NFWF Final Report...• Briefly explain discrepancies between what actually happened compared to what was predicted to happen. • Provide any further information (such as unexpected

National Fish and Wildlife Foundation

Final Programmatic Report Project Name and Number: Rocking the Boat-On Water Education (NY) #2006-0102-016

Recipient Organization/Agency: Rocking the Boat, Inc.

Recipient Organization Web Address: www.rockingtheboat.org

Date Submitted: 12/30/08

1) Summary of Accomplishments In four to five sentences, provide a brief summary of the project’s key accomplishments and outcomes that were observed or measured. Rocking the Boat’s On-Water Education Program is successfully engaging young people in the revitalization and stewardship of the Bronx River, and in so doing, educating and empowering them to create positive change in their own lives and environment. Key accomplishments include collecting data on aquatic species present in the Bronx River, including their patterns of movement and their relationship to water quality; establishing a strong community education program, targeting schools and the general public; creating and maintaining artificial oyster habitats; compiling a record of human interaction on the fish population of the Bronx River; and performing weekly water quality tests at specific sites along the Bronx River. Students learned a range of maritime skills, performed environmental monitoring protocols, took part in restoration projects, and explored the social and natural history of Bronx waterways. 2) Project Activities & Results If your grant agreement included an approved logic framework, paste the logic framework table here.

Activities • Describe and quantify the primary activities conducted during this grant (refer back to

your approved logic framework, if applicable). • Briefly explain discrepancies between the activities conducted during the grant and

the activities agreed upon in your grant agreement. The primary activities conducted during the grant period, all ongoing, were a Creel Survey, Oyster Reintroduction Project, Water Quality Monitoring, and a range of public education activities. Two activities did not take place as proposed: the Fish Map project was suspended because of redundancy and the Stormwater Capture System never took place for lack of funding.

Results • Describe and quantify progress towards achieving the project objectives or outcomes

described in your grant agreement. (Quantify using indicators from your approved logic framework, if applicable, or by using new indicators not included in the application.)

• Briefly explain discrepancies between what actually happened compared to what was predicted to happen.

• Provide any further information (such as unexpected outcomes) important for understanding project activities and results.

Rocking the Boat made excellent progress toward achieving the project objectives as indicated by: fully enrolled after school and summer On-Water Program classes every semester; a high degree of retention of students from semester to semester; daytime On-Water Programs operating at full capacity; high turnouts at public events including community celebrations and open rowing sessions; a growing interest in Rocking the Boat’s restoration activities in the environmental community and amongst casual observers; and significant numbers of students inspired to pursue careers in environmental fields. At the same time, Rocking the Boat consistently demonstrated its value to the environmental community, filling a much-needed information-gathering role in their restoration projects. Partners such as the Natural Resources Group, Bronx River Alliance, and Lehman College relied on Rocking the Boat students to regularly and accurately collect data they would not otherwise have access to. Bill Tai, Director of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation’s Natural Resources Group, for example, recently included this statement in a recommendation letter he wrote on Rocking the Boat’s behalf to the Environmental Protections Agency: “Data that Rocking the Boat students gather will increase the likelihood of approval of permits to stock the Bronx River with alewife and oysters.” 3) Lessons Learned Describe the key lessons learned from this project, such as the least and most effective conservation practices or notable aspects of the project’s methods, monitoring, or results. How could other conservation organizations adapt their projects to build upon some of these key lessons about what worked best and what did not? Rocking the Boat can recommend its method of interrelating several different projects with a common thread, in our case the Bronx River. Exposing students to various aspects of a complicated subject, such as the factors leading to a healthy Bronx River, allows them opportunities to think critically and gain a genuine understanding of the problem and its potential solutions. Rocking the Boat also strongly suggests the practice of using real environmental science work as a medium for education and youth development. Every aspect of Rocking the Boat’s environmental education relates directly to the accomplishment of real scientific goals. This relevance has created a learning environment where young people feel genuinely committed and see a purpose to their learning beyond themselves. Rocking the Boat encourages others to work with the members of the scientific community to identify projects that young people can contribute to. 4) Dissemination Briefly identify any dissemination of lessons learned or other project results to external audiences, such as the public or other conservation organizations.

As described in the Phase 2 Report, On-Water Program participants regularly analyzed all of the data they gathered and presented that data in a number of different formats:

A Rocking the Boat student measuring liquid in .5ml increments to determine the turbidity of the River, part of water quality monitoring at the Hunts Point site.

One student cleans the turbidity tube in preparation for use, another completes a dissolved oxygen test, while a third acts as recorder.

Rocking the Boat - On Water Education (NY 2006-0102-016)

Plant and animal samples collected from the Bronx River on display during Saturday Community Rowing.

Rocking the Boat students introduce community members to rowing on the Bronx River.


Creating the oyster reef.

Monitoring the oyster reef.


Monitoring the oyster reef.

Looking at a nitrates test as part of water quality monitoring.


Getting ready to go out on the water.

Seining at Hunts Point, part of the Creel Survey.


oystersin new york city

written by:Rocking the Boatwww.rockingtheboat.org

edited by:NYC Department of Parks & RecreationNatural Resources Groupwww.nycgovparks.org

funded by:José E. Serrano’s WCS-NOAA Bronx RiverPartnership

additional information:Rocking the Boat: Tony Archino([email protected]; 718.991.2032)

NYC Parks Natural Resources Group: Janine Harris([email protected]; 212.360.1432)

Bronx River Alliance: www.bronxriver.org

NY/NJ Baykeeper: www.nynjbaykeeper.org

There are many efforts to research and restoreoysters in the New York/New Jersey Harbor. A few ofthese local efforts include:

• The NY/NJ Baykeeper Oyster Restoration Program:This program created oyster reefs in New Jersey tohelp restore hundreds of thousands of oysters in theestuary.

