vulnerability: Moderate-Low All City/State/Federal Parkland
More information on USFS Forest Vulnerability can be found at USFS website or at the ArcGIS web app, here; arcg.is/4vzi9. Data from the USFS + The Nature Conservancy.
Forest Type Vulnerability Coastal Plain Maritime Forest Vulnerability: High Coastal Plain Oak-Pine Hardwood Vulnerability: Moderate-Low Coastal Plain Swamp Vulnerability: Moderate-Low (contested)
USFS Demarcated Forest Types and Coastal Plain Pine-Oak Barrens Vulnerability: Moderate-Low All City/State/Federal Parkland
More information on USFS Forest Vulnerability can be found at USFS website or at the ArcGIS web app, here; arcg.is/4vzi9. Data from the USFS + The Nature Conservancy.
Figure 3 This map illustrates the USFS - demarcated Forest Types within Jamaica Bay and their relative national-level vulnerability to climate change pressures. Source: Butler-Leopold, P.R.; Q. Chavez, C. Swanston. Climate Change and Adaptation: MidAtlantic Forests. USDA Forest Service.
36 | DOMAINS OF INVESTIGATION: TREES
Species Suitability
Any planting regime will need to carefully consider a species palette of native species, and to reconsider a desire to reconstruct past landscapes, as these may no longer be appropriate for the Jamaica Bay area. The bay has shifting saline boundaries, is exposed to invasive plants and pests, is highly urbanized, and has a rapidly warming climate. Additionally, noted in Handel and Kaunzinger’s work for the Shore Parkway Plantings, new plantings will need to consider the effects of invasive vegetation nearby. There is a wide variety of coastal invasives already manifest at Jamaica Bay. Without considering adjacent ecological communities, any planting regime’s effectiveness may be deeply undermined.
Figure 1
The Tree Species Compass lists the top performing commonly cited plants which occur in coastal forests and which are salt tolerant, or which are recommended based on lists of salt-tolerant planting options for coastal or roadside locations. Sources used include municipal and state coastal planting guides from Maine to Florida, the Morton Arboretum (Chicago), the USDA, Tree and Shrub fact sheets from University of Florida IFAS Extension, and the United States Forest Service. Wetland indicator status is sourced from the 2016 National Wetland Plant List produced by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, and studies dealing with the effects of salinity on tree injury and mortality.
Figure 2
Figure 1 Cacti thriving in the sandy soils of the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. Source: M. B. Gargiullo, An Ecological Manual of New York City Plants in Natural Areas, 1989 Figure 2 West Pond trail at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. Source: Mackenzie Ryan, Backpacker Magazine, September 2013
Figure 3 Tree Species Compass showing which trees may be best specified for afforestation in coastal communities. Shows region, salinity tolerances, distance from shore, species, and ecological groupings (dashed lines)
JAMAICA BAY TREE RING | 37
Tree Species Compass BACKDUNE
Baccharis halimifolia Cephalanthus occidentalis Prunus maritima Opuntia humifusa Prunus serotina Rosa virginiana
Juniperus virginiana
Morella cerifera
Ilex opaca
Ilex vomitoria
Rhus copallina
Magnolia pyramidata
Rhus typhina Amelanchier laevis
Rhus glabra
Pinus palustris
Gleditsia triacanthos
Celtis laevigata Pinus rigada
Quercus macrocarpa
Celtis occidentalis
Fraxinus spp.
Pinus taeda
Juglans nigra
Pinus elliotti
Ulmus americana
Liquidambar styraciflua Nyssa sylvatica
Quercus alba Populus Alba
Diospyros virginiana
Gymnocladus dioicus Magnolia grandiflora
Populus deltoides
Acer rubrum
UPLAND
+
SALINITY
-
+
Celastrus scandens
Sassafras albidum
BAY SID E T RA NS I TI ON
ION SIT N A TR E ID AS E S
Celtis occidentalis
DISTANCE TO WATER
Myrica pensylvanica
Figure 3
-
KET HIC ET ID YS BA
SEA SID ET HI CK ET
Hudsonia tomentosa
The Japanese Black Pine — What’s Happening?
