Thanks to the Mannahatta Project, the original ecology of Manhattan was discovered, and now the Wildlife Conservation Society is taking it one step further with the Welikia Project (which they began last year and will end in 2013). This project aims take the original ecology and compare it what we have today. They write:
The Welikia Project embraces the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island and the waters in-between, while still serving up all we have learned about Mannahatta. Welikia provides the basis for all the people of New York to appreciate, conserve and re-invigorate the natural heritage of their city not matter which borough they live in.
With more than 55 different ecological communities, Manhattan's biodiversity rivaled Yellowstone's—bears and whales and salt marshes, oh my! Now with the Welikia Project, they will "focus on measuring the modern biodiversity of the city, in terms of the communities and species of 400 years ago, so that we can say what is doing well, what we lack, and where we can improve." In all five boroughs (however, you'll need to donate to access that information via the map). What do you think Brooklyn was like in 1609? In the early 1600s, though, Dutch colonists moved in and took over the area from the Canarsie Native American tribe. According to the books, "over the next 400 years, Brooklyn's forested, rural landscape gave way to urbanization, and the area eventually became the Brooklyn we know today—one of the most populated regions in the United States." In other words: all of that biodiversity? Fuggedaboutit! [via the NYPL]
