$75 million initiative will create 25,000 square feet of interior space within a 1,300-acre National Park campus

The Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy (JBRPC) announced its initiative to build a nature-based solutions and climate tech hub at Floyd Bennett Field. The $75 million project will create 25,000 square feet of interior space within a 1,300-acre National Park campus on the shores of Jamaica Bay. JBRPC’s Executive Director Terri Carta shared the news with an audience of policy experts, investors, engineers and entrepreneurs at the New York Climate Exchange’s “Climate Tech Showcase” on Governors Island.

*Terri Carta, JBRPC Executive Director, speaks at the New York Climate Exchange’s “Climate Tech Showcase”*

To make this research and development center a reality, JBRPC is partnering with the National Park Service, the Science and Resilience Institute of Jamaica Bay, and technologists confronting climate change with the power of nature.

Several climate innovation centers have opened recently in New York City – including the Brooklyn Navy Yard reactivation, the launch of Newlab, Cornell Tech on Roosevelt Island - with more under development. Some of these centers are working on climate change writ large, while others are focused specifically on life sciences, advanced manufacturing, all-electric portage and last mile delivery of goods, building materials and renewable energy. JBRPC plans to do something slightly different.

*Conceptual rendering of nature-based solutions and climate tech hub at Floyd Bennett Field*

The nature-based solutions and climate tech hub at Floyd Bennett Field is specifically focused on nature-based solutions and the technologies needed to accelerate and scale their implementation, measure and validate the impacts of their use, and scale these solutions across our city and beyond. Notably, this will be the only climate innovation center within Queens and the Jamaica Bay watershed and proximate to people living on the front lines and in neighborhoods far from the city’s Manhattan and Brooklyn waterfront core.

Why nature-based solutions?

New York City has more than 65 square miles of parklands and natural areas, 520 linear miles of coastline, and countless opportunities to use the power of nature to reach our ambitious climate goals. Nature-based solutions offer a powerful and often overlooked approach to mitigating and even reversing the impacts of climate change. By addressing issues like flooding from rainfall and storm surge, the urban heat island effect, habitat and biodiversity loss, and risks to life and property for over 8.5 million New Yorkers, these strategies play a crucial role in building a more resilient future.

Conserving and restoring our forests and wetlands, building living shorelines and breakwaters, and strategically increasing biodiversity and overall ecosystem function can significantly address the climate crisis while simultaneously providing community open space and recreational opportunities, commercial economic activity, jobs, and workforce development. Moreover, peer-reviewed research shows that one acre of salt marsh sequesters carbon at 50 times the rate of one acre of forest.

Despite the promise of nature-based solutions, these methods have been slow to implement, expensive to scale, and insufficiently validated for their benefits and impacts.

A living laboratory

JBRPC and Jamaica Bay have a running start on nature-based solutions. Water quality is improving after upgrades to storm drain systems and closure of landfills. More restoration projects are in the pipeline now than ever before (approximately $1 billion in investment), including open natural areas, coastal forest habitats, vast areas of salt marsh, the marsh islands within Jamaica Bay and fringing tidal wetlands.

In 2021, we installed the first living shoreline in Jamaica Bay – which uses natural materials to protect and stabilize a coastal edge. Crucially, we see that it’s working! There are areas of lush growth, and where restored marsh is mixing with original marsh, guarding the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge’s freshwater pond from saltwater incursions. However, on the other side of this same shoreline the marsh grasses haven’t been as successful.

To fix this, in early 2024 our Wetlands Fellows installed 587 linear feet of fascines from discarded christmas trees. These fascines are proven in countless other ecological restoration projects, but are also low tech and labor intensive. We need high tech and updated approaches to understand what’s really happening on the ground, to measure their efficacy, and plan next steps for management.

*Living shoreline at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge*

This shoreline project is just one example within the wider efforts across many coastal communities to restore ecosystems that serve on the front lines in facing climate change. Jamaica Bay is a living laboratory, capable of hosting a multitude of nature technologies that augment and enhance nature-based solutions. The sweeping adaptations to our new climate reality will take all of us banding together. We look forward to joining with more peers in parkland stewardship, technologists, researchers and investors to bring the spirit of innovation back to Floyd Bennett Field!