38 | DOMAINS OF INVESTIGATION: TREES
The Japanese Black Pine
SUSCEPTIBILITY OF HEAL THY AND STRESSED JJAP AP ANESE BLA CK PINE HEALTHY APANESE BLACK
feeding of Pine Sawyers that may introduce Pinewood Nematode
Historically, one of the most planted non-native species was the Japanese black pine (Pinus thunbergii), which has welldemonstrated salt tolerance from both aerosol and soil salt. It has been used extensively along Japanese coasts to create forests to prevent damage from storm surges, and has been used for dune management since at least the feudal era. On Long Island, Japanese black pine has been extensively planted since the 1940s. However, in North America, the trees are highly susceptible to a pine wilt disease, caused by the nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus which does not affect native pines. Upon reaching 15-20 years of age, the trees rapidly degrade and die. This disease also affects the European species of Pinus luchuensis and Pinus sylvestris. Native pines resistant to the nematode include, P. taeda, P. elliottii, P. palustris and P. rigida.
IPS Beetles boring into branches
Cenangium Canker kills individual branches
feeding of Black Turpentine Beetle that may introduce Bluestain fungi or directly girdle tree
Adult Pine Sawyers emerge from dead pines
Pine Sawyers Introduction of nematodes with laying of eggs
HEALTHY PINE
Black Turpentine Beetle feeding
Armillaria Root Rot
STRESSED PINE
Figure 1
Since the 1940’s, the Japanese black pine, Pinus thunbergii, has been one of the most widely planted trees in seashore land- scapes on Long Island. The evergreen tree has been valued for its ability to withstand salt spray and its usefulness as a windbreak and/or screen. Although it seems like a natural feature of the landscape, the Japanese black pine is actually an exotic ornamental here, having been introduced from its native Japan and Korea. For about the last 15 years, Japanese black pines on Long Island have been dying in relatively large numbers, particularly on the north and south forks. The trees most susceptible to problems seem to be 15 to 20 or more years old. Initially, the trees that were most often seen dying were those exposed to the
harshest growing conditions. Usually, they received little maintenance and were growing in very sandy soils, often exposed to the rigors of a seashore location. There seemed to be a correlation between trees growing in stressful conditions and those that were dying.
E-1-26 RW reviewed RT 1/03
Building Strong and Vibrant New York Communities Cornell Cooperative Extension in Nassau County provides equal program and employment opportunities.
References: Koike, K. (2010) Japan. In Bird E.C.F. (eds) Encyclopedia of the World’s Coastal Landforms. Springer. Dordrecht. Coastal sand dunes are extensive on the coasts bordering the East China Sea, where the strong northwesterly winter monsoon blows onshore (Endo 1986). In some parts, wind-blown sands now cover Pleistocene uplands, forming dunes up to 80 m high. Most of the coastal dunes along the East China Sea coasts were not covered with vegetation, and were therefore blown inland in the medieval era. Many feudal lords (Daimyo) tried to fix the mobile dunes by planting black pine trees (Pinus thunbergii) to protect paddy fields from inundation by blown sand during the Edo era. Today these dunes are covered with forests, which have fixed the mobile dunes and trapped sand blown from the shores. Since the early 20th century, native populations of P. thunbergii have been decimated and may ultimately be eliminated by pine wilt disease, caused by the nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus. The disease is native to North America, where it has no apparent ill effect on native pines, but the Asian pines P. luchuensis and P. thunbergii apparently have no resistance to it. It is introduced to needles when they are grazed by longhorn beetles (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) and effectively defoliates the trees. As the trees die and are invaded by blue stain fungi, the nematodes begin to feed on the fungi. Longhorn beetles lay eggs in the bark of the dying trees, providing the nematodes with their transport vector.
Figure 2
Figure 1 An illustration showing the susceptibility of healthy and stressed Japanese black pines to various pest problems that have been associated with the decline of these trees. Source: Daughtrey, Margarey, “The Japanese Black Pine — What’s Happening,” Plant Pathology, Long Island Horticultural Research Laboratory, Riverhead, New York, and Thomas Kowalsick, Horticulture Consultant, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County Figure 2 Dead needles on pine tree infected with Bursaphelenchus xylophilus. Source: Russ Ingham, Pacific Northwest Pest Management Handbook.
