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An ethic, ecologically, is the limitation of freedom of action in the struggle for existence.
An ethic, philosophically is the differentiation of social from anti-social conduct.
Ecosystems are information systems.
In a changing environment or poorly organized systems, maintenance of the channel is more expensive because excess fecundity is necessary to make up for the loss of individuals. A high level of noise must be compensated for by the redundancy in the message.
What is the organization of a society that is capable of doing ecological design?
The ultimate object of ecological design is the human mind. The objective is to overcome those parts of the human mind on the culture that gives rise to illusion, greed, and ill will.
Our environmental malfeasance may be but a logical extension of a historical record of violent social pathology
Slide 3
DEFINING WETLAND A CRISIS OF PERCEPTION
Shallow ecology is anthropocentric or human-centered. It views humans as above or outside of nature, as the source of all value, and ascribes only instrumental or use value to nature.
In a machine, according to Kant, the parts only exist for each other, in the sense of supporting each other within a functioning whole.
In an organism the parts also exist by means of each other, in the sense of production of one another.
The belief that in every complex system the behavior of the whole can be understood entirely from the properties of its parts is central to the Cartesian paradigm.
In this analytic or reductionist approach, the parts themselves cannot be analyzed any further, except by reducing them to smaller parts.
From a systemic point of view, the only viable solutions are those that are sustainable.
The wetland, like the major environmental challenges of our time cannot be understood in isolation. The conditions are systemic which means that they are interconnected and interdependent.
The great shock of 20th century science has been that systems cannot be understood by analysis. The properties of the parts are not intrinsic properties but can be understood only within the context of the large whole.
Slide 4
No matter how many connections we take into account in our scientific description of a phenomenon, we will always be forced to leave others out.
Therefore scientists can
never deal with truth,
the sense of a
precise
correspondence
between the
description and
described phenomenon
Systems thinking
Science advances
through the tentative answers
to a series of more and
more subtle questions which read deeper and deeper into the essence of natural phenomenon.
WETLAND AS SYSTEM THE ECONOMY
OF NATURE
Delaware System
Catskill
System
Croton System
Chelsea Pump Station
Delaware Aqueduct
Catskill Aqueduct
The systemic
properties of a
particular level are called emergent properties since they emerge at that particular level.
Planned 3rd Water Tunnel
is always
process thinking
Slide 5
WETLAND AS SYSTEM A HIDDEN RELATIONSHIP
Smaller wetlands compensate for
limited water storage capacity through a network with other wetlands.
“We cannot command Nature except by obeying her.”
~Francis Bacon
All wetlands within a watershed are defined in terms of their relations to a larger system.
Wetlands are also networked as complimentary habitats and migratory routes for birds. In this manner they represent separate biomes that increase biodiversity.
Up to half of bird species in the USA nest or feed in wetlands
While wetlands in the USA account for only 5% or terrestrial surface, they represent 30% of plant species
Slide 6
Stagnation is indicative of hypoxia, a condition where the dissolved oxygen level is below what is necessary for sustaining life. Long Island Sound is noted to exhibit symptoms of this effect.
Hypoxia is exacerbated by nutrient enrichment from agricultural and urban runoff. This alters the coastal and freshwater wetlands that naturally remove excess nutrients.
Hypoxia is also linked to the disconnection of wetlands from riparian zones.
Menhaden fish in Little Neck Bay which are an important source of food for bluefish are herded by the bluefish in shallow water where they use up the low available oxygen and die by the thousands.
HYPOXIA BLUE DEATH
Due to stagnation, Flushing Airport Wetlands may represent a more severe condition of Anoxia, which represents even lower levels of oxygen affecting a broader range of organisms.
THE EFFECTS OF HYPOXIA
More expensive water treatment
Threat to commercial fisheries
Harmful algal blooms and shellfish
Stagnation
Fish kills
Dead zones in ecosystems
Decreased diversity
Naturally regulated wetlands do not require mosquito control, in part due to the presence of fish, and disruption of habitat.
This in turn benefits bird populations that suffer from West Nile virus.
