Celebrate Estuary Day In Bayside On Sept. 17

BAYSIDE, NY — With hurricane season among our midst, what better way to show Congress the importance of our national resources than through National Estuaries Week, which is from Sept. 17 to Sept. 24.

The Friends of Alley Pond Park will team up with the Parks Department for Estuary Day at Oakland Lake, located in Alley Pond Park at 46th Ave. and Springfield Blvd., on Sept. 17 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., according to the Bayside Hills Civic Association.

Estuaries, home to unique plants and animal communities, are a mixture of water from land and salty seawater, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Along with supporting fish populations, providing shellfish and a home for rare wildlife, estuaries protect coastlines by combating sea level rise, reducing erosion and buffering storm surges, decreasing the impact of flooding that can cost billions in damages, according to the Peconic Estuary Partnership.

Estuaries can carry nutrients beneficial to humans and aquatic life as waters go from high to low level elevations while filtering out floating materials, which costs a lot for man-made technologies to replicate, PEP added.

The goal of National Estuaries Week is for local communities to show members of Congress, federal agencies and state and local governments the importance of estuaries via hosting clean ups and restoration projects at neighborhood estuaries, according to Restore America’s Estuaries, a nonprofit.

People participating in projects that week are asked to use the hashtags #EstuariesWeek and #WadeIn and to tag their local congress member on social media to support the protection of estuaries, asked the nonprofit.