Battery Park City – Urban Estuary Habitat Monitoring Program

A robust, replicable, and impactful monitoring program enables the evaluation of ecological enhancements along the Lower Manhattan shoreline.

As part of the Lower Manhattan Coastal Resiliency Project, an initiative to reduce flood risk due to storms and sea level rise through several interconnecting projects, the Battery Park City Authority (BCPA) is implementing resiliency projects along 1.5 miles of its shoreline. In addition to features such as floodwalls, deployable flood barriers, and non-structural berms, the projects incorporate ecological enhancements, such as terraced living shorelines, pile encasements, ecologically enhanced seawalls, and outboard intertidal habitat features. For help in developing a program to evaluate the long-term performance of those enhancements, BCPA turned to Biohabitats.

After conducting a global study of peer reviewed research and projects that implemented similar habitat enhancement elements, Biohabitats reviewed monitoring methods and metrics that could benefit BPCA’s goals, including New York’s Statewide Shoreline Monitoring Framework. Biohabitats also collaborated with an extensive network of NGOs, academic institutions, and government agencies to ensure that the monitoring program would support and meet the standards of regional resilience and research initiatives. Biohabitats then developed a holistic program for monitoring water quality, benthic organisms, habitat structure, and other ecosystem services. While the program is designed to guide BPCA staff and contractors in monitoring protocols, it also allows citizens to participate in the monitoring by photo documenting progress through a phone app and participating in workshops. Biohabitats will also advise on a dashboard that BPCA can use for public outreach and education.

The Urban Estuary Habitat Monitoring Program provides the BPCA with a robust, replicable, and impactful method to evaluate their ambitious ecological enhancement efforts. It also serves as a framework for other communities seeking to assess their urban shorelines.

TAGS

• Analysis+Planning
• Assessment+Monitoring
• Climate Adaptation + Resilience
• Conservation
• Ecological Restoration