Historic Inundation

Long before the Statue of Liberty existed, long before the United States existed, long before even democracy existed, Liberty Island was sitting in the New York Harbor. It was not yet a symbol of freedom, democracy, or welcoming, but it was undoubtedly a key element to New York’s natural history. It sat in the harbor acting as a storm barrier for Manhattan, while supporting a rich and diverse estuarian habitat. the natural history of the island has existed long before it was touched by a human hand and it will continue to exist long after we are gone. However, since being touched by human hands this natural history has been contorted and transformed to meet the needs of its human inhabitants. From the early settlers who over harvested oysters to the replanting of non-native vegatation to enhance the aesthetic of the Island, natural history has become subservient to the human present. Now, little remains of Liberty Island’s once rich estuarian habitat.  The depletion of this habitat has had, and will continue to have, negative consequences on the city of New York as well as it’s natural landscape. It is for this reason that the New York Harbor Estuary Research initiative is proposing a complete rehaul of Liberty Island. The island will become a catalyst for the future growth and prosperity of a new estuary. Similar projects are already occurring in multiple locations within the harbor, but Liberty Island, with its unique central location and historic significance, has the opportunity to truly be a catalyst for the rebirth of an ecology. By pushing all human activity to the perimeter of the island and developing a seawall system with calculated points of inundation, historic Inundation aims to provide a unique, activated landscape, secure from both human and natural threats within which anthropology and ecology can be explored in unison. Historic Inundation will provide a physical and ecological substrate for the rebirth of a landscape, and the ideological substrate for the synthesis of human and ecological histories.

_louis koehl