February 2022 – Filomena Riganti
Filomena Riganti, landscape architect, presents her design for the CIOR Living Shoreline and Education Center Project.
December 2021 – Ellen Hartig
Ellen Hartig, Senior Wetlands Scientist for the Natural Resources Group of the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation, describes marshland restoration projects in Queens and the Bronx.
November 2021 – Josh Perry
Josh Perry of the Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Marine Center describes the center’s extensive work raising oysters in a hatchery in Southold, Long Island.
July 2021 – Malenthe Teunis
Malenthe Teunis from the Dutch firm BESE, discusses the eco-friendly products produced by the firm that are used in oyster reef and mussel restoration projects throughout the world.
April 2021 – Peter Solomon
Peter Solomon of the Sound School in New Haven, Connecticut, a regional vocational aquaculture center, describes in detail the oyster reef construction designed and implemented by high school students in Long Island Sound.
March 2021 – Bill Lucey
Bill Lucey, Long Island Soundkeeper for Save the Sound, presents information about the important role that marshlands play in capturing blue carbon stored in the sediments of coastal ecosystems.
February 2021 – Cody Jernigan
Cody Jernigan, CIOR intern, presents a progress report on the data collected by CIOR in monitoring the Billion Oyster Project’s Oyster Research Stations around City Island in 2020, tracking oyster growth and identifying organisms living among the oysters.
January 2021 – Dr. Boze Hancock
Dr. Boze Hancock, Senior Marine Habitat Restoration Scientist of the Nature Conservancy (TNC), gives a presentation on “Shellfish Restoration 101,” describing his work in shellfish restoration in the United States, the Asia Pacific region, Europe, and the United Kingdom. Dr. Hancock manages community-based restoration projects with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Nature Conservancy.
November 2020 – Leah Hill
Leah Hill, a CIOR advisor, is an assistant biologist with Nantucket’s Natural Resources department, working at the Brant Point shellfish hatchery growing shellfish. She established the town’s first shell recycling program and runs oyster restoration projects in the waters off Nantucket. Ms. Hill talks about the construction of Nantucket’s first oyster reef restoration project in Shimmo Creek.
October 2020 – Dr. Chester Zarnoch
Dr. Chester Zarnoch is on the graduate faculty at CUNY’s graduate center for biology and is a professor of environmental studies and biology at Baruch College. Dr. Zarnoch speaks on the “Promise of Blue Carbon,” which refers to the carbon stored in the sediments of coastal ecosystems, including mangroves, seagrass beds, and tidal wetlands. He has been actively involved in researching marshland restorations projects throughout New York City.
September 2020 – Diana Fu
Diana Fu, Education Field Science Specialist for the Billion Oyster Project (BOP), presents information on the Oyster Research Station (ORS) program, which tracks oyster growth and identifies organisms living among the oysters. CIOR monitors ORS cages strategically placed around City Island. BOP, founded in 2014 at the Harbor School on Governors Island, is dedicated to the goal of putting a billion oysters in New York City waters by 2035.
August 2020 – Dr. Paul Mankiewicz
Dr. Paul Mankiewicz, founder of the Gaia Institute and a resident of City Island, talks about the remarkable “Eco Engineers,” such as oysters, other shellfish, and marshland plant life that can help to protect our shoreline, improve water quality, and support the restoration of a biodiverse ecosystem in our waterways. Dr. Mankiewicz has substantial experience with enhancing, restoring, and constructing wetland and terrestrial ecosystems and is currently chief scientist for Leaf Island dedicated to improving natural urban ecosystems.
July 2020 – Dr. Eric Sanderson
Dr. Eric Sanderson, a CIOR advisor and resident of City Island, is Vice President for Urban Conservation Strategy at the New York Botanical Garden. He has been Senior Conservation Ecologist at the Wildlife Conservation Society and ecology co-chair for the Bronx River Alliance. He is the author of Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City. Dr. Sanderson discusses the historic ecology of City Island, Eastchester Bay, and the Hutchinson River. The presentation includes a discussion of the importance of this area to the native indigenous people.
June 2020 – Jason Smith
Jason Smith, a CIOR advisor, is the Director of Northern Manhattan Parks for the New York Restoration Project (NYRP). He explains the phases of the marshland renewal project in Swindler’s Cove along the Harlem River, where NYRP transformed an illegal dumping ground into a thriving five-acre park that protects and enhances the resilience of the river’s edge.
May 2020 – Dr. Allison Fitzgerald
Dr. Allison Fitzgerald, a CIOR advisor, is the New York Oyster Program Coordinator for NY/NJ Baykeeper, a local nonprofit organization dedicated to the conservation and restoration of the Harbor Estuary. Dr. Fitzgerald discusses oyster biology, her popular citizen-scientist program of “EcoVolunteers,” and the way in which the Soundview oyster reef was constructed.