Half a million dollars will bring more oysters to Queens

On Tuesday, March 12, our Executive Director, Pete Malinowski, got “the coolest call [he’s] ever gotten.” 

Earlier this month, AOC announced that over $12 million has been secured for community projects serving New York's 14th Congressional District.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — New York City native and U.S. Representative from New York’s 14th Congressional District — was on the other end of that call, which was to inform Pete that Billion Oyster Project will receive $500,000 to design and install a one-acre oyster reef in Flushing Bay, Queens.

As mentioned on her website: “This project [will] improve coastal resilience by creating oyster reef habitat, uplift marine biodiversity, and enhance ecosystem functions in Flushing Bay. It will also serve as an outdoor classroom for diverse students from underrepresented local public schools to learn about marine science and lucrative maritime careers in Queens.”

“By providing Queens students with access to a Flushing Bay oyster reef, schools can offer hands-on environmental education, explains Soledad Montañes, Founding Principal at MS 419. “This fosters a deeper connection to local marine ecosystems and promotes ecological stewardship for future generations, while also encouraging active participation in local conservation efforts in their own backyard.”

As we continue to march toward our goal of restoring one billion oysters to New York Harbor, recognition and support from politicians and activists like fellow New Yorker, AOC, is invaluable. At Billion Oyster Project, we can picture the self-sustaining oyster populations of New York Harbor’s future. Flushing Bay is an important part of that future, and a historic body of water. It flows between LaGuardia Airport and the community of College Point, with the East River to the north, and is surrounded by Queens communities that have faced longstanding underrepresentation and environmental justice inequities.

NYS Assemblymember Kenny Burgos at Soundview Reefs  in the Bronx in July 2022. 

“More than 1.4 billion gallons of combined sewage overflows into Flushing Bay each year” explains Cody Herrmann, Senior Community Science Coordinator at Billion Oyster Project. “Since 2012 the Empire Dragon Boat Team and Guardians of Flushing Bay have tested that water body for fecal matter in partnership with Queens College and the Community Water Quality Testing program – now coordinated by Billion Oyster Project. Year after year, sample sites at waterfront access points from College Point to East Elmhurst show chronically elevated bacteria levels — highlighting the impacts of combined sewage on the area, and the subsequent risks to human health. Investment in habitat restoration and green infrastructure, alongside gray infrastructure, is critical to improving water quality in Flushing Bay.”

We deeply appreciate AOC’s efforts to include Billion Oyster Project — and the work of 13 other admirable projects — in the House Appropriations Committee’s fiscal year 2024 appropriations bills. In doing so, she and her constituents are part of the citywide effort to bring oyster reefs and marine habitat back to our City — and specifically to western Long Island Sound.