Page 2
Fall 2016
NATURAL RESOURCES PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION
(continued next page)
six 'snapper ' bluefish, caught and
killed for no reason. There were
crumpled beach chairs, household
debris, car parts, a quart oil contain-
er. The refreshments debris includ-
ed Best juice, Snapple and beach
fire-toasted Sprite cans. There were
fifty single-use plastic bags in a hun-
dred foot stretch of shoreline.
The DEP inadvertently contributed to
the mess with about 4 pounds of
WTCP soap cleaner cake residue.
One intrepid member of the cleanup
team saw tangled fishing line on
some old dock pilings about 30 feet
offshore, and realized the threat to
sea gulls, terns and double crested
cormorants. The person swam out
to the pilings and promptly ripped the
tangled items. Included in the haul
was a 'Kastmaster’ lure manufac-
tured by Acme Tackle Co., fish find-
ers and a 3 oz. pyramid sinker with a
barnacle colony on the top face.
The wildlife was impressive, sweet
honeysuckle plants, terns and water
teeming with young of year menha-
den (peanut bunker).
Overall we trimmed away 2 cubic
yards of invasive Knotweed, re-
moved 300 lbs. of garbage and recy-
cled 15 pounds of glass, plastic and
aluminum containers.
Special thanks to Partnership for
providing bags and gloves and
Richie, Mary, Howard, Paul, and
Mike for pitching in to keep Lemon
Creek, Seguine Point and Lou Fig-
urelli Park clean.
FABER PARK CLEANUP
By Jim Scarcella
On July 16, NRPA joined Partnership
for Parks to clean the Kill Van Kull
shoreline at Faber Park, Port Rich-
mond. The park is a catalyst site and
Jesse Such from Partnership for
Parks met us there with coffee and
donuts. We cleaned the parking lot
New York Harbor and Brooklyn. The
shoreline is primarily composed of
rip rap and boulders and a portion is
dedicated to Matthew Buono, a Vi-
etnam War Veteran. The memorial
was recently reopened after being
damaged during Hurricane Sandy.
The debris was varied and widely
distributed. In the rocks, were multi-
ple pieces of Styrofoam and single
use plastic bags. The shipping com-
munity was well represented with
tugboat rope, a machine grease
bucket, foam packaging, sheeting, a
wood pallet and driftwood. The fish-
ing community was represented with
monofilament fishing line.
There were a few Bud Light cans
and Old English quart beer contain-
ers.
The unusual items included a St
John’s University beach chair, a lob-
ster pot marker, a truck tire, a dock
buffer a with a chain attachment,
plywood, an adult life vest, furniture
and balloons.
The usual standard violations of cig-
arette butts and bottle caps were
present also, along with three tennis
balls and a barnacle encrusted hand-
ball. Dominic and Richie removed a
deceased opossum from the lawn of
the Alice Austin House and we re-
moved overgrowth. We also emp-
tied and cleaned a Dept. of Sanita-
tion trash bin located adjacent to
Reynolds Marine.
The day was extremely hot and hu-
mid and I went for a swim in the high
tide waters. The water was clear
and refreshing.
In all we removed over 325 lbs. of
debris and recycled another 5 lbs.
Special thanks to Richie, Danny,
Dominic, Howard, Mary, Rob and
Shiloh for making the clean up a suc-
cess.
along with the area around the skate
board park from the Friday night
trash and then hopped the shoreline
fence to start the cleanup.
The rock rip-rap was a little tough on
the ankles. There was driftwood
from the nearby Shooter Island ship-
yard, 4" X 4" posts, plywood, tree
limbs, a surveying stake and floor
trim. The world of plastic isomers
was represented with hundreds of
cellophane wrappers, dozens of
Styrofoam pieces, single use plastic
bags, 60 feet of plastic polymer ca-
bling, five lengths of tugboat rope,
sheeting and coverings, product
wrap, containers, water bottles and
more. There was a wax - grease
concoction, dog poop, straws, stir-
rers, leaves, a float, a Rust-Oleum
can called “Heat’, tennis balls, golf
balls and a baseball. Overall, we
removed over 450 lbs. of debris and
recycled 5 lbs.
Special thanks to Rich, Danny, Es-
ther, Howard, Rob, Jesse Such,
Melissa and Carmine.
Another amazing NRPA clean up!
We are going to keep after the pol-
luters!
ALICE AUSTEN HOUSE BEACH
CLEANUP
By Jim Scarcella
On August 6, NRPA cleaned the
beach at Alice Austen House in
Rosebank at the foot of Hylan Blvd.
The beach has fantastic views of
