Wednesday, May 7, 2008
The National Park Service has formed a unique informal partnership with the temples and civic organizations of the local New York City Hindu community to develop a program to support religious and cultural activities, protect the local ecology, and provide environmental education.
This might sound like a complicated undertaking, but the ranger behind this project, John Zuzworski, knows that the benefits of this type of collaboration are well worth the effort.
"It's great to have the help of the Hindu community in this public awareness effort," said Zuzworsky. "It helps keep our beaches clean and gives us a chance to share educational information about beach ecology for the general public as well."
At issue is a beach near a parking area with access to the waters of Gateway National Recreation Area's Jamaica Bay Unit. This area is actively used by fishermen, picnickers and sight seers. In addition, the beach near the North Channel Bridge is also a place of interest for the cultural aspects of the Hindu community. Items used as offerings, known as pujas, were once left in the water. They are now placed in special bins near the water after the ceremony takes place. Some of these, such as colorful cloth, are then collected out of these bins by the community for charitable donations or recycled.
"We thank the Hindu community for setting a great example for all visitors to follow and help us be respectful of the sensitive beach ecology," said Zuzworski.
On Earth Day, twenty volunteers from a local Hindu Community Council, along with National Park rangers from Gateway, gathered and recycled litter found on the beach near the North Channel Bridge. Rangers also used seining nets to collect native species and had a small aquarium on hand to showcase the various marine animals they found for display. In fact, one girl even found a small diamondback terrapin turtle, further highlighting the need for public awareness about the species that make this coastal environment their home.
Along with Zuzworsky, unit superintendent Lisa Eckert cited a number of other rangers for their contributions: "I'd like to also thank rangers Geri Kobryn Blatter, Justin Monetti, Carol Williams, and Jennifer Wolff for their educational work for the Earth Day Coastal Cleanup. It was a great team and community effort."
The collection bins are maintained by representatives of the Hindu community with support from Gateway staff under a special use permit. Education and ecology programs for the general public will take place on Saturdays and Sundays throughout the spring, summer and fall of 2008.
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