• The Bronx River Pilot Oyster Reef Restoration: TheNatural Resources Group, a division of NYCDepartment of Parks & Recreation, Rocking the Boat,and the Bronx River Alliance have been workingtogether on an oyster restoration effort in the BronxRiver. The pilot project consists of shell bags andloose shell created and placed into the water bystudents and community groups. These were placedto create habitat space for young oyster spat.

• Oyster Gardens (A partnership of the River Project,the NY/NJ Baykeeper and the New York HarborSchool): Mesh floats of live oysters are adopted byoyster gardeners at over 30 different locations in theNY/NJ Harbor. The oyster garden program usescommunity volunteers to track the growth of oysters.

Rocking the Boat students placing clam shell substrate at theBronx River Pilot Oyster Reef Restoration site.

restoring oysters innew york/new jerseyharbor

create habitat spaceOysters usually grow on top of each other in a reef.Building this reef creates more habitat space byincreasing surface area. The more the reefs grow, themore habitat spaces there are available for otherorganisms to attach to or hide between. In New YorkCity, these organisms include blue crabs, barnacles,amphipods, worms, mud snails, larval fish and muchmore. By creating habitat space, oyster reefs help toincrease the diversity of organisms in a water body.

filter feedersOysters are extremely important because they act aswater filters. An adult oyster can filter from 25 to 50gallons of water every day. Oysters feed on algae inthe water and also can filter pollutants from the water.They then deposit their waste, including some of thepollutants, onto the sediment on the estuary bottom.Filtering the water also decreases turbidity which isthe amount of cloudiness in the water. The lessturbid the water, the more sunlight that can reachplants at the bottom of the river. Low turbidityincreases the diversity of plants and also improveswater quality for other organisms and humans.

Eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) were historicallyfound in the New York City Harbor in great numbersand are still seen in small numbers in the harbor,including in the Bronx River Estuary.

An oyster is a bivalve mollusc, which means that it is anorganism with two hinged shells.

Oysters are found in estuaries, sounds, bays, and tidalcreeks; all places where freshwater rivers and seawatermix.

Oysters are hermaphrodites: they are usually born amale and become a female later in life.

Oysters reproduce through spawning. The femalereleases eggs and the male releases sperm into thewater where the sperm fertilizes the egg. Peakspawning in the New York City area occurs when watertemperatures are between 60-68 °F, or 15.5-20 °C.After 2-3 weeks young oysters, referred to as larvae,undergo physical and behavioral changes. They losethe ability to swim and attach themselves to any hardobject, preferably shells. At this point they are called spat.

Using a ruler (called a caliper) to measure the length of anoyster at Soundview Park, Bronx River.

Group of oysters growing together at the NY/NJ Baykeeperrestoration site in New Jersey.

NYC Parks Natural Resources Group, Bronx RIver Alliance andRocking the Boat monitoring the pilot oyster reef sites on theBronx River.

basicoyster biology

importance ofoysters

No. Oysters take in water pollutants, some that theycan deposit on the estuary bottom, and some thatremain in their body. Pollutants enter NYC’s waters inmany ways. One main way is through CombinedSewage Overflows (CSO) which carry sanitary andstorm water drainage into the harbor in events ofheavy rain. When there is too much rain for a treat-ment plant to handle, water flows from CSO’s intoNYC waters untreated. Each year there are 27 billiongallons of CSO drainage in NYC, with over half abillion gallons draining directly into the Bronx River.Another way pollution enters the river is throughrunoff, rain water that travels on the ground picking uppollution (such as car oil) on the street which eventu-ally pours into the river. Eating an oyster from NYCwaters is like eating all the pollution that wasdischarged from CSOs and runoff. This is a majorhealth risk and can cause several illnesses.

can i eata nyc oyster?

Now into a new semester of Rocking theBoat, On-Water Students and Jobskillscontinue working on projects and goingon trips involving what we do as part ofour regular on-water life.

on-waterOn-Water’s Trip to Jamaica Bay WildlifeRefuge. By José A. Morán.

At 10 am in themor n i ng ofFriday 21st, theOn-water crewtook a trip toJamaica Bay inQueens. Theexcitement ofthe group grewdrastically when

we arrived at The Jamaica Bay WildlifeRefuge, one of the most importantwildlife refuges in the United States.Many were impressed by the beautifulfacility and that it was made to protectthe environment given that it is self-sus-tainable. The On-water crew took a tourof the facility, where we learn about howit is an eco-friendly building. Many of uswere impressed to find out that part ofthe facility was made of bamboo. Theday continued with a very interestingactivity, yet a challenge for all of us; toclassify different birds of the JamaicaBay. After splitting the group into four dif-ferent teams, each team hit to the parkhoping to find as many birds as theycould. Students did not just enjoy thisactivity, but also developed great collab-oration and support skills. In addition,they learned how to work as a team inorder to overcome the challenge andachieve the task. We also had the

chance to come close to nature andlearn about the different birds that live inthe area. Most importantly, we had a lotof fun and a wonderful day. As the dayreached its end, the On-water crewcame together and elaborated on theirexperiences. There were no doubts thateverybody had a good time and enjoyeda fascinated and exciting trip. There aresimply no words to describe this incred-ible trip. We all had a great time in whichwe become even more confident whicheach other. I believe that this tripstrengthened our family and give us theopportunity to interact with our self andpeers deeply. Participating in this recre-ational event wasn’t just a challenge forall of us, but an activity that rewarded ofwith the must valuable gift you can get;knowledge and experience. The On-water crew had not just a trip, but anexperience that would last for life time.

