CONSERVATION

BIG ROCK WETLAND RESTORATION PROJECT RECEIVES $4 MILLION IN FEDERAL GRANTS!

The Big Rock Wetland Restoration Project has been awarded a total of $4 million in grant funding, ensuring that the entire project can be built in one phase. Construction is expected to begin in 2024.

The Big Rock Project is the culmination of an initiative that the Douglas Manor Environmental Association (DMEA) began in 2014. The Big Rock Project will restore 7 acres of tidal wetlands, including stabilization of the road bank along Douglas Road, and regrading and replanting of the eroded shoreline of Memorial Field to help protect it from tidal surges and storms.

Last year, the DMEA partnered with Save The Sound (STS), which secured multiple grants and will manage the project’s construction. STS is a private non-profit environmental organization that advocates for improving the marine habitat, including wetlands, estuaries, and shorefronts, for all of Long Island Sound.

The Big Rock Project includes removal of invasive Phragmites australis reeds and the planting of a “living shoreline.” Native plantings will be reintroduced to the site to enhance wildlife habitat and improve water quality.

Spartina alterniflora, the tidal grass that once made up a large portion of the site, has been decimated by erosion and water pollution over the years. Once the Phragmites is removed, Spartina will be replanted in tidal areas along with the installation of oyster “castles” made of concrete blocks to further protect the shoreline and provide a solid structure on which shellfish can settle and thrive..

The DMEA hired the nationally recognized environmental restoration and engineering firm GEI Consultants, Inc. based in Huntington Station, Long Island, to design the restoration plan. In early 2023 GEI began their final phase of design for the project to complete bid drawings for contractors. GEI will also obtain the necessary permits from multiple federal and state agencies reviewing the project.

The project takes its name from “Big Rock,” a locally known natural landmark just off the northern tip of the Douglas Manor peninsula. The enormous rounded boulder, about 15 feet in diameter, is a glacially deposited stone remnant from the Ice Age.

Since the DMEA began this effort in 2014, the Big Rock Project has engaged more than 750 students and 20 teachers from local schools MS 67 and PS 98 through the STEM program. Hofstra University students from the Department of Geology, Environment, and Sustainability, have also participated, returning to the site multiple times over the years, collecting data, and studying coring samples from the wetland.

In addition to STS, DMEA partners for the Big Rock Project include the Alley Pond Environmental Center; Dadras Architects; the Douglas Manor Association; the Douglaston and Little Neck Historical Society; Hofstra University; local public schools MS 67 and PS 98; the National Audubon Society; the New York City Parks Department; and the Udalls Cove Preservation Committee.