5-year Sandy Anniversary: Dune Planting & Coastal Cleanup

The Nature Conservancy's Leaders in Environmental Action for the Future (LEAF) Ambassadors are a group of high school students who are working for NYC residents to have access to healthy coastal ecosystems that protect against storms and rising sea levels. NYC’s coastal resilience has been tested by storms like Superstorm Sandy, and the degradation of our waterfronts leaves coastal areas prone to danger from future storms. Our goal is to help protect vulnerable coastal residents by partnering with the Rockaway Waterfront Alliance (RWA) to restore a natural storm buffer on the Rockaway Beach sand dunes.

We will commemorate the 5-year anniversary of Superstorm Sandy by engaging the frontline community of Far Rockaway, New York in a day of coastal restoration, dune planting and environmental resiliency education. We plan to purchase hundreds of native shrubs and grasses to plant in the sand dunes of Arverne East, Far Rockaway, a low-income community vulnerable to storms, and empower local residents to create a natural buffer against future storms. At the end of the project we will have helped build a more resilient NYC coastline and engaged the community about the importance of natural buffers and coastal resilience in the context of rising sea levels and a changing climate.

1. Meet with RWA, visit project site and plan logistics

2. Inform prospective supporters

3. Recruit 100+ volunteers from local community and nearby schools

4. Purchase materials

5. Execute event, April 22

6. Send thank-yous to donors and volunteers

We are commemorating the 5-year anniversary of Superstorm Sandy and celebrating Earth Day by cleaning up a stretch of dunes in the Arverne East neighborhood of Far Rockaway, NY and planting native shrubs and grasses to make the coastline more resilient in the face of future storms and rising sea levels.