job skillsBy Haajar Carter

For this past month Jobskills has beengetting back into the routine of work.Continuing our monitoring of the Bronxriver and also the dealing with theprocess of getting our voice, theRocking the Boat community voice, outto the Bronx community. Early this fall we

on-water newswritten by rocking the boat’s on-water education students

what’s happening now

april 2008

issue #10

editor: Haajar Carter

joined with concerned youth groups inthe Bronx together called it Voice. Voiceconnects us with other youth groups,who are putting the same kind of energythat we are for improving our communi-ty. That’s what Voice is all about and youwill see the latest up dates in the Voicesection of the news letter. On Monday’sthis month the on-water Jobskillsapprentices have the ability to work clos-er with one of the youth groups calledAction, from the POINT, in helping themwith their studies on the river, teachingthem how to row- so they could getwhere they want to go- expanding onwhat they already know about the river Italso was a great chance to show whatwe do out on the river. On Friday, April4th, there was an “open house” wherethe three youth groups that make upVoice, YMPJ (Youth Ministries for Peaceand Justice), Action, and Rocking theBoat got together and shared informa-tion about what each of the groups inVoice do as a program to youth plan-ners from all over the country. Besidesthat on at least two or three Friday’s in amonth as a whole, Jobskills- boat build-ing and on-water get to go to a programcalled CASH, which stands for CollegeAwareness Symbolizes Hope. In thisprogram high school student volunteertheir time to go to learn about the issuesyouth are faced when going to their nextstep after high school. This includeslearning how to choose a college, write aresume, interviewing skills steps to befinancially literate, and how to researchand buy stocks. This program providesreal information for our future, while help-ing with communication and planningskills.

rocking the boat 60 east 174th street, bronx, ny 10452 p: 718.466.5799 f: 718.466.2892 [email protected] www.rockingtheboat.org

Toniann GermanWhat I do for the Bronx River is participate in Rocking the Boat in which they help the Bronx river water waysby doing different type of projects like oyster gardens that filter out the water and also doing different test thatshow how the rivers doing healthy wise.My water quality monitoring job is very important because I have a very important job in getting the data thatI collect correct and accurate also by making sure that the results get shared with others.

Quaheim PayneRocking the boat can help me become more social. By learning to set and achieve goals here I can prepmyself for doing that in school. Having responsibility at Rock the Boat and people counting on you can andwill help me be more responsible with other matters.

Jason LopezRocking the Boat can help increase my physical activity and stamina and it can also help me communicatebetter w/ other people. This way in the future sports will come easier for me because my stamina will haveincreased greatly by the time summer comes. So, in general Rocking the Boat will boost activeness and stam-ina and it will make it easier to communicate w/ others.

Marcus CeceresRocking the boat can help me swim better, make me aware of the environment even more. I believe thisprogram can also teach better social skills by interacting with other students, teachers, PA’s, and guest speak-ers. Also helping me articulate even better when giving a speech. Rocking the Boat can teach me to be moreresponsible by giving me duties that I need to complete in order to be more responsible. By completing theseduties it can teach me to feel more comfortable in the working world.

Determining how healthy the Bronx River is, hasnot only to do with the color of the water, thesmell you get when you’re on the water or theamount of waste materials you see in the waterbut how much life is in the river. All the things likewater color, smell and pollutants in the water arestuff that contributes to pollution, but the river canbe judged by its ability to sustain life. If the rivercan sustain the lives of newly found species ofshrimp as well as oysters and alewives then there

is progression, which may be slow but it’s sure.The Bronx River is much healthier than it was overthe past few years, which is known based fromthe evidence found in the data that has been col-lected. It can once again be a home to creaturesvital to us. Even though new species are beingfound there hasn’t been a significant amount ofchange also found in the frequent water monitor-ing tests we perform.

interview topics

how healthy is the river?

Since you’ve been a student with Rocking the Boat for two semesters now, what can you saythat you do for the Bronx River?

As a new student, what do you believe that Rocking the Boat can do for you?

on water students get toknow the bronx river

For the month of April, On-Waterstudents have been working on threeprojects: the Creel survey, the WadingBirds Survey, and Water Monitoring. Inthe Creel survey group, students discusstopics such as what type of fish live inthe river and who are trying to catchthem. The Creel survey group doesexactly what its name implies, survey.They ask questions of people fishing, toget answers about the animals in theriver. The questions look for informationon the types of fish, the time they werecaught, and where the fish were caught.This information helps to create a map offish species along the river and howpeople are using them. The On-waterstudents who are a part of the WadingBirds group observed the different typesof wading birds that are found along theBronx River. The project is done to seewhat types of birds are around the riverand how they are using it. One way thebirds use the river is for eating. Thisproject also looks to see if any birds arereturning to the Bronx River from their

yearly migration. The Water Monitoringgroup studies the quality of the water byconducting different environmental tests.They record the test results and reportthe findings to the Bronx River Alliance,who analysis the results Two of thesetests are dissolved oxygen (how muchoxygen is in the water) and pH (theacidic or base level of the water. ). All thetests are weighed equally because theyall connect to each other. The tests haveto be done as efficiently as possiblebecause if the tests are off then youcan't tell if there is any real change ornot.

by: Ashley Quiles, Sabrina Marti,Chris Quinonez, Ugo Nwogu, StaciaThomas, Josh Santana.

jobskills apprentices arebecoming informationgivers and takers.

This past April, Job Skills has beenworking on various projects that willteach the upcoming students. TheOn-Water apprentices are in the middle



issue #11editor: Haajar Carter

of putting together a teaching lesson forthe On-Water students, supplying themwith more knowledge about Bronx Riverhistory. The Apprentices are planning toteach the on-water students in anengaging way by taking a canoe tripdown the Bronx River from the BronxZoo to Hunts Point. To prepare for thistrip the On-Water Apprentices areconducting a canoe trip down the entireBronx River, from beginning to end. Thisovernight trip will be awesome! As theApprentices paddle down, they will doc-ument various aspects of the river suchas mills that once existed or currentlyexist on the river. . The trip will take placeon May 17th & 18th. Another wayJobskills is teaching the new group ofstudents is by joining up with the boatbuilding Apprentices to plan the scav-enger hunt field trip. Together as onegroup, the On Water and Boatbuildingapprentices chose sites and laid out ascavenger hunt that was held on May4th. In this, the On Water and BoatBuilding students traveled to differentparts of Manhattan trying to win pointsas they learn about various locationssuch as the United Nations and BatteryPark by finding the answers to differentclues. The group with the most pointswins. Then they all met up at CentralPark for a fun afternoon of pizza, footballand frisbee. It was a beautiful day!

by: Haajar Carter


Ugo NwoguI disagree with the Sean Bell Verdict. I feel that if we don't protest for justice and equality in the African-American community, the next time it will be 100 shots. This verdict is affecting our community becausepeople are astonished and outraged. I think this verdict not only brought down Sean Bell’s family, but also ourcommunity. They should be charged with something! To let them free is absurd. It shows that if one cop didit and got off, then any cop could do the same. This is a message that the public needs to open their eyesto because Sean Bell is not just one man, he’s all of us!

