HRF’s Isabelle Stinnette Featured in Hell Gate Article on Eelgrass Restoration in New York City
Hudson River Foundation’s Isabelle Stinnette, Senior Scientist for Ecological Restoration with the NY-NJ Harbor & Estuary Program, was featured in Hell Gate’s recent article, The Unseen Plant That Could Save New York’s Shorelines, which explores renewed efforts to restore eelgrass in New York City’s waterways.
Eelgrass is one of the Target Ecosystem Characteristics identified in the Hudson-Raritan Comprehensive Restoration Plan and an important focus for habitat restoration planning across the estuary. Once widespread in New York Harbor, eelgrass declined due to disease, poor water quality, and other stressors that made natural recovery difficult for decades.
As noted in the article, improved water quality has created new optimism around eelgrass restoration in New York City’s waterways, but successful restoration depends on finding places where the conditions are favorable for it to grow. Building on this approach, NY-NJ Harbor and Estuary Program staff recently joined partners from the Interstate Environmental Commission to collect sediment samples at two Staten Island beaches being evaluated for potential eelgrass restoration. These assessments will help determine whether local sediment and water quality conditions can support eelgrass establishment and inform a potential pilot seeding effort later this year.
