What We Leave Behind

 

In our speculative future, nature is healing. Explore a posthuman New York City by browsing AI-generated microfiction about Billion Oyster Project oyster restoration sites.

Bush Terminal Piers Park

Once a busy wharf, the park is now an expanse of an island of reeds and cattails, surrounded by tidal marshes that are home to thousands of nesting shorebirds.

The pier had not been used since a fire burned it down in 1984, and its concrete pilings were rotting, being consumed by the saltwater that surrounds them. The water is so briny that it actually dissolves metal, and in time, even steel will be converted to brine—a process known as “piercing”—and then to soil. Every year, more of the pilings fell into the water, and eventually all remained of them was a pile of twisted steel.

Coney Island Creek

Coney Island Creek, which runs through the site of the former amusement park, is teeming with fish.

Without people at Coney Island, Crassostrea virginica—the hard-shell clam—returned and thrived in the warm waters of the artificial lagoon. Oysters returned to reclaim their former territory. Clams and crabs followed after them. Within a few years, the oyster population returned and is thriving in New York Coney Island's waters once again.

Head of Bay

At the head of Jamaica Bay, the fresh water of the streams and tide have deposited a layer of oyster shells, which will eventually be covered by a new layer of oyster shells. Salt marshes have returned and the bay is dotted with oyster beds. The fresh water of Long Island Sound has finally cut through the saltwater barrier of Jamaica Bay, and fresh water fish such as shiners, sunfish, and herring are now entering New York Harbor.

Hudson River Park, Pier 79

Hudson River Park, Pier 79 and the Battery are still there, but they're covered in seaweed, barnacles, and other marine life that have taken over the area since it was abandoned by humans. Seaweed has even started to colonize the steel beams that hold up the pier. In time, they will rust away until only steel columns remain to mark their former presence.

Governors Island, Pier 101

At Governors Island, the only signs of life are a few seagulls and a single feral cat. The pilings of the old wooden pier have been exposed by rising tides. Tidal marshes have returned and the shoreline has shifted to the east.

By 1950, most of the buildings on Governors Island had been abandoned and left to rot. A few structures were restored by New York City Parks Department staff who used them as offices or storage spaces. But most of them are still empty shells waiting to be reclaimed by nature.

The shoreline of New York Harbor has changed dramatically. The harbor was originally a tidal estuary, with fresh water flowing into it from rivers draining northward into the Hudson River watershed and saltwater flowing in from the Atlantic Ocean. The natural oyster beds that once lined its shores are now so extensive that they are visible from space.

Richmond County Yacht Club

The Yacht Club is on Great Kills Harbor, where the water is so clear that a swimmer could see fish and other aquatic life, and it's possible to see the bottom of the harbor.

The area around the harbor is covered with oak trees, which provide food for many animals. The ocean is encroaching on land that used to be above sea level. In time, the only traces of people will be piles of shells discarded by seagulls and other birds that have taken over the area.

The salt marsh will eventually transform into an estuary where oysters and other shellfish thrive in brackish water teeming with life such as clams, crabs, mussels, barnacles and even seaweed. Eventually, this area could become an important habitat for many species including blue crabs which are currently endangered in New York State due to overfishing.

Sebago Canoe Club

The canoes and other equipment gathering dust in the New York Sebago Canoe Club's storage shed are likely to be there for a long time. The canoes are made of birch bark that will eventually turn into soil. Its oars or paddles will someday turn into trees.

The Canoe Club is located on the Paerdegat Basin, a natural wetland that was surrounded by salt marsh and tidal creek. It was a popular place for people to gather, especially in the summer months when the water would be filled with fish and shellfish. Today the water is so clear that a school of fish swims right through the club's dining room.

The sea is not the only thing that has come back to New York. Large oyster shells have been deposited there over time. The original oyster beds of Long Island Sound were not far from shore, and they have been reestablished there. In fact, oysters are so abundant in Long Island Sound that they have become a nuisance, clogging harbors with their shells.

Soundview Reefs

New York's most famous oyster beds, they were once so thick with oysters that the water was a brilliant green. The island is covered with oyster shells and barnacles. The Soundview Reefs are a series of submerged sandbars that extend from Long Island Sound into New York's Long Island Sound. They were created by the constant pounding of waves against the shoreline, which wore away at the beach until it was replaced by water. The waves also deposited fresh sediment, which built up to form new reefs. The process is still going on today, with each wave depositing fresh sediment to form new islands off shore from Long Island.

As time goes on, however, more and more of these islands will be eaten away by storms and waves until they eventually disappear altogether.

Stuyvesant Cove Park

Stuyvesant Cove Park is now a seagrass meadow. The water at Stuyvesant Cove Park in lower Manhattan is so corrosive that it's eating away the steel girders that hold up the elevated roadway. The concrete underneath has turned to mush. The shoreline has receded and seawalls have buckled. It is now surrounded by marshes and tidal pools.

In a few hundred years, when all of New York City's streams have dried up and their beds have been covered by Manhattan's expanding shoreline, saltwater will intrude into what was once fresh water and start dissolving its steel girders. When they finally fail, they will crash down onto the roadway below with a thunderous roar.

The water level has already risen about 4 feet since the 19th century, and will continue to rise until it reaches the top of the seawall in about 100 years. After that, it will start to fall again as glaciers melt and add fresh water from Canada's Hudson Bay. Eventually, even if humans stop burning fossil fuels today, sea level will continue to rise for centuries before finally leveling off at its current rate of 1 inch per century. By then most coastal cities like New York are likely to be completely submerged under water.

Bush Terminal Piers Park
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Hudson River Park, Pier 79
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Stuyvesant Cove Park
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Governors Island, Pier 101
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Sebago Canoe Club
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Coney Island Creek
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Richmond County Yacht Club
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Oyster Reefs

Sewer Outfalls

Oyster Reefs (with description)