Sabrina MartiThe verdict was unbelievable. The police offices didn't even get suspension! It gets me mad because whatif that would have happened to my brother or friend? It affects our community because you can't even feellike the police are really here for us. I've seen things like this and its unfair.

Chris QuinonezI think that this is affecting our community because police officers took action with any proof that Sean Bellhad a gun. They didn't know that he did anything wrong and they killed him. This affects our communitybecause it could happen to any one of us!

Stephanie Jaquez (Jobskills)When I hear the name Sean Bell I think of injustice. I think of people abusing their power and being able to get awaywith it. People in the South Bronx haven't seen justice and the way it's looking they never will. How are we supposedto be able to trust the government when the government shoots us down 50 times like dogs? Hunts Point is in theprocess of becoming this great place with a ton of youth groups making an effort to make a difference. Our youthhas so much hope for Hunts Point but things like the Sean Bell case only shoot that hope down. I was just startingto believe this world was actually improving, but I was wrong. I really feel that our community will just try that muchharder to make a difference. It's a lesson learned.

Over the months of February, March and AprilRocking the Boat's On-Water program has beentesting the quality of the Bronx river's water andcollecting data to monitor whether or not the riverhas been improving. Based on the data collected,what stood out the most was the very low salini-ty rate of the water on April 1st. We observed overthe months of February through April that thesalinity rate continued to decrease, from 10ppt(which stands for parts per thousand) on2/15/08 to only 3 ppt on 4/1/08. To some peoplethis may seem as a bad thing, but it actually isn'tthat bad at all. Salinity is how much salt we havein our river. Being in the estuary part of the river,

Rocking the Boat is affected by the daily cycle ofthe tides going in and out. On the day that thewater sample was taken it was low tide, whichmeans that the salty ocean water was going out,and fresh water from the upper part of the riverwas coming in as well. Another reason the salini-ty rate could have also been low is because of therain fall we received during the month of April.Rain is a fresh water source and can alter thesalinity rate of the river by flushing out some of thesalt out of the water. Overall, based on all thedifferent tests conducted (including dissolvedoxygen and nitrates) the river is indeed slowlyimproving.

by: Toniann German and Mertle John

interview topics


Interview Question: How do you think the verdict in the Sean Bell case will affect our community?

on-water studentslearning and experiencing

For the month of May, On-Waterstudents went on two different trips. Oneof the trips was from Hunts PointRiverside Park to Red Hook, Brooklyn.The other trip was a canoe trip thatexplored the more wild sections of theBronx River. Both of the trips were veryphysically demanding and a lot of fun forthe On-Water students. The On-Watercanoe trips took place on May 21st and22nd. For each of these trips, On-Waterstudents met up with some of Rockingthe Boat’s Job Skills Apprentices, droveup to the freshwater section of the BronxRiver by the Bronx Zoo, and canoedthree hours back to our Hunts Point site.During the canoe trip, Job SkillsApprentices taught On-Water studentsabout the first signs of Bronx industrial-

ization. Students learned about the threedifferent dams and 12 mills along theRiver, how the dams got their names,when they were built, and what theywere used for. They also learned aboutthe impact that these early industrieshad on the Bronx River and how they stillaffect the water quality monitoring RTBdoes. Job Skills Apprentices called this“The best dam trip ever” and On-Waterstudents agreed!

The other great trip took place OnSaturday, May 17th, for their secondgreat trip, the On-Water students rowedin RTB’s traditional Whitehall rowboatsfrom Hunts Point to Red Hook Brooklynand back!. It took 12 hours to row the23 mile round-trip voyage. Rowing theboats took lots of strength, power, teamwork, and was a great experience for thestudents in the On- Water program.Team work was the biggest challenge.For this row, every person had to helpout by either rowing or steering, or evenpumping water out of the boat. Everyperson in the boat had to depend oneanother. Another big challenge was thewaves! On-water went through some ofthe biggest waves they’ve seen sincelearning how to row. Julian, a newstudent at Rocking the Boat said, “Onour way back, the waves began tobecome more rapid and aggressive.”Natalie, a Rocking the Boat returningstudent said, “The waves were funbecause we got to ride them.” This tripwas a great experience for On-Water,being the first time that they have evergone so far in one day. On-water



april 2008

issue #12

editor: Haajar Carter

students loved the rowing and canoetrips of the first half of the Spring, buteveryone is looking forward to their nextbig trip – on a sailboat.

by On-Water students

job skills complete theirteaching mission, whilebeing certified

Another semester is coming to a closeand Job Skills On-Water Apprentices areproud to say that “the best dam trip”,teaching on-water students was a bigsuccess. The On-Water students loved itand hope to do something like that againin the future. During the trip Job Skillsimproved their teaching and canoe skills,and really got to show some of theknowledge they have gained. Theweather on those days wasn’t as nice asapprentices would have liked it to be butthe job was done, and On-Waterstudents left with a new experience intheir pockets. Besides walking awaywith the satisfaction of doing a goodteaching job, Job Skills Apprentices arealso walking away with canoe certifica-tions. And the list is piling up. For thispast semester Apprentices have beentaking classes with SUNY Maritime’swaterfront director, Rob Crafa to getcertified in power boat driving. They willsoon complete the course.

by Haajar Carter


Paul Smith - 15The presidential election will affect RTB a great deal. Rocking the Boat is an environmental organization and depending on the candidate that isselected, programs like ours may be done away with. Some of the candidates believe in industrialization rather than environmentalism. If the wrongperson were to be elected, I cannot begin to imagine what RTB and the Bronx River might look like. It is just unimaginable to know that somethingyou put all your hard work into may be destroyed. Depending on the candidate we may go back to our old ways and instead of paying the pricenow by helping clean up the environment, we instead help to poison it even more. We need a president who will support and encourage the cleanup of the environment, and if we get that we would be able to achieve more goals. It all depends on who the winner of the election is. People maythink it doesn’t matter, but it matters a great deal. If we don’t research and learn more about the prospective President’s views we may make a bad

decision and pick the wrong candidate.