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Performance Metrics for Coastal Afforestation
x x Vegetation Height Vegetation Density
VegetationElevation Height Platform Platform Height
Vegetation Height Vegetation Height
Vegetation Height Wetland Availability
Vegetation Height Root Depth + Extents
Vegetation Height Sediment Composition
Soil Moisture
Vegetation Height Species Composition
40 | PRECEDENT AFFORESTATION
JAMAICA BAY TREE RING | 41
Precedent Afforestation
Adjacent Page Duna di Feniglia Orbetello, Italy
42 | PRECEDENT AFFORESTATION
Ecology Village Pine Grove New York
These pines were originally planted as part of Lady Bird Johnson’s Beautify America program in the 1960s.The grove was originally Japanese black pines, some of which were recently replaced with white pines after succumbing to pine wilt. The pine grove stands within Gateway National Recreation Area and features campsites and trails. This rare forested area provides habitat for numerous species in a predominately urban and impervious landscape.
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44 | PRECEDENT AFFORESTATION
Fire Island Sunken Forest New York
This maritime forest appears to be “sunken� behind the primary barrier dune, as any branches that grow higher than the dune are curbed by salt spray. A secondary dune is separated from the first by a swale, or low-lying depression. The ecosystem was likely established first by dune grasses, followed by woolly beach heather and seaside goldenrod, which stabilized the sand. Over time, post oak, black cherry, highbush blueberry, red cedar, and pitch pine came to dominate the forest. Today, the forest is primarily evergreen holly, sassafras, and juneberry. The sunken forest is part of the Fire Island National Seashore and offers nature trails and hikes administered by the National Park Service, primarily along boardwalks designed to protect the ecosystem.
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46 | PRECEDENT AFFORESTATION
Pinelands National Reserve New Jersey
The Pinelands National Reserve occupies 1.1 million acres, amounting to 22% of New Jersey. Though primarily forested, the reserve includes several towns, villages, and sites of agricultural production. The pine barrens are instrumental in recharging the vast aquifer that lies beneath the sandy soil. The forest contains over 850 species of plants, including pitch pine, oak, cedar, hardwoods, flowers, and carnivorous species. 109 southern species and 14 northern varieties reach their geographic limit in the pinelands. The pinelands contain a unique 12,000 acre stand of pygmy forest composed of dwarf, symbiotic pine, and oak.
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48 | PRECEDENT AFFORESTATION
Coastal Forest in Aomori Prefecture Japan
Many coastal forests were planted during the Edo Period (17th and 18th centuries) and the Meiji Period (late 1800s) to stabilize sand and sediment that was transported to the ocean from Japan’s mountains and washed ashore through littoral drift. The primary species planted in the late 1800s was Japanese black pine. Cypress, cedar, and Japanese red pine are also found throughout the region’s forests. Coastal forests are recognized as a means of mitigating strong winds, wave energy, heavy fog, and erosion, and trapping debris during tsunamis. Additionally, the forests provide recreation, select forest products, scenic tourist areas, and biodiversity conservation.
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50 | PRECEDENT AFFORESTATION
Pineta Rivera, Pineta Nuova, Pineta Grande Italy
The Romans planted and maintained coastal forests on the Italian peninsula as a means of protecting crops from salt spray and producing pine nuts, timber, and resin. Historic species included stone pine (Pinus pinea) and Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis). These older forests are generally biodiverse. Interest in coastal forests resurged during the mid-twentieth century, as a means of stabilizing dunes and preventing erosion. These forests are also valued for recreation, habitat, and carbon storage and sequestration. Modern coastal forests are typically composed of stone pine, Aleppo pine, and maritime pine (Pinus pinaster), alongside holm oak, shrubby juniper, myrtle, and liana.
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52 | PRECEDENT AFFORESTATION
Forest Reserve “Duna di Feniglia� Orbetello, Italy
The Duna di Feniglia was declared a special protection nature reserve of Italy in 1971. A seven kilometer strip of land between Mount Argentario and the hill town of Ansedonia on mainland Italy, which borders the Lagoon of Orbetello. This region suffered deforestation in the early-1800s as private individuals took advantage of laws allowing the felling of the coastal forest for pastures and timber. The removal of the pre-existing forest caused the dune to begin to migrate toward the lagoon, increasing stagnant marshland and enabling favorable conditions for malaria. In response to this, expropriations were undertaken in 1910, and reforestation occurred over five decades to intervene in the decline of the lagoon. Today the forest consists almost entirely of stone pine (Pinus picea) and maritime pine (Pinus pinaster). The lagunar edge of the forest is comprised of a variety of broadleaf species.