It is important to recognize that in addition to stagnation, it is the contamination of water that attracts mosquitoes.
Slide 7
NORTH SHORE
REACH 10
The north shore is a series of peninsulas separated by bays and coves.
The north shore is bounded by Flushing Bay to the west and Little Neck Bay to the East.
Little Neck Bay which triangulates at Alley Pond, is an estuary.
Water quality from Flushing Bay to the Whitestone Bridge, including College Point is designated by the DEC as (I) for fishing purposes.
Water east of the Whitestone Bridge is designated as (SB) for swimming
WETLAND AS SYSTEM A HIDDEN RELATIONSHIP
Queens is the only borough whose waterfront is discontinuous
The north & south shores are separated by the width of the borough
The two shorelines differ in geology, historic development patterns and current land use
The north shore used to be a larger interconnect system of tidal freshwater marshes, freshwater wetlands and palustrian wetlands.
The tidal wetlands were upstream of the estuary that connected Flushing Bay to Powell’s Cove, Alley Pond and the larger Long Island Sound
5
55
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
QUEENS COUNTY
NASSAU COUNTY
Alley Pond
Udall’s Cove
Flushing Airport
Powell’s Cove
McNeil Park
Oyster Beds
REACH BOUNDARY
LONG ISLAND SOUND
FLUSHING
BAY
Tallman Island Plant
Reach boundaries are
typically defined by
the first upland street
Reach 10 has two exceptions:
Alley Pond and Udall’s Cove where
the contiguous wetland extends inland
and includes the adjacent uplands.
The other exception is the entire College Point
industrial area.
Most of the DEC designated freshwater wetlands
in Queens are in College Point where a tidal freshwater connection still exists
When runoff is more than double the dry weather condition, the potential for sewage backup is diverted to a Combined Sewage Overflow outfall and discharged untreated into the water body.
Slide 8
PLAN FOR THE QUEENS WATERFRONT
PUBLIC WATERFRONT
100 sites recommended for development
Reestablish public connection to the waterfront through parks, esplanades, piers, vistas and waterways
Eco Tourism
Landmark structures at archeological sites that evoke a maritime past.
Recreational resource
WETLAND AS SYSTEM Preservation of Function
WORKING WATERFRONT
Accommodate water-dependant maritime, industrial and municipal facilities
Retention of existing manufacturing zoning
REDEVELOPING WAERFRONT
Promote new use for vacant and underutilized properties.
500 acres of manufacturing-zoned land
Strengthen upland residential and commercial areas.
Public dialogue through Waterfront Plan Advisory
“There is a clear tendency in American Conservation to relegate to government all necessary jobs that private landowners fail to perform.”
Four major areas that concern the ecologist:
The dynamics and consequences of human population
growth
The use of resources
The Impact of human beings on the environment
The complex interactions between population growth
and environmental impact
NATURAL WATERFRONT
Improve water quality
Preserve and enhance natural aesthetics for Visual Relief
Even under natural conditions, most landscapes were a mosaic, not a homogenous habitat. The fragmented landscapes that are a consequence of human intervention often lack transitions and exchanges between different landscapes. Humans leave relics of the natural landscape insolated in a sea of crops, parking lots and suburbs.
These have two undesirable effects, namely Area Effect and Edge Effect.
Certain populations of organisms are sensitive to the physical area of a landscape, for reasons of territoriality and migration. Landscape reduction equates to a reduced population size.
Edge Effect concerns the ratio of border edge to interior that rises as landscapes become more fragmented. Various environmental changes occur including greater light intensity, more wind and plant species change.
Conceptually, Flushing Airport is connected in a limited way to other North Shore Wetlands through bird migration. The idea of a habitat corridor is an important way to tie fragmented landscapes together. The hydrological component of Flushing Airport is currently isolated from tidal action that would enhance diversity, oxygen levels, and connect the site to the larger system it was originally a part of.
Because we don't think about future generations, they will never forget us.
