A Bronx Story
Jun 17th, 2008 by Jervey
[Photograph by Adam Spangler, Vanity Fair.]
Not sure how we missed this a couple months back, but Vanity Fair (oh, that’s how) had a really nice piece by Adam Spangler about ecological–and community–restoration along the Bronx River, and a canoe trip. It’s really quite an inspiring read.
…here I am in a canoe, paddling down an eight-mile stretch of the city’s last remaining freshwater river. This far south, the Hudson River is a tidal estuary, containing salt water from the Atlantic Ocean. The same goes for the East River. There used to be dozens of rivers within the city’s five boroughs, but most were filled in long ago.
Our route will take us from the upper reaches of Bronx Park, near the border with Westchester County, downstream to Hunts Point Riverside Park, near the confluence of the Bronx and East Rivers. In the 1830s, the Bronx River’s water was so pure that government officials considered tapping it for drinking water. Sixty years later, the river was declared “an open sewer” by the Bronx Valley Sewer Commission—a body that presumably knew its sewers. Even 10 years ago, a trip down the river would not have been advisable. But after people started complaining and community groups started organizing, the city began paying attention to the state of the river.
There’s even a video of the trip.