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54 | PRECEDENT AFFORESTATION
Pinhal de Leiria National Forest Marinha Grande. Leira District, Portugal
The coastal Pinhal de Leiria was planted in the thirteenth century under King Afonso III to prevent the encroachment of sand dunes on agricultural lands. Later, this forest provided timber for the shipbuilding required during the era of Portuguese maritime exploration in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and fueled the Portuguese glass industry from the seventeenth through the twentieth centuries. Today the forest continues to be utilized as a managed forest, producing high quality timber. Currently the forest occupies an area of 11,023 hectares (27,250 acres), almost entirely planted as a monoculture of maritime pine (Pinus pinaster). Broadleaf trees and other conifers constitute a small percentage of the rest of the forest. In 2017, a fire destroyed approximate 80% of the forest in a single day. Since then, some 640,000 trees have been replanted.
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56 | PRECEDENT AFFORESTATION
Landes Forest, Gascony France
Prior to the nineteenth century, this land was characterized by swampy marshes and shifting coastal sand dunes. Maritime pines were planted across the landscape and the marshes were drained using a canal system, creating arable soil. With an area of about 5,000 square miles, Landes is France’s largest forest and the largest human-planted woodland in Western Europe. The forest is separated from the ocean by a massive dune. The forest is primarily composed of salt-tolerant Pinus pilaster (maritime pine), with oak, alder, birch, willow, and holly growing in some areas. The pines protect the grapevines of the Bordeaux region from salty coastal winds. An extensive cycling route follows the Atlantic coast and allows visitors to venture deeper into the forest.
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Publisher: NY Published: Ap
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Jamaica Bay Tree Ring
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JAMAICA BAY TREE RING | 61
Jamaica Bay Today
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Jamaica Bay Tree Ring
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A Timeline of Trees in the Bay 1609
1776
FORESTED LAND
FORESTED LAND
NON-FOREST
NON-FOREST
2018 OUTLINE
2018 OUTLINE
2040
1879
FORESTED LAND
FORESTED LAND
NON-FOREST
NON-FOREST
2018 OUTLINE
JAMAICA BAY TREE RING | 65
Scale Comparison
Fresh Kills 3.44 mi² 2,200 acres
Central Park 1.32 mi² 842.6 acres
Jamaica Bay Tree Ring 5.32 mi² 3,403 acres
66 | JAMAICA BAY TREE RING
Forest Types For Consideration
Commercial
Patterned
JAMAICA BAY TREE RING | 67
Rewilded
Floodplain
68 | JAMAICA BAY TREE RING
How Many Trees?
The square to the right contains 400 dots, each representing one tree. The square itself represents one acre of forest. In determining the number of trees to plant in the Jamaica Bay it is essential to determine the quality of the forest desired. Mixed species forests are the most difficult population to determine, due to the unique needs of each tree species. A mix of trees is ideal for forest health and resilience. Further, a special concern emerges with a public forest of this size beyond species composition: maintenance. In a commercial forest, trees are planted for economic efficiency. Saplings are over-planted to crowd out any competing vegetation, then thinned out over the coming seasons to promote healthy growth of the highest quality trees. This can lead to plantings of over 1,000 trees per acre. This kind of thinning is not realistic over the 3,304 acres of Jamaica Bay, nor is the economic value of the proposed forest derived from the felling and sale of the trees. To reduce the need for thinning, and promote larger trees that can encourage but not completely shut out the growth of other vegetation, a planting of between 400-500 trees per acre may produce a manageable forest ecosystem on this scale. The environmental conditions at Jamaica Bay are quite harsh, and even with the appropriate spacing between trees, hundreds of thousands of young trees will die in the salty conditions of the Bay. Assuming a conservative loss of 25%, the Jamaica Bay Tree Ring could eventually encompass a forest population of between one million and 1.5 million trees. A study by the Parks Department, however, points toward a more optimistic number, an annualized loss of 6.2% over the first few years, leaving the potential new park with tens to hundreds of thousands more.
