Come join us as a fellow volunteer on July 12 as we provide free paddling in a little piece of Heaven called Little Hell Gate Salt Marsh! There will be Natural Areas environmental educators and even a pickling demonstration and giveaway with the Urban Farm!
This program will be done in partnership with Randall’s Island Park Alliance as part of the 2025 City of Water Day celebration. As some of you know, this is a special event for us, given that our volunteers initiated the annual festival in 2007 as the Five Borough Harbor Ramble before happily handing it over to Waterfront Alliance for growth and longevity. The 2025 City of Water Day theme is “Unity in the Face of Climate Change.” We’ll be teamed up with NYC Parks’ and RIPA’s environmental educators and students to add value to our work.
Come join HarborLAB and Eastern Queens Alliance on July 27 and/or August 24 (11am until 2pm) for free kayaking and eco-education at Idlewild Park! You’ll explore Hook Creek, a sleepy corner of Jamaica Bay tucked behind the gleam and roar of JFK International Airport.
Better yet, volunteer with us to help make the meaningful fun happen!
Register below as a volunteer or student helper, and to read more details:
Because this location is poorly served by mass transit, we’ll shuttle volunteers from the Sutphin Boulevard subway and LIRR station.
This program is made possible by HarborLAB’s uniquely innovative pop-up mobile boathouse, The WAEV (Water Access Electric Vehicles). The WAEV brings next-generation inflatable tandem kayaks to waterfront throughout the metropolitan area using small Nissan LEAF electric vehicles.
Paddlers west of the island. Photo by Christopher Girgenti, Director of Environmental Programs at RIPA.
The HarborLAB crew had a great time celebrating City of Water Day by partnering with the Randall’s Island Park Alliance to provide free public kayaking. We were able to serve the island thanks to supporters of The WAEV (water access electric vehicles), HarborLAB’s unique innovation: a zero emissions mobile pop-up boathouse filled with next-generation inflatable tandem kayaks. Participants explored the Little Hell Gate Salt Marsh natural restoration area and the Harlem River (or as some argue, west branch of the East River). Both groups are deeply grateful to Hudson River Foundation for a grant supporting this work and to Waterfront Alliance for promotion of citywide events. As it happens, the founder of HarborLAB also founded what became City of Water Day back in 2007 as The Five Borough Harbor Ramble.
HarborLAB volunteers Finola and Monique Fung-Khee survey alternate launch areas. Photo by Ira Gershenhorn of HarborLAB.
The crew faced weather and consequential water quality challenges. Heavy rains overwhelm the city’s sewer system, which combines wastewater with stormwater rushing into street drains. Rather than have that glut of water back up into homes, it’s released untreated into the estuary. The west side of Randall’s Island Park doesn’t have sewer pipe ends, but there are a number of them along the nearby Manhattan coastline and there were runoffs from athletic fields and other surfaces.
To mitigate negative impacts, we distributed hand sanitizer, used “dry ride” boats without scupper holes, delayed our launch and provided this cautionary note for volunteers and public participants to be better equipped to give informed consent:
Please be advised that there is an added risk for individuals who are immunocompromised when participating in activities involving direct contact with impaired waterways, especially after major rain events. These conditions can increase the presence of harmful contaminants in the water, posing a heightened health risk.
We urge immunocompromised participants to take extra precautions or consult with their healthcare provider before engaging in these activities. These conditions are caused by NYC's combined sewer overflows. To learn more, visit the Riverkeeper and SWIM Coalition (Stormwater Infrastructure Matters) websites.
Some of HarborLAB and Randall’s Island Park Alliance’s program leaders.
Special thanks to Randall’s Island Park Alliance’s Chris Girgenti and Abigail Natelson, director of environmental programs and manager of public programs, respectively. A huge round of applause and hugs of gratitude to the HarborLAB crew: Sally Attia, Finola Fung-Khee, Monique Fung-Khee, Richard Furlong, Ira Gershenhorn, Damian Griffin, and Stella Schour. What a generous and kind mix of educators, environmental scientists, technologists and activists!
Click HERE to register as a volunteer or student helper.
This program was made possible by our partners, the Randall’s Island Park Alliance, the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation and a City of Water Day grant from Waterfront Alliance. THANK YOU!
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