Biodiversity Panel Addresses Conservation in New York City

On December 8th the NYC Sustainable Development Initiative hosted the third panel in its fall series entitled, “Gains and Losses for New York City Biodiversity.” Moderated by Dr. Don J. Melnick, Executive Director of the Center for Environmental Research and Conservation, the panel included experts from Columbia University, the Wildlife Conservation Society, the Wildlife Trust and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Panelists represented a wide spectrum of experience in the arena of NYC’s conservation biology and were invited to discuss difficult topics such as invasive species, environmental justice, and the possibilities for conservation in a city with limited space.
Dr. Eric Sanderson, Adjunct Associate Research Scientist at Columbia’s Center for Environmental Research and Conservation, presented his “Manhatta Project,” an attempt to digitally reconstruct the ecology of year 1609 Manhattan. The image of a Manhattan once flourishing with salt marshes, streams, grasslands, forests and thousands of plant and animal species, begged the question as to the goal of conservation efforts. Though Sanderson doesn’t believe current sustainability initiatives should be held to this high standard, he explained, “We need to remember that even now, as we speak, we are part of a watershed, part of an ecosystem.” He believes his project is important as a baseline to remind current and future generations of the rich ecological history of the island.


The conflict between societal and environmental issues remained a theme throughout the panel. Melnick presented this conflict on a simple level by telling the story of a red-tailed hawk that killed a woman’s Chihuahua in Central Park. But panelists raised the conflict to a larger scale by addressing the possibility of a devastating, wildlife-related disease. While most agreed that city officials would have to adopt a realist mentality and eliminate the disease-carrying wildlife, Dr. Scott Newman, Conservation Medicine Scientist at the Wildlife Trust, argued that such situations can be avoided through careful conservation efforts. “[Diseases] happen because of anthropogenic change, because of habitat fragmentation, loss of biodiversity, and human transport. We need to move beyond the age-old excuse of blaming the animals, acknowledge our contributions to the problem, and become socially and ecologically responsible,” said Newman.
Dr. Dana Fisher, Assistant Professor at Columbia’s Department of Sociology, argued that environmental and societal interests can find common ground as long as they are supported by the City’s citizens. Fisher cited the environmental justice movement in Harlem, watershed management for the NYC water supply, and the logging ban in the Philippines as instances where citizen action has successfully forged a consensus between societal and environmental concerns.
This dilemma has most recently arisen with the addition of a large number of invasive species to New York City. Many environmentalists are worried about the ecologically devastating effects of these foreign species, however, Dr. James Danoff-Burg, Adjunct Professor of Columbia’s Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology argued that a society should learn to accommodate these invasive species, many of which can be beneficial to the community’s ecosystem.
Danoff-Burg also encouraged the audience members to experience the biodiversity of New York City themselves by visiting the city’s parks and “Forever Wild” sites. Said Danoff-Burg, “I never thought of New York as a ‘wild’ place until I went on a class field trip this year. It was only then that I realized we have such a transforming resource in our backyard.”