Prioritize Effective, Nature-Based Flood Protection for Gateway

After the devastation from Superstorm Sandy, Congress directed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to put together a plan to better protect the region. After seven years of study, the Army Corps has proposed spending $52.6 billion – the most expensive project in its history– on 12 massive flood gates across the New York-New Jersey Harbor. This outdated approach would block local rivers, creeks and bays, harm wildlife, and directly conflict with the National Park Service's mission for Gateway National Recreation Area.

The Army Corps’ proposal neglects vulnerable communities, ignores climate change, and risks undoing decades of restoration.

We have a better choice: the Oakwood Beach ecosystem restoration project at Gateway’s Great Kills Park. This nature-based plan uses native plants, restored tidal ways, and coastal dunes to protect residents and infrastructure from storms—while improving wildlife habitat and cleaning up contamination. Oakwood Beach is a proven, cost-effective model for coastal storm protection.

Tell the Army Corps: Invest in Oakwood Beach and other localized, nature-based solutions—not massive, destructive flood gates.

This message will be sent to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers:

U.S.

Army

Corps

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

{contact_data~title} {contact_data~firstName} {contact_data~lastName} {contact_data~suffix},

As a supporter of our national parks, I urge you to prioritize effective, nature-based solutions for flood protection that safeguard both communities and our coast.

I strongly support the proposed Oakwood Beach ecosystem restoration project at Gateway National Recreation Area's Great Kills Park. This innovative, layered approach uses native plants, restored tidal ways, and coastal dunes to protect nearby residents and critical infrastructure from coastal storms and tidal flooding, while enhancing wildlife habitat and expediting contamination clean up. It serves as an exemplary model for coastal storm risk management.

I oppose the proposed storm surge barrier across the Rockaway Inlet at Gateway's Jamaica Bay unit. This barrier would severely disrupt water flow, starve shrinking salt marshes of sediment, and reverse decades of restoration efforts. It risks exposing hazardous waste and directly conflicts with the National Park Service's mission for Gateway National Recreation Area.

Please move forward with localized, layered defense projects like Oakwood Beach, rather than unproven, costly, and environmentally damaging flood gates like the Jamaica Bay storm surge barrier.

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