Henrik Tikkanen
Slide 9
FUNCTIONING ECOLOGY
Ecology
from Greek - oikos - “Household”
is the study of the Earth Household
FUNCTIONS implies usefulness to society such as clean water and is legislated as such through the Clean Water Act. Other function indicators are revenue from the sale of fish, eco-tourism or public support.
An example of the difference between values and functions is the nitrogen cycle. Nitrate removal from agricultural runoff which occurs through the biotic process of de-nitrification. De-nitrification is an essential natural process that happens to be useful to society.
Vegetation structure reflects the capacity of a wetland to serve as habitat for birds, mammals and other groups.
Thus classification is a function in part of the adaptation and tolerance limits of plants and animals.
VALUES implies functions that are valuable to the ecosystem rather than essential
Human Life Support relies on geomorphic functions and extractable fossil fuels.
Relation of functions that exist in the absence of society but are essential to an ecosystem
“The affluent society has become an effluent society”
Heather Rogers
LAND WITH VALUE
Slide 10
FEEDBACK SYSTEMS
WHAT WE SUSTAIN…E N G I N E E R E D C O N S E N T
FUNCTIONS explained through Waste Cycle
Slide 11
In Reach 10 contaminants in the water include oil and grease, domestic sewage, chemical and organic industrial wastes, and floating debris.
Sewage from the entire reach is treated at the Tallman Island Water Pollution Control Plant (WPCP) which operates below its rated capacity.
Wetlands typically filter non-point source pollution.
Flushing Airport’s non-existent connection to the coastal wetland reflects the impairment of the watershed and a corresponding increase in the Total Daily Maximum Loads that cannot be absorbed.
WETLAND AS SYSTEM A HIDDEN
RELATIONSHIP
The primary pollutants causing wetland degradation are sediment, fertilizer, human sewage, animal waste, road salts, pesticides, heavy metals.
A measure of the organization of an ecosystem may be found in the average distance between the place of energy input and the energy sink.
Rapid and repeated impact to the environment require a corresponding amount of information for the ecosystem or biome to respond and absorb these changes.
Slide 12
Located in the northern portion of College Point
It covers approximately 52.5 acres of private and publicly owned land.
18 acres is under water
The shoreline contains tidal wetlands that are disturbed in portions and covered mostly by meadows of aggressive river weed.
POWELL’S COVE
LONG ISLAND SOUND
QUEENS COUNTY
De-mapped Streets
Coastline
Genetically and phenotypically, man is being transformed by the environment in which he lives.
Human ecology therefore involves both the pathological and formative effects of the total environment.
WETLAND AS SYSTEM
PRECEDENT AS CONTEXT
POWELL’S COVE
Slide 13
ALLEY POND
ALLEY POND
This is arguably Queens most important wetland which includes a designated 225 acre fish and wildlife habitat, forests, salt marches, tidal flats and several freshwater ponds in a 624 acre park
Historically, Little Neck represented a significant clam industry, until dumping of construction waste and salt for winter use by the NYC sanitation dept. created silt deposits that undermined the creek flow and created a wasteland.
During the 1940’s, 50’s and 60’s, the tidal flux was interrupted by the building of the Cross Island Parkway, and raw sewage drained into the bay unchecked.
Reach Boundary
QUEENS COUNTY
Udall’s Cove
Fort Totten
Throgs Neck Bridge
NASSAU COUNTY
LONG ISLAND SOUND
Little Neck Bay
Cross Island Parkway
Crocheron Park
Aeration Pump
“That man is, in fact,
only a member of a biotic team
is show by an ecological interpretation of history.
Many historical events, hitherto explained solely in terms of human enterprise, were actually biotic interactions between people and land. The characteristics of the land determined the facts quite potently as the characteristics of the men who lived on it.”
WETLAND AS SYSTEM
PRECEDENT AS CONTEXT
We never know the worth of water till the well is dry.
Thomas Fuller,
Gnomologia,
1732
Alley Creek
Slide 14
FLUSHING
AIRPORT
LONG ISLAND SOUND
QUEENS COUNTY
Currently, the creek is covered at Flushing Airport, and the riparian source and tidal outlet cut off. The result is a condition that approximates a Wet Prairie with permanent saturation from the submerged aqueduct and subsurface Mill Creek as well as intermittent flooding from surface runoff and precipitation. The rate and degree of runoff has increased as the surrounding area is made less permeable and the network of wetlands that compensate in periods of flooding are rendered insular.
