SERRANO ANNOUNCES MORE THAN $900,000 OF FEDERAL FUNDING FOR LOWER BRONX RIVER RESTORATION

Bronx, NY, September 20, 2004—Today, Congressman José E. Serrano (D-NY) announced a federal government award of $916,000 to the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) to fund hands-on habitat restoration activities and environmental education along the lower Bronx River in New York City. 
 
“I am very pleased to announce this funding for vital Bronx River restoration,” said Serrano.  “The River and its adjacent parks and marshlands are priceless resources for our urban Bronx community.  I will continue to fight to ensure that the government does what is necessary to protect, clean, and restore the River and its parks so that Bronx families will be able to enjoy them long into the future.  A healthy river will make for a healthier Bronx.”
           
The new funding is being granted through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), an agency of the Department of Commerce.  Congressman Serrano is the ranking Democrat on the House Commerce-Justice-State Appropriations Subcommittee which funds NOAA. 
       
The project seeks to involve local community members in the acquisition and restoration of land that benefits fishery resources along the lower Bronx River.  Funding in previous years has created salt marshes and restored the adjacent riverside at an abandoned cement factory site.  The partnership has also formed the Bronx River Conservation Crew, a team of local Bronx youth who act as stewards of the lower Bronx River through intertidal debris removal, native plant nursery operation, invasive species removal, and planting of intertidal and riparian areas.  Future funding will focus on the possibility of restoring anadromous fish access to the Bronx River, currently impeded by a series of dams (anadromous fish live in fresh and salt water at different stages of their lives).  The funding continues support for an existing cooperative agreement between NOAA and the WCS in association with the Bronx Zoo that Congressman Serrano helped to broker. 
       
“Throughout my career in public life, I have been working with government agencies and community groups to protect and restore our precious Bronx River, and I am pleased to be collaborating with NOAA and the Wildlife Conservation Society on this current project,” said Serrano. “The Society has worked with and will continue to work in close collaboration with local community-based partners, such as the Bronx River Alliance, the Gaia Institute, Sustainable South Bronx, The Point, Youth Ministries, and the Bronx River Art Center.  I view the revival of the River as a key part of improving the quality of life for the residents of West Farms, Hunts Point, and Soundview, as well as all of those Bronxites who enjoy the river and its many parks.”
 
For more information about Congressman Serrano’s work to protect the Bronx’s environment, please see “A Greater Sense of Pride: Congressman José E. Serrano and Environmental Justice in the Bronx”: http://www.house.gov/serrano/pdf/Environment-booklet-web.pdf.