Pierre Pascal - 16Rocking the Boat is a nonprofit organization and will be affected by the presidential election of 2008. Rocking the boat needs a president thatencourages people to help the environment, not neglect it. We at Rocking the Boat need someone that would fund organizations and projects likeours. The President needs to be someone that would take us away from the war in Iraq. A President that possesses these characteristics is whatwe the nonprofit organizations need.

Katherine Alonzo - 17I personally do not follow politics. I would prefer a president that is on our side. We need a president who would help further our work at Rocking

the Boat. Also we want a president who thinks of the future of the place that they live in.

Mertle John - 17Being that Rocking the Boat is part of the Hunts Point community, I definitely see some change happening. Probably we won’t immediately noticethat change, but I believe that we will gradually feel it as a program. If a candidate from the Democratic Party wins the election communities likeHunts Point will probably get better and have a bit more attention brought to us, unlike if the Republican Party wins. On the bright side, no matterwho wins the presidential election, all three candidates have huge plans to reduce global warming by dramatically cutting down CO2 emissions. In

the end, we all know that Rocking the Boat is an environmental program so to have people from such high places on our side is indeed a plus!

interview topicsHow are the presidential candidates going to affect us at RTB?

what does VOICE have to say?

Rocking the Boat is a member of acollaborative youth group called VOICE,which currently involves three Bronxbased organizations; Rocking the Boat,The Points Action, and Youth Ministries

for Peace and Justice. All of the youthgroups bring their specific skills andtalents to the table creating a unifiedVOICE in order to reach their commongoal: a better Bronx. The three groupsmeet twice a month to discuss issuesthat have occurred since the lastmeeting. Currently we have been tryingto promote support from neighboringorganizations and to spread VOICE’sword. The more youth that get involved,the more problems the members of

Voice can fix. VOICE will be having anopen house to showcase the work herealready being done and to inform othergroups on how they can get involved.This will be held on Friday, July 18th from5pm to 6pm at The Point CDC, locatedat 940 Garrison.

VOICE unites youth of the Bronx througheducation creating an empoweredpresence by forming a core supportsystem, voice makes a difference.


Over the last month of Water QualityMonitoring, Rocking the Boat On-Waterstudents noticed a spike in the water

temperature which went from 6 degreesCelsius to 22 degrees Celsius. Theyexpected this to happen since the watertemperature is directly related to the airtemperature which increases this time ofyear. The increase in water temperatureis also related to the decreasing level ofdissolved oxygen (DO) from 10ppm(parts per million) to 8ppm. However, thisisn’t a bad thing. In the warmer weather

the water is warmer and the warmer thewater, the more rapidly the moleculesmove allowing the river to hold lessoxygen. And, it is scientifically knownthrough research and monitoring thatthe danger level begins at 5ppm.Estuary organisms are adapted to thesechanging levels. Even though the DOdropped, the river is closer to expectedlevel at this time of year.

There is a huge increase in people whoare using the river for recreationalpurposes. The On-Water students ofRocking the Boat (RTB) have made it apriority to educate the public about theBronx River. The students, who areeagerly learning about the river, are theriver’s advocates. Through collaborationbetween Rocking the Boat and BronxRiver Arts Center (BRAC), the informa-tion regarding the Bronx River, its history,impact by humans, and the restorationefforts taking place can become broadlyavailable through podcasts that will bedownloadable from both organization’swebsites.

The river has been used by NativeAmericans for thousands of years as afood source, for transportation, and forclean drinking water. When theEuropeans arrived in the 1600’s the riverwas changed in many ways, mainlythrough the creation of dams. Damsused the rivers energy to help power

mills. This was the start of the industrial-ized Bronx River that we have come toknow today. With the industry flourishingon the banks of our beloved river, theregard for the river’s health diminished.Throughout the years, the river has beenused to dispose of chemical waste,trash, and untreated sewage. During thistime, the organisms such as oysters,fish, and wading birds, that had oncebeen able to sustain life in their homes inand around the river could not, due tothe contaminates that ruined theirhabitat.

One way we at RTB have helped torestore our river is by monitoring andrestoring our remaining salt marshecosystem. The salt marsh is one of themost helpful ecosystems in the world. Itis a base for which our biodiversity canimprove. Salt marshes create habitatspace, filter water, and provide energy.These tidal marshes provide algae andother food for many organisms. Inmonitoring the improvement in the saltmarshes, we, in turn, can monitor theoverall improvement of the river. A varietyof birds are already using the Bronx Riversalt marshes. We look at wading birds asan indicator species. If the bird’s popula-tion increases, it is a great indication thatthe rivers heath is improving. Theincrease in birds that now live in the riveris due to the improvement of the saltmarshes’ health. The On-Water studentsconduct research on RTB’s traditional



august 2008

issue #13

Whitehall rowboats and use binocularsto view and record data on the wadingbirds in the area. In doing so, they haveattained the skills necessary to identifythe birds, such as the great egret, greatblue heron, snowy egret, black crownednight heron, killdeer, and yellow crownednight heron. Our data is shared with theNew York City Audubon society and theNew York City Department of Park andRecreation Natural Resources Group.This data helps them in their ownprojects that are planed for the future.