WETLAND AS SYSTEM
PRECEDENT APPLIED
FLUSHING AIRPORT
McNeil Park
Powell’s Cove
REACH
BOUNDARY
FLUSHING
BAY
Industrial
Sector
Industrial
Sector
Tallman Island Plant
Mill
Creek
Oyster Beds
Tides used to influence this wetland in which the lack of salt stress increased bio-diversity
Water, while shallow was derived from surface flooding, runoff, and riparian connections like Flushing Creek.
The increased surface runoff ends now in a dead-ended pool, in which contaminated water is less likely to be filtered because of the lack of out flow.
The lack of water flow means there is a decrease in particulate suspension and an increase in sedimentation.
Sedimentation in turn reduces the areas of open water, stresses existing plants, and encourages invasive plants in new areas without cover.
Slide 15
DEFINING WETLAND COMPONENTS OF AN INFORMATION SYSTEM
The submerged airfield runways were featured compacted but not concrete pads. They are adaptively classified as Unconsolidated Bottom
The northern sector of Flushing Airport has the basic characteristics of a shrub-scrub wetland.
Mill Creek although effectively buried acts as the primary
surficial water source
The water table is below surface, but the area serves as a flood plain
Emergent sectors reflect seasonal flooding characteristics impacted by stormwater
The condition of aquatic bed at Flushing Airport is evident where large and frequent bouts of stormwater runoff have not drained . Sediment deposition around the runways especially at the SE
end of the site.
Flooding occurs off-
site at the NW end of the site
Unconsolidated Shore refers to the eastern boundary along the NY Times building which takes the greatest fluctuations in water quantity , turbidity and runoff.
Slide 16
Interpretation of Core Conditions of Flushing Airport
The process of altering the pyramid for human occupation releases stored energy, and this often gives rise, during the pioneering period, to a deceptive exuberance of plant and animal life, both tame and wild. These releases of biotic capital tend to becloud or postpone the penalties of violence.
STRUCTURE OF A WETLAND CROSS SECTION
Primary condition for Site:
Wetland is isolated geographically with no surface outlet.
Secondary condition of site
Semi-Palustrine area serves as floodplain for surface discharge.
Input System
Freshwater is supplied via a surficial creek, as well as runoff from adjacent territories and from the glacial subsurface aqueduct
Slide 17
Wetlands –
Earth’s Kidneys
It also reduces flood heights and allows for ground water recharge, which supplements the flow of surface water during dry periods.
In comparison with other biomes, wetlands are more species dense.
Wetlands constitute flood plains that slows the momentum of water and the erosive potential.
An acre of wetland can store 1 – 1.5 million gallons of floodwater in 3 feet of water.
Coastal wetlands also temper storm surges during hurricanes
Wetlands function like sponges, storing and slowly releasing water
There is a direct correspondence between the functional surface area of a wetland and species density.
Slide 18
STRUCTURE OF A WETLAND HYDROGEOMORPHIC PROCESSES
A wetland’s characteristics evolve when hydrological conditions cause the water table to saturate or inundate the soil for a certain amount of time each year.
This definition places an emphasis on the abiotic features of a wetland such as chemical characteristics of water, habitat, water storage and maintenance.
Hydro-geomorphism is concerned only with the factors essential to the maintenance of the wetland as a self-sustaining entity, not the service value to society.
Hydro-geomorphism requires that factors external to the wetland be recognized. Water sources external to the site are intrinsic properties and implicit of the larger floodplain and watershed complex.