Figure 1
References: Lu, Jacqueline W.T.; Svendsen, Erika S.; Campbell, Lindsay K.; Greenfeld, Jennifer; Braden, Jessie; King, Kristen L.; and Falxa-Raymond, Nancy (2011) “Biological, Social, and Urban Design Factors Affecting Young Street Tree Mortality in New York City,” Cities and the Environment (CATE): Vol. 3: Iss. 1, Article 5. Hilbert, Deborah R.; Roman, Lara A.; Koeser, Andrew K.; Vogt, Jess; van Doorn, Natalie S. 2019. Urban Tree Mortality: A Literature Review. Arboriculture & Urban Forestry: 45(5): 167-200. doi: 10.13140/RG.2.2.25953.15204. Ochterski, J., P. Smallidge, and J. Ward, “Northeastern Tree Planting and Reforestation” (Ithaca: Cornell University Cooperative Extension, 2009). Figure 1 Square representing a single acre of forest with 400 trees.
JAMAICA BAY TREE RING | 69
At the Water’s Edge: Coastal Morphodynamics
The region in which the tree ring is located is one which has largely, if not completely been shaped by human activity. The sandy soils consist predominantly of human-dredged material. The plants are frequently non-native, invasive species which are more suited to human activity, habitat fragmentation, and perhaps to the changing climate than those species which are considered historically native to the Jamaica Bay area. There are extensive paved and impervious areas, especially north of the Belt Parkway, at Floyd Bennett Field, and along the Rockaway Peninsula. Many of the shoreline edges have been hardened or armored to protect against storm surges. Historic maps show a radically different Bay morphology, and recent shoreline mapping studies by the National Park Service show that shoreline and marsh change continues today.
SHORELINE 2011 SHORELINE 1985 SHORELINE 1965 SHORELINE 1948 SHORELINE 1929
Most sites within the Jamaica Bay Tree Ring planning area will experience some kind of disturbance. Regular tidal-flooding, and the increasing frequency of storm surges will mean that the boundary between land and water will fluctuate readily, shifting the borders between wetland and upland, and causing shifting levels of saltwater intrusion. Any planting regime which will occur along the coastal periphery will require taking into account periodic flooding and extreme weather potentials and a changing saline composition at the planting areas. Similarly, afforestation will require taking into account the possible morphodynamics of the shorelines, particularly those facing areas of both longshore and cross-shore processes. If the forests that are planted today can persist in an area of considerable change, their cost effectiveness and ability to reduce short- and long-term damages from storm events will increase considerably.
Figure 1
References: Lu, Jacqueline W.T.; Svendsen, Erika S.; Campbell, Lindsay K.; Greenfeld, Jennifer; Braden, Jessie; King, Kristen L.; and Falxa-Raymond, Nancy (2011) “Biological, Social, and Urban Design Factors Affecting Young Street Tree Mortality in New York City,” Cities and the Environment (CATE): Vol. 3: Iss. 1, Article 5. Hilbert, Deborah R.; Roman, Lara A.; Koeser, Andrew K.; Vogt, Jess; van Doorn, Natalie S. 2019. Urban Tree Mortality: A Literature Review. Arboriculture & Urban Forestry: 45(5): 167-200. doi: 10.13140/RG.2.2.25953.15204. Ochterski, J., P. Smallidge, and J. Ward, “Northeastern Tree Planting and Reforestation” (Ithaca: Cornell University Cooperative Extension, 2009). Figure 1 Shoreline Change. Source: Nordenson, Catherine Seavitt, et al. Structures of Coastal Resilience. Island Press, 2018.
