Women & Allies in Climate: Neha Misra
Neha Misra नेहा मिश्रा is sharing solar and story power with people around the world.
Meet Carolyn Khoury
Carolyn Khoury is writing the manual for urban estuary restoration
By Andi Cross, Edges of Earth
At last count, very few marine restoration projects are underway in a major working harbor. As one might assume, most reef restoration work happens in far more remote areas: backwaters, reserves, and coastlines without ports. And New York could not be farther from this description. It’s one of the busiest commercial hubs on the planet with the largest city population in the USA. Its shoreline hardly feels like something out of nature anymore. And just beneath the surface, in strategically placed reef balls and shell mounds, an ecosystem that effectively went extinct here a century ago is being put back.
Before New York was a city, the harbor was part of a highly productive and biodiverse estuary. Soft shorelines with extensive tidal marsh and oyster beds defined nearly all of its edges. The reefs were living architecture: oysters filtered the water and stabilized the shorelines. “When you don't have oyster reefs in these kinds of systems, it can be much harder to have stable tidal wetlands. It's then much harder to have a riparian buffer or coastal or riparian forest. It’s much harder to have a healthy habitat mosaic,” says Carolyn Khoury, Director of Restoration at Billion Oyster Project. “It’s a cascade effect.”
Cleaner water
A single oyster filters 50 gallons of water per day.
© Adam Moore
Ongoing Restoration
Seeding shell reefs with spat-on-shell near Soundview, Bronx.
© Billion Oyster Project
Cleaner water
A single oyster filters 50 gallons of water per day.
© Adam Moore
Ongoing Restoration
Seeding shell reefs with spat-on-shell near Soundview, Bronx.
© Billion Oyster Project
Billion Oyster Project
Annual oyster monitoring.
©
Billion Oyster Project
You put oysters and substrate in the water; the rest of the ecosystem benefits. Oyster reefs are the foundation.
Women & Allies in Climate Network Member
If you take the total acreage Billion Oyster Project is interested in investigating for future restoration, it comes in at under 1% of the total mapped Harbor bottom. “But the impact,” Khoury says, “is outsized. You put oysters and substrate in the water; the rest of the ecosystem benefits. Oyster reefs are the foundation.” The methodology involves strategically placing new oysters, rather than “blanketing” the area with them. By putting the reefs in the right places, large and dense enough to reproduce independently, they ensure the success of these reefs for years to come.
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But with such a challenging endeavor ahead, it begs the question: why New York Harbor? After all, wouldn’t an endeavor of this magnitude be easier to enact and replicate in a more controlled, less degraded environment? New York’s harbor has been dredged, filled, and re-dredged for centuries now. Sewage contamination remains, and the soft shorelines have been hardened. However, New York’s conditions are exactly the challenge the Billion Oyster team is trying to address.
More than half of the human population now lives in cities, and the most ecologically degraded coastlines on the planet are urban ones. “If we can do it and figure out how to do it,” Khoury says, “other places might be able to implement similar projects that get the foundation laid so that other types of restoration that usually come after that could be successful.”
Simply put, if this can work in New York, it can work anywhere. The Billion Oyster Project’s efforts could prove invaluable not only to America’s largest city, but to cities around the globe. For now, the real work lies in the water itself. The years to come could push the boundaries of how far restoration work can truly go.
About the Author
Edges of Earth is a global expedition and storytelling platform focused on ocean conservation, sustainable exploration, and environmental progress. Through long-form content creation, field reporting, and scientific collaboration, the project documents people and places working toward positive environmental change around the world. In partnership with Women & Allies in Climate, Andi Cross of Edges of Earth supports storytelling and visibility efforts that elevate women leaders operating on the front lines of climate and conservation work.
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