Vegetation cover reflects the surface change of wetlands over time
Groundwater depression
Landform intercepts the water table, and receives water from precipitation, overland flow, and groundwater
LAND AS FORM WETLAND AS SKIN
Ground-Water Inflow
Water Table usually below wetland level
Ground-Water Inflow
Overland
Flow
Overland
Flow
Overland
Flow
Evapotranspiration
Evapotranspiration
Evapotranspiration
Precipitation
Precipitation
Precipitation
Water Table
Water Table
Water Table
Inflow at Aquifer
Inflow at NY Times Swale
Inflow at Mill Creek
Seepage face where groundwater flow intersects the land surface
Seepage in the lower slope portion of the break
Land Surface
Land Surface
Seepage Face
Seepage at Base
Lines
of Equal Hydraulic Head
HYDROLOGICAL RELATION TO LANDFORM
SLOPE BREAK AS A SOURCE OF WATER
Groundwater Slope
Flushing Airport functions as a dedicated outlet and stronger flow due to slope present.
Size is a function of the rate of groundwater discharge.
Surface water slope
Landform receive water from river flooding and can readily drain back to the source as levels fall.
Slide 20
HYDRO- LOGIC WETLAND PERFORMANCE
The significance of the landscape context for the architectural and environmental arts lies not only in the deeply sensuous and experiential dimensions of the land but also its semiotic, ecological and political content.
Landscape is not the environment. The environment is the factual aspect of the milieu: that is, of the relationship that links a society with the space and with nature. Landscape is the sensible aspect of that relationship – it relies on a collective form of subjectivity. To suppose that every society possesses an awareness of landscape is simply to ascribe to other cultures our own sensibilities.
The difficulty of advancing landscape is not only an issue of sentimentality and conservatism; it is further hindered by a growing contingent that believes landscape concerns ought to be directed solely towards stewardship of the natural world
Slide 21
HYDRO DYNAMICS WETLAND PERFORMANCE
Characteristic Elements
Water Inputs:
Qualifies how water enters the wetland. In the case of Flushing Airport, water is sourced from Mill Creek. The creek is buried at the wetland boundary, but flow at adjacent points is regulated by man-made culverts. Water is additionally sourced under pressure from a glacial aquifer, as well as runoff from the north via a swale through the NY Times property.
Hydro-dynamic refers to the direction of flow and strength of water movement within the wetland
Water Outputs:
Water outputs are a measure of how water leaves the wetland. Sinks or water outputs are more important than inputs as they emphasize the behavior of water after it has affected the wetland.
Sinks include evapotranspiration, groundwater infiltration to underlying aquifers, and export by surface flow. In the case of Flushing Airport, water from the isolated wetland leaves as surficial water via the creek which is also the input. It also drains to a glacial aquifer, and floods areas adjacent to the site during rain.
Slide 22
HYDRO DYNAMICS WETLAND PERFORMANCE
Hydropulses: Flushing Airport’s seasonal flow creates a spillover into adjacent sites in addition to dilation of the boundary.
WINTER WATER TABLE
Low Evapotranspiration
Storage capacity limited
to surface water
Plants except evergreens
lose leaves
SPRING-SUMMER WATER TABLE
High Evapotranspiration
Storage Capacity increases
Active growth period for
plants
FALL WATER TABLE
Low Evapotranspiration
Storage capacity decreases
Plants lose leaves and
become dormant
Seasonal Changes in Storage Capacity
Flow methods include precipitation, ground water as lateral flow near surface or below surface.
Flow Systems:
These refer to
the methods by
which water moves within the wetland. Flushing Airport has vertical fluctuations from aquifer sources
At natural and
man-made culverts along
Mill Creek, there is bidirectional flow. This suggest contamination from on site may feedback into the water source
Vertical
Fluctuations
Unidirectional
Flow
Bi-Directional
Flow
Slide 23
HYDRO- LOGIC WETLAND PERFORMANCE
An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock or unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, silt, or clay). An aquitard, which is an impermeable layer along an aquifer, and an aquiclude which is a solid, impermeable area beneath an aquifer. The surface of saturated material in an aquifer is known as the water table.
Flushing Airport is supplied by a glacial acquifer and the deeper Magothy aquifer.
FLUSHING AIRPORT
Slide 24
Modern technology Owes ecology an apology.
Alan M. Eddison
