A letter from our Executive Director Pete Malinowski

Dear Friends & Supporters,

Billion Oyster Project’s oyster reef in Bush Terminal Park is my favorite place in New York City. I’m sitting on the rocks by the water right now, where this little piece of Brooklyn shoreline meets New York Harbor. I’m looking out over an incredible view — the Statue of Liberty in the distance and the iconic skyline of lower Manhattan looming over dilapidated piers slowly being reclaimed by trees.

This spot is now one of the best places in New York City to find diving ducks and wading birds — foraging between mussel beds. For the first time this past summer, ospreys practiced nest building. The remains of their shoddy work still sits on the newly constructed osprey platform rising over the waterline.

You probably know that it wasn’t always like this. For decades, this was a contaminated and forgotten slice of Brooklyn. The industrial past left this site contaminated and dangerous like so much of our waterfront. For almost 20 years, the adjacent Sunset Park community advocated for more safe, clean, accessible open space along our shores. This work was partially led and organized by UPROSE, a local environmental justice organization. Their tireless efforts resulted in the City remediating this site and building this incredible park, which finally opened in 2014 – the same year we launched Billion Oyster Project.

This park is a testament to the power of individuals to affect change by working together, just like you are working with us today.

I first saw Bush Terminal Park under construction in 2010. It was the perfect place to test our vision of oyster restoration. We had this idea that small oyster installations at accessible waterfront sites could serve as community oyster reefs. The hope was that the installation, monitoring, and maintenance of these sites would create an incentive for local communities to get down in the water, to stand in New York Harbor, and interact with the local ecosystem. We believed that this experience, participating directly in improving the Harbor ecosystem and getting to know its wildlife, would build a life-long affinity for the City’s biggest and best-looking open space.

It took two years to get oysters in the water. Two years of outreach in the local community, of permitting and design, of building relationships with local schools and, of course, fundraising. Finally in 2016, we installed one million oysters at this site. Almost immediately, we saw the impact of the oysters: fish, crabs, snails, and algae colonized the reef structures. Schools and community groups found their way to the park to work with us, in the Harbor. The oysters were building an ecosystem, both in and out of the water.

The success at this site led us to develop six more “Field Stations”. Six more waterfront sites that are now hubs for our restoration and education programs. At this site alone, in just the last two years, we’ve hosted almost 40 events and brought close to 1,000 students to the Park from schools like Sunset Park High School, PS K053, and the Peter Rouget Junior High School. Local community groups have gotten their hands dirty; from Sunset Spark and Greenspace to Scout Troop 715. All of these young people are learning that New York Harbor is a resource worth preserving and protecting and most importantly, that they can have a positive impact on the natural world.

Sit on the rocks with me, watch students in waders pull up sections of the reef and scream in delight as they try to grab the small fish and crabs they find. Can you imagine the future? We aim to install 30 million oysters on 200 reef structures here over the next two years, increasing the restored habitat from 0.1 acres to 5. This would create a dramatic impact on the wildlife returning to the site, and serve as an expanded gathering point for more local schools and community organizations.

Can you picture this future shoreline? This same view, but looking out over a restored oyster reef, swarming with fish and birdlife, bringing together wild animals and New Yorkers where Brooklyn meets New York Harbor. These are the places, people, and stories that inspire us every day. You can help us make more of these stories a reality by supporting Billion Oyster Project this giving season.

Thank you for being a part of our story of restoration. The oyster can bring us together, bring about change, but people — you and I — are the ones who can actually make it happen.

Sincerely,

Pete Malinowski, Executive Director