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N
IO ECT IE S
ARS CAN
N
YD FLO
O CTI T SE
B
ET ENN
JAMAICA BAY TREE RING | 71
AD BRO
CH
EL ANN
N
TIO SEC
N
IO ECT AY S W CK A
RO
Jamaica Bay Tree Ring
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Rockaway Peninsula - current
Barrier Flat Plant Tolerances
Soil Salt Aerosol Salt Drainage
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Backdune Plant Tolerances
Soil Salt Aerosol Salt Drainage
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Rockaway Peninsula - 5 years
Barrier Flat Plant Tolerances
Soil Salt Aerosol Salt Drainage
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Rockaway Peninsula - 15 years
Backdune Plant Tolerances
Soil Salt Aerosol Salt Drainage
76 | JAMAICA BAY TREE RING
Rockaway Peninsula - 50 years Pinus palustris
Pinus elliottii
Amelanchier laevis
Prunus maritima
Barrier Flat Plant Tolerances
Soil Salt Aerosol Salt Drainage
Barrier Flat
Soil Salt Aerosol Salt
Prunus serotina
JAMAICA BAY TREE RING | 77
Baccharis halimifolia
Morella pennsylvanica
Ilex opaca
Hippophae rhamnoides
Juniperus virginiana
Ceophalanthus occidentalis
Opuntia humifusa
Baccharis halimifolia
Backdune Plant Tolerances
Backdune
Soil Salt Aerosol Salt
Soil Salt Aerosol Salt Drainage
78 | JAMAICA BAY TREE RING
Rockaway Peninsula - current
JAMAICA BAY TREE RING | 79
80 | JAMAICA BAY TREE RING
Rockaway Peninsula - proposed
JAMAICA BAY TREE RING | 81
82 | JAMAICA BAY TREE RING
Floyd Bennett Field - current
Upland Forest Plant Tolerances
Soil Salt Aerosol Salt Drainage
JAMAICA BAY TREE RING | 83
Bayside Forest Plant Tolerances
Soil Salt Aerosol Salt Drainage
84 | JAMAICA BAY TREE RING
Floyd Bennett Field - 5 years
Upland Forest Plant Tolerances
Soil Salt Aerosol Salt Drainage
JAMAICA BAY TREE RING | 85
Floyd Bennett Field - 15 years
Bayside Forest Plant Tolerances
Soil Salt Aerosol Salt Drainage
86 | JAMAICA BAY TREE RING
Floyd Bennett Field - 50 years Pinus rigada
Nyssa sylvatica
Rhus eldarica
Upland Forest Plant Tolerances
Soil Salt Aerosol Salt Drainage
Upland Forest
Soil Salt Aerosol Salt
Carya ovata
Taxodium distichum
Gymnocladus dioicus
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Gleditsia triacanthos
Opuntia humifusa
Salix babylonica
Prunus maritima
Quercus alba
Quercus macrocarpa
Vaccinum angustifolium
Bayside Forest Plant Tolerances
Bayside Forest
Soil Salt Aerosol Salt
Soil Salt Aerosol Salt Drainage
88 | JAMAICA BAY TREE RING
Floyd Bennett Field - current Wide paved areas require continual maintenance and create high-risk flooding zones
Marina parking causes a high-risk overwash area
Under-utilized parking spaces
Lawn spaces require regular mowing and watering and do little to contain storm surge energy or displaced waters
Soils consist largely of dredge and anthrosols
JAMAICA BAY TREE RING | 89
Beach sand is continually shifting without marsh or grasslands to lock it in place
Marina parking causes a high-risk overwash area
A wide shallow bay is a prime target for wave development and catastrophic wave damage
Formerly a landfill area, bayside soils here are eroding, releasing decades old trash into the waters of the bay
90 | JAMAICA BAY TREE RING
Floyd Bennett Field - proposed Airfields converted to broadleaf forest
Major roadways and historic runways to remain as is for heritage and transportation purposes
New opportunities for interior campgrounds at Floyd Bennett expanded
Floyd Bennett grounds populated with Pinus pilaster stands
Soils consist largely of dredge and anthrosols
JAMAICA BAY TREE RING | 91
Significant aerosol salts, only allowing highly tolerant bayside species plantings to survive
