The herons of New York Harbor: 2005 and beyondSCA intern helps tell the story of Governors IslandTake home a piece of Tenement historyHistory House Holiday Program at Sandy HookOn the road with Federal Hall's interpretive rangersThe latest on sustainability from the National Parks of New York Harbor Education CenterDecember update from the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island

On November 30, 2005, scientists, policymakers and educators gathered to address the health and well-being of the heron and cormorant population in and around New York Harbor. The Jamaica Bay Institute, Gateway National Recreation Area, and two key partners, Wildlife Trust and New York City Audubon, hosted Harbor Herons and Cormorants, 2005 and Beyond.  The information shared at this conference will be incorporated into a Harbor Heron Conservation Plan drafted by a subcommittee of the New York-New Jersey Harbor Estuary Program.

The goals of the conference were to share and compare research results from the summer breeding season, discuss observable trends in the harbor heron population, identify obstacles impairing conservation efforts, and coordinate research within the tri-state area in order to reduce habitat impacts

and unnecessary redundancy in data collection. Within the National Parks of New York Harbor, herons can be found in Gateway National Recreation Area. Populations are located on Canarsie Pol and Ruffle Bar in the Jamaica Bay Unit and on Hoffman and Swinburne Islands in the Staten Island Unit.

The Harbor Herons conference was a remarkable demonstration of interagency cooperation at the local, regional, state and federal level. Furthermore, academic, interstate and international harbor heron management and research efforts were also represented. Some of the organizations attending the conference included: the National Parks Conservation Association, Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences, New Jersey Endangered and Nongame Species Program, Columbia University, and the Canadian Wildlife Service.