Our unique location near the salt marshon the Bronx River allowed us to teamup with BRAC and use our data collect-ed to create a podcast for the public.BRAC accompanied the On-Waterstudents on a day that they monitoredthe salt marsh in order to interview someof the students. They also took somevideo and audio recordings of thestudents at work. The students reportedthat the BRAC group was very curiousabout the environmental work andnervous about their boat rides at first.This is just the beginning of this wonder-ful project taking place in efforts toeducate the public on a broader level.Eventually through the hard work ofthese two dedicated groups, a podcastwill be made so all findings having to dowith the health of the river will be down-loadable.

By On-Water students


how healthy is the river?The Bronx River hasn’t been as healthyas usual this summer. A primary issuehas been the abnormal levels ofdissolved oxygen (DO). DO is themeasure of oxygen available for riverorganisms to use. This summer DO testresults have shown major changes. Thisis very dangerous for living organisms inthe river. If DO gets too low, fish and

other organisms suffer and canpotentially die. One possible cause forthe lower oxygen levels is an increase inwater temperature. As water tempera-ture rises, it loses the ability to hold DO.In the summer the temperature of thewater is higher than it is any other time ofthe year. This means that the level of DO

I was on Aurora and me and my fellow members had a great time. We had plenty of water fights and told plenty of jokes. [We]rowed at a fast pace and passed the other boats. My group had a lot of arguments but we compromised to clear our problemsshortly after and had a great time because we cared about each other as if we were family.

Julien Pacheco

My most memorable moment was climbing Bear Mountain to the very top! We followed all the tracks to the top and I saw thegreatest view ever. We saw a wide open view of the long Hudson River and its [small] cities…

Michael Vargas

My most memorable moment from the trip is being in the boat rowing, getting hyped, being excited and screaming out loud. Wehave the livest boat ever (Eden)! We make it fun and exciting – Eden’s the best ever…

Aissata Diallo

The first day of our trip started out boring but once we got on water, my crew Onika, Frank, Julien and me started to have madfun and started to get to know each other better. As the day went by we started to have water fights on the boat coming outsoaking wet. On the fourth day, we were in Peekskill and we were having fun just relaxing and playing football. I jumped in the[Hudson] River with Aissata. Tomorrow will be one of my favorite days because we’re going home and I can finally take ashower and sleep in my bed. Yeah, but I did have fun on this trip and I hope we can do it again.

Jonathan Vera

interview topicsOn-Water Students were asked to describe something memorable or interesting while on the Hudson River Expedition July 21 – 25, 2008:

off the bench By Jhairo Colon

Inside a smallbrick house,seven other jobskills boatbuild-ing apprenticesand I learn thenecessary skills

to maintain and build a working woodenboat. In the past three months we haveused these skills to build a nutshell pram

named “Genesis”. Additionally, we havesuccessfully converted Eden, a rowingWhitehall, into rowing/sailing Whitehall.These skills not only allowed us to dothis but also to add a few other piecesthat were missing off our massive 19-foot sailboat named Triumph.

Personally, what I like about this programis not only that I contribute to building

boats, but that it helps me to learn otherskills such as communication and team-work. The Apprentices and I work as asquad in order to get our agendacompleted. As well, the program alsotrains us for life matters, such as college,careers and professional presentation.Collectively, we do not only build boatsbut also build our futures.

is expected to be lower and there isalready a higher potential of fish andother organisms to suffer during thesummer. Even though people cannotcontrol the temperature, the communi-ty’s interaction with the river greatlycontributes to the increase of the waterstemperature. Lack of shade from ourindustrialized area, pollution from therunoff of this watershed and CSOdischarge from lack of impermeablegrounds that cause the sewers tooverflow when it rains all contribute tothe decrease in levels of DO. In the sum-mer the usual DO level reads at approx-imately 6.0 to 7.0 parts per million.However, recent DO tests at SoundviewPark showed a rating of 2.5ppm, whichis way below the standard.

We have noted an unusual event thatmay be affecting DO levels this summer.For the past couple of weeks Rockingthe Boat students and apprentices havenoticed something different about thecolor of the Bronx River’s water. Ratherthan the usual dark blue/green, thewater has been a dark red brown color.Rocking the Boat Program Directorsthought that the color could be due to atype of algae that causes a phenomenoncalled Brown Tide. The excessivegrowth of this algae can turn the waterdark brown. The cause of this is stillunknown, but one possibility may be anincrease in nitrates in our river. Nitratescome from an increase in organic matter,specifically human waste that enters ourriver as sewers overflow because of

heavy rainfall. Algae feed off of nitrates,so if there are more nitrates present inthe river, algae are more likely to over-populate. Rocking the Boat is workingalongside scientists from LehmanCollege and The New York CityDepartment of Park and RecreationNatural Resources Group in an effort toexplore this algal bloom and its effectson the river. This summer’s hot tempera-ture has had a negative impact on theBronx River, but Rocking the Boat isexcited to continue to monitor the river’swater quality while helping to improve it.

By On-Water students and Job Skills appren-tices Toniann German, Tiffany Barker andStephanie Jacquez

how healthy is the river? continued

rocking the boat’s on-waterfire island expedition,october 4 – 5, 2008

On Saturday, October 4th, Rocking theBoat’s On-Water students rowed 14 milesacross Long Island’s Great South Bay, andcamped on Fire Island. We began our tripto Fire Island at Smith Point Park. At firstwe thought that rowing would be easy, butwe were sadly mistaken – the wind wasagainst us. On our first day we rowedabout 7 miles in about 6 hours with justtwo short stops and a lunch break. Itdidn’t take us long to get discouragedbecause it was tough and at first wehonestly wanted to go home. However, inmy boat, Lovett and Ashanti decided tohelp encourage everyone by singing songsand creating a light hearted competitionbetween us and our teammates in otherboats around us. We were finally havingfun! When we finally reached our destina-tion, we had to walk a long time before wegot to the campsite. We learned how toput up tents and Stephanie, Tasya and Ihad the best camping spot because it wassort of isolated from the rest of the group.It was so peaceful and relaxing.