Marshland developed to reduce storm surge flooding along the heavily trafficked Flatbush avenue
Bayside plantings help to prevent erosion at the waters edge through extensive root networks, halting the deposition of trash
92 | JAMAICA BAY TREE RING
Belt Parkway at Canarsie - current
Thicket
Plant Tolerances
Soil Salt Aerosol Salt Drainage
JAMAICA BAY TREE RING | 93
Upland Forest Plant Tolerances
Soil Salt Aerosol Salt Drainage
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Belt Parkway at Canarsie - 5 years
Thicket
Plant Tolerances
Soil Salt Aerosol Salt Drainage
JAMAICA BAY TREE RING | 95
Belt Parkway at Canarsie - 15 years
Upland Forest Plant Tolerances
Soil Salt Aerosol Salt Drainage
96 | JAMAICA BAY TREE RING
Belt Parkway at Canarsie - 50 years Morella pensylvanica
Ilex Opaca
Osmanthus Americanus
Thicket
Plant Tolerances
Thicket
Baccharis halimifolia
Soil Salt Aerosol Salt Drainage
Soil Salt Aerosol Salt
Juniperus virginiana
Quercus macrocarpa
Morella cerifera
JAMAICA BAY TREE RING | 97
Catalpa speciosa
Fraxinus pensylvanica
Juglans nigra
Fraxinus americana
Rhus copallinum
Acer rubrum
Upland Forest Plant Tolerances
Upland Forest
Nyssa sylvatica
Liquidambar stryaciflua
Soil Salt Aerosol Salt
Soil Salt Aerosol Salt Drainage
Quercus Alba
98 | JAMAICA BAY TREE RING
Belt Parkway at Canarsie - proposed
JAMAICA BAY TREE RING | 99
100 | JAMAICA BAY TREE RING
Broad Channel - current
Bayside Forest Plant Tolerances
Soil Salt Aerosol Salt Drainage
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Thicket
Plant Tolerances
Soil Salt Aerosol Salt Drainage
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Broad Channel - 5 years
Bayside Forest Plant Tolerances
Soil Salt Aerosol Salt Drainage
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Broad Channel - 15 years
Thicket
Plant Tolerances
Soil Salt Aerosol Salt Drainage
104 | JAMAICA BAY TREE RING
Broad Channel - 50 years Opuntia humfusa
Pinus palustris
Celtis laevigata
Bayside Forest Plant Tolerances
Pinus elliottii
Quercus alba
Vaccinum angustifolium
Soil Salt Aerosol Salt Drainage
Bayside Forest
Quercus macrocarpa
Soil Salt Aerosol Salt
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Morella cerifera
Ilex opaca
Prunus maritima
Baccharis halimifolia
Juniperus communis
Prunus serotina
Amelanchier laevis
Thicket
Plant Tolerances
Thicket
Soil Salt Aerosol Salt
Cephalanthus occidentalis
Soil Salt Aerosol Salt Drainage
106 | JAMAICA BAY TREE RING
Broad Channel - proposed
JAMAICA BAY TREE RING | 107
108 | THE ATLAS
JAMAICA BAY TREE RING | 109
The Atlas
Adjacent Page Photo-collage of proposed afforestation along the Rockaway Peninsula between Beach 96th Street and Beach 105th Street
110 | THE ATLAS
000
002
005
007
010
012
015
017
020
022
025
027
030
032
035
037
040
042
045
185
182
180
177
175
172
170
167
165
162
160
157
155
152
150
147
145
142
140
137
135
Publisher: NY Published: Ap
These files co 6” GSD. Imag (NSSDA). Eac
JAMAICA BAY TREE RING | 111
000
002
005
007
010
012
015
017
020
022
025
027
030
032
035
037
040
042
045
185
182
180
177
175
172
170
167
165
162
160
157
155
152
150
147
145
142
140
Orthorectified imagery of Jamaica Bay File Index Naming Convention 050 147 .jp2 x
,
y
Tile Size 2500’ 2500’ x
137
135
Publisher: NYS Office of Information Technology Services, GIS Program Office Published: April, 2018 These files contain 2018 digital Selective True Ortho-imagery of New York City, New York. Image pixel size is 6” GSD. Image type is 4-band, RGB & NIR. Image horizontal accuracy is within 2’ at the 95% confidence level (NSSDA). Each file contains an image covering 2500 ft. by 2500 ft. on the ground.
