Environment

Bronx River named National Water Trail

By editor on September 14, 2012 at 10:28 am

The US Department of the Interior will designate the Bronx River a National Water Trail on Saturday, an honor that may help boost tourism and bring in federal dollars to fund projects that will help clean the river.

Advocates for the river are excited about the opportunities they hope the new designation will create.

“Fifteen years ago, when people thought of the Bronx River, it was a place filled with dumped cars,” recalled Linda Cox, executive director of the Bronx River Alliance.

Now, Cox said, the river’s new status as a water trail will lead people to think “you can really have a good time here.”

Two restoration projects were recently completed near the river in White Plains, the latest in a string of projects to bring the river back to health in recent years.

An official for the Dept of the Interior explained that the water trail designation is reserved for waterways local communities are heavily involved in reviving.

“The Bronx River is one of the nation’s best examples of that,” said David Hayes, the agency’s deputy secretary.