Even though the food wasn’t the best, I stillappreciated the group for providing foodfor us. We really enjoyed the beautifulsurroundings and all the stars we saw.The best part was our walk across theIsland – it was the longest walk of our lives.We all loved the beach in spite of themosquitoes (poor Danise got attacked bythem). In spite of that, we still enjoyed thewind in our hair and the sand through ourtoes. It was awesome.

The trip was a challenging experience, butwe learned how to be better rowers andwe had a good time camping, hiking,eating s’mores and just sitting on thebeach enjoying the view of the AtlanticOcean.

By: Danise Infante, Stephanie Galviz, TasyaSteer, Sherene Steer

on-water job skills

On-water Job Skills Apprentices have beeninvolved in many projects and events thissemester, including water monitoring, anenvironmental conference at Pier 66,monitoring the salt marsh at Pelham bay,and restoring North Brother Island.

At Rocking the Boat we test the qualityof the water at Hunts Point and Soundviewevery week. Job Skills’ role is to make surethat information is shared with our partner-ing scientists. They rely on our informationin order to know what’s happening on theriver.

On September 23rd we went to NewYork City Outdoors an environmental



issue #14

conference located at Pier 66. Theconference was attended by many differentorganizations in our area that are alsodedicated to improving the environmentthrough education. As participants of thisevent, we were able to educate the otherparticipants about what Rocking the Boatis all about and how we benefit our river.Naturally we were curious about the otherorganizations as well, so we went aroundto all the tables, getting a firsthandexperience in an important job skill:networking!

On October 9th, we traveled to OrchardBeach in Pelham Bay Park to monitor thedifferent zones of a salt marsh. Our dayfocused mainly on the impact of humanson our environment and understandinghow their actions affect the organisms of asalt marsh. We are going compare theinformation collected to our own salt marshhere in the Bronx River and see if there areways to make it better.

Lastly, we conducted the first everRocking the Boat expedition to NorthBrother Island! Rowing against heavycurrents we were able to ferry theA.C.T.I.O.N. group from The Point,members from New York City AudubonSociety and the Parks Department’sNatural Resources Group to the island inorder for all of us to restore the island byeliminating invasive vines. The invasivevines, such as kudzu and bittersweet, arekilling the trees and shrubs used by localbirds during their nesting season.

Overall it has been a busy semester but wehave had fun while getting our job done.

By: Tiffany Barker


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Juber AhmedRocking the Boat is like the building blocks of a building. The information that we obtain from bird monitoring, salt marsh,survey, or water quality monitoring are sent to scientists, so they can store the information for the future. Since the start ofthe fall semester, I have helped new students with the skills that I have learned from my other semesters of work. I taughtthem necessary things that they can do to improve their intelligence in this program. I have also learned new informationabout bird surveying and salt marsh.

Kristyl ColonIn becoming a part of the On-Water Program at Rocking the Boat, I have been given the opportunity to learn andexperience the many different ways one can travel on water. For example sailing, canoeing, and rowing. Additional on-wateractivities that I have participated in are the salt marsh survey, the amazing race (navigation), and triangulation. My last fewweeks at RTB have helped me be aware of how important team work is. I have realized if I see someone in need of my help,instincts tell me right away to lend a helping hand. Working with one another as a team to launch the boats for the activi-ties of the day, I have come to realize communication is the key to a day’s success. Rocking the Boat’s mission of helpingthe youth develop into empowered and responsible adults, is something that has started to become a sincere part of myactions.

Catherine PerezRocking the Boat has helped me to realize that I can do so much more than I expected myself to do, like learning how torow a boat, sailing, and canoeing. I would have never imagined myself rowing or sailing down the Bronx River. Rocking theBoat has also taught me to have team work skills, how to get your point across respectfully,how to work together, and thateveryone needs to do their part. One special experience that I will always remember was the 5 mile, 6 hour row to and fromFire Island. That trip made me a much better rower and also taught me how to work together without always arguing. Whenwe finally got to Fire Island, when it got dark, I will never forget the sky and how many stars I saw while lying down on thecold sand of the beach. I had so much fun looking back at it now.

student reflections

from the bench by: alberto tavarez

In the Boat Building Job Skills program, we havemany things going on. For the first time in Rockingthe Boat history, we have a commission boatproject: an 18-foot power boat. The designer isHarold Payson, and he calls this work of art“Diablo Grande.” Throughout the past severalsemesters my boat building skills have increased,giving me a new attitude towards my work. I find

this a great opportunity for my peers and me toshow off what we are capable of. Every year wehave gone to the “WoodenBoat Show” andbecome highly impressed by the work ofprofessional boat builders; Hopefully the mainattraction next year at this wooden boat show, willbe our new build.


Through our various different monitoringprojects we have found that the river isimproving. First, we monitored the wadingbirds of the river. Wading birds are a type ofbird that wade around the mudflats lookingfor their food. These birds are a good indi-cator species that can help to determinethe health of the river because an increasein birds means that the rivers is increasingin habitat space to nest, clean water to

drink and more food to feed the birds andtheir young. This semester our datashowed that the river was mainly populat-ed with mallard ducks and black crownednight herons. In one way this is goodbecause there are a large number ofwading birds, showing that the river’sability to support animal life is gettingbetter. However, this is also bad newsbecause the large number of the wadingbirds recorded this semester were all of thesame two species. Having too many of thesame bird species is bad because itcreates an unbalanced ecosystem, whichcan ultimately disrupt all live within the river.As the river continues to improve, weshould start to see an increase in birds andin species diversity.

The second example of the River’s healthcomes from our water monitoring data. Inwater monitoring we take several tests tocheck up on how the river is doing. pH isone of the tests conducted and itmeasures the acidic or basic level of theriver water. It has been pretty constantfrom the summer up until now. The onlychange is from August to September whenpH went down from 8.0 to 7.0. This isrelatively good because 7.0 shows us thatthe river’s pH is neutral, neither acidic norbasic. This is important becauseorganisms in the Bronx River mostly like tolive in a pH of 7.0. This data shows that theriver is improving overall, thanks to thework we accomplish to make it a betterplace for all living things.