Publishe Publishe
These fi 6” GSD. (NSSDA
112 | THE ATLAS
Parkspace and Vacant Land
000
002
005
007
010
012
015
017
020
022
025
027
030
032
035
037
040
042
045
047
050
052
055
0
185
182
180
177
175
172
170
167
165
162
160
157
155
152
150
147
145
142
140
Greenspace + Vacant Land
Parkland + Other Greenspace
137
135
Vacant + Unused Lots Occupied Land Data from MapPLUTO (NYC Department of City Planning, NPS, NYCDPR
Publisher: NY Published: Ap
These files co 6� GSD. Imag (NSSDA). Eac
JAMAICA BAY TREE RING | 113
Property Ownership
000
002
005
007
010
012
015
017
020
022
025
027
030
032
035
037
040
042
045
Pr
185
182
180
177
175
172
170
167
165
162
160 000
185
155
152
002
005
007
010
012
015
017
020
022
025
027
030
032
035
037
040
042
045
Property Designations
157
NY State Land (Protected Areas Database)
182
National Park Service Jurisdiction
180
Land Leased or in Transfer by National Park Service
177
150
NYC Parks NYC Housing Preservation and Development
Da
175
NYC Department of Environmental Protection
147
172
170
145
142
NYC Department of Education
167
MTA
165
NYC Housing Authority
162
140
NYC Department of Citywide Administrative Services
NYC Department of Small Business Services NYC Department of Sanitation
160
NYC Police Department
137
157
NYC Department of Transportation 155
135
Other City Owned Property
152
150
Data from the NPS, NYC Open Data, and ESRI
147
145
142
Orthorectified imagery of Jamaica Bay File Index
Publishe Publishe
These fi 6� GSD. (NSSDA
114 | THE ATLAS
000
002
005
007
010
012
015
017
020
022
025
027
030
032
035
037
040
042
045
185
182
180
177
175
172
170
167
165
162
160
157
155
152
150
147
145
142
140
Orthorectified imagery of Jamaica Bay File Index Naming Convention 050 147 .jp2 x
,
y
Tile Size 2500’ 2500’ x
137
135
Publisher: NYS Office of Information Technology Services, GIS Program Office Published: April, 2018 These files contain 2018 digital Selective True Ortho-imagery of New York City, New York. Image pixel size is 6” GSD. Image type is 4-band, RGB & NIR. Image horizontal accuracy is within 2’ at the 95% confidence level (NSSDA). Each file contains an image covering 2500 ft. by 2500 ft. on the ground.
Publisher: NY Published: Ap
These files co 6” GSD. Imag (NSSDA). Eac
JAMAICA BAY TREE RING | 115
Land Designations Publicly Owned Parkland and Greensapces Vacant, Unused or Abandoned Lots Private
Data from the NPS, NYC Open Data, PLUTO and ESRI
116 | THE ATLAS
010162
012162
010160
012160
005157
007157
010157
012157
015157
005155
007155
010155
012155
015155
007152
010152
012152
015152
017152
010150
012150
015150
017150
012167
015167
010162
JAMAICA BAY TREE RING | 117
010162
012162
010160
012160
005157
007157
010157
012157
015157
005155
007155
010155
012155
015155
007152
010152
012152
015152
017152
010150
012150
015150
017150
012147
015147
118 | THE ATLAS
022180
015170
010167
012167
010165
012165
015167
020177
022177
025177
017175
020175
022175
025175
027175
017172
020172
022172
025172
027172
017170
020170
JAMAICA BAY TREE RING | 119
010165
012165
010167
012167
015167
010167
012167
015167
015170
020170
017172
020172
022172
025172
027172
017175
020175
022175
025175
027175
020177
022177
025177
022180
120 | THE ATLAS
027162
030172
032172
030170
032170
030167
032167
030165
032165
030162
032162
035162
032160
035160
032157
032155
035155
JAMAICA BAY TREE RING | 121
030172
032172
030170
032170
030167
032167
030165
032165
027162
030162
032162
035162
032160
035160
032157
032155
035155
122 | THE ATLAS
015145
017147
015142
017142
030152
032152
035152
032150
035150
022150
025150
027150
030150
020147
022147
025147
027147
030147
020145
022145
025145
JAMAICA BAY TREE RING | 123
030152
032152
035150
022150
025150
027150
030150
020147
022147
025147
027147
030147
015145
017145
020145
022145
025145
015142
017142
Copyright Š 2020 Princeton University Research by the School of Architecture with funding from the Metropolis Initiative, Princeton University, and the National Science Foundation
Acknowledgment We gratefully acknowledge the support of the National Science Foundation (EAR- 1520683), the Metropolis Project, and the Princeton Environmental Institute (Climate and Energy Grand Challenge) at Princeton University. We thank Elie Bou-Zeid and Ning Lin for their steadfast encouragement throughout the project.
