They might be more comfortable underwater, but a local conservation group is hitting the road for a borough−wide environmental education tour.
To accomplish this mission — and to celebrate its 10th anniversary — the Urban Divers Estuary Conservancy will soon unveil Enviromedia Mobile, a 48−foot traveling urban nature center and maritime museum.
The vehicle will offer a host of exhibits meant to inspire discovery and learning about the urban estuary and watershed, as well as the chance to learn about diverse maritime heroes and history. The group, along with its youth urban marine explorers, will provide public activities in a hands−on way, teaching environmental investigation and scientific exploration.
The hope, according to Urban Divers founder and executive environmental program director Ludger Balan, is to teach audiences about biodiversity and environmental history, while affording the public a peek at what lurks beneath the urban estuary through underwater video exploration and a specimen touch tank.
“With this newfound community appreciation, we will come to see a greater value for environmental quality, nature appreciation in an urban biosphere that we all share,” he said.
The mobile nature and maritime museum will travel to waterfronts along the borough and present its programs as part of the celebration of the 400th anniversary of the Hudson River. A special highlight of the mobile maritime museum is an exhibit about the “Onrust” the first Dutch ship to have set sailed along the estuary. This segment was made possible in collaboration with The Onrust Project. Another highlight is an exhibit on “Ama,” Japanese women oyster divers in collaboration with Mikimoto Pearl Island Museum in Japan, Balan said.
Funding for the vehicle came from a grant from Assemblyman Bill Colton, the Hudson River Foundation, New York City Environmental Fund, Senator Velmanette Montgomery and East New York Assemblywoman Inez Barron, along with the generous support of Gowanus Canal’s “old timer and diver” Charlie Christie, Balan said.
The Urban Divers will also introduce its new “Urban Wing Over Water” program− an exciting and colorful wildlife education and demonstration program that introduces the audience to the biodiversity of urban birds of prey.
Besides the ‘green’ mobile, the Urban Divers will commemorate their 10th anniversary with a series of alternative, family−oriented recreation along the waterfront, “bringing environmental literacy, and maritime cultural enrichment at the forefront of waterfront recreation throughout Brooklyn’s harbor,” Balan said.
The mobile tour will run from August through October, with the kick off planned on Saturday, Aug. 15 at IKEA’s Erie Basin Park in Red Hook. The tour will also make stops at Valentino Pier in Red Hook on August 16, Governor’s Island on Aug. 30, and Bensonhurst Park on Sept. 5 for a grand 400th Anniversary Celebration. Activities will include tours of the mobile nature and maritime museum, eco−cruises aboard the organization’s massive 32−foot Indian shipping canoe, family catch and release fishing, specimen touch tank, live underwater video exploration, urban birds of prey education and demonstration, a sunset cinema series, refreshments, live acoustic music and more. For more info and a to download a complete calendar, go to www.urbandivers.org and link to Enviromedia Mobile, or call 347−224−5828, or 347−224−5687, or email getonthewaternyc@gmail.com