By: Marcus Caceres

on-water

During the Fall semester of 2008 Rockingthe Boat On-Water students and PA’S hasbeen involved in many projects and events,such as the podcast project, data analyz-ing sessions with On-water Job Skills andswimming at the YMCA .

Working with the Bronx River Art Center,On-water students created severalpodcasts about the Bronx River. Thestudents decided that podcasts are areally good way to inform people of thehistory of the Bronx River. People who livenear the Bronx River and are occupying thesurrounding area should know more aboutthe river and its background. The podcastsincludes information about the industrial-ization on the River, the Salt Marsh of theRiver and about animals that utilize theRiver. The students worked as a group increating the podcasts, with each personproviding in-depth information about theBronx River’s history in front of a camera.Many of the students were a little nervous,and everybody had something different tosay. Soon the podcasts will be available onthe On-Water website for easy accessibili-ty, meaning that people around the worldwill be learning about the Bronx River.

On December 1st and 2nd the On-Waterstudents and On-Water Job SkillsApprentices met with each other to analyzeall the data that was gathered from the riverfrom the entire semester. Water QualityMonitoring, the Creel Survey, and theWading Birds were all analyzed. Theanalysis process was fun and it allowedstudents and Apprentices to share theirknowledge about the ecology projects.

Last but not least, the On-water studentsparticipated in swimming lessons at the

YMCA in Castle Hill when it began to getdark in the fall. During this time of yearOn-Water activities move in indoors andswimming replaces rowing to keep thestudents in shape. The students enjoyworking with the lifeguards to improve theirswimming skills.

job skills

Website! Website! Website! For the laterpart of this semester the main focus inOn-water Job Skills has been updating theOn-Water Online website. The reason forthis intense focus is get the website up todate for its users, which include Rockingthe Boat members, students from localhigh schools, the local community and ourscientific partners. All the scientific workthat Rocking the Boat has done through-out this semester has been put on thewebsite to show viewers what we haveaccomplished to help the Bronx River andto provide access to our scientific data. Wealso added new pages that will connectpast, present and future Rocking the Boat.The new sections will allow environmentalminded youth to communicate to eachother, learn Bronx based youth groups andconnect them to potential jobs andinternships. Another new feature is ourblog, which will enable anyone to contactRocking the Boat students, Job SkillsApprentices, Program Assistants, andeven tour scientific partners. It’s so impres-sive that you can now contact a student orapprentice or even the scientist becausenow no questions will go unanswered.Now everyone will be able to go towww.rockingtheboat.com/owol and learnabout RTB’s On-Water program.



fall 2008issue #15

rocking the boat’sracing team

Rocking the boat has started its owncompetitive rowing team that consists ofOn-Water and Boatbuilding students, JobSkills Apprentices and Program Assistants.There are two teams, a Thursday team anda Friday team that practiced every week onthe Bronx River and participated in theVillage Community Boat House Race onNovember 15th, where we received thirdplace! Rocking the Boat will even behosting its own Race on SaturdayDecember 13thto bring everyone togetherfor a fun outing. In the spring the teams willhopefully grow larger and compete in moreraces.


Tasya SteerWhen I found out that Obama won the election, I was very excited. I now verified that the government was not only focusedon “white” light skinned males. Now we can truly say that we are an equal state.

Shaquoia GulleyWhen I learned that Obama had won the election, I was really proud. I thought of all the people who died wanting to live tosee this moment. I thought of how happy they’d be if they were alive to witness this. There are no boundaries. Don’t limityourself to the expected.

Ashanti BrownWhat did I think about when Obama won the election? The first thought that came to my head was no matter where you comefrom, no matter your race. You can be anything you believe in. Sometimes our inner feelings can take over of what we believe.But have no fears, look beyond your fantasy. Dream with your eyes open, express with and from your heart, and soar andbelieve with your mind, and your ideas will flow with influence.

Danise InfanteWhat did I think about when I first found out that Obama won? I thought… change I thought college I though school I thoughta positive future. Never settle for less than your best!

interview question:How did you feel when you first found out that Barack Obama was elected president?

VOICEWant to make a difference in your nearby community? What tomake the world a better place for you and me? Then Voice is theprogram for you! Voice is a collaborative youth group thatcurrently involves three Bronx based organizations; Rocking theBoat, Action at the POINT, and Youth Ministries for Peace andJustice. All of the youth groups bring their own knowledge to

create a unified VOICE in order to reach their common goal; abetter Bronx. These three youth groups are meeting onDecember 15th for a movie night to get to know one another,learn about what VOICE has accomplished in the past and tocome up with ideas of what they wish to focus on while being apart of VOICE.


Throughout this semester water monitoringhas been fairly consistent, except forNovember 14th, 2008. What we noticedon that date was that the dissolve oxygenincreased from an average of 6.0 parts per

million (ppm) to 9.0ppm. Dissolved oxygenis the amount of oxygen that is in the water.Fish and other river animals use thisoxygen to breath. This change is normal forthis time of year. As water gets colder itcan hold more oxygen because themolecules do not move around as much.However, one thing we noticed that wasnot normal was the rise in nitrates whichwent from 1 ppm to 4ppm. Nitrates are theamount of nutrients in the water. Too manynitrates in the river can cause an algaebloom which might cause the fish in theriver to suffer from hypoxia, which meansthey would suffocate and die. The reasonfor this rise is probably an error in our

calculations or it could have been becauseof a recent downpour. A recent downpourmight affect nitrates because when it rainsone tenth of an inch or more, raw sewage,which is full of nitrates, overflows into theriver. Finally, Salinity decreased from anaverage 25 parts per thousand (ppt) to8ppm. Salinity is the salt content in thewater. This decrease in salinity could havebeen due to the effect of tides or severerainfall. This is normal because the averagerange of salinity in our river is 0-24ppt. Wewill continue to keep a close eye on all theWater Quality Monitoring test over thewinter.

Documents

NFWF Final Report...• Briefly explain discrepancies between what actually happened compared to what was predicted to happen. • Provide any further information (such as unexpected