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Taken from the Bronx River
and Bronx Park Historical Signs, USGS site and
DPR Press Release
The river's story began more than 150
million years ago when a waterway, whose origins lie in present day Westchester County,
began carving a channel for itself through bedrock on its way towards the Bronx. Geologists believe that the Bronx River
once emptied into the Hudson River, which
lay to the east of its present location. A huge ice mass blocked the Bronx River's flow during the last Ice Age
and forced it to cut a new channel. As the Bronx
River meandered on its way, it
created a deep gorge before finally emptying out into the East
River and Long Island Sound. (5)
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"A 40-acre forest in the New
York Botanical Garden
is situated on the slopes above the river gorge. The forest, thought to be
the only forest in New York that was never
cleared, is a mixture of eastern hemlock and hardwoods….In the Bronx River hemlock forest, black cherry and
black birch are replacing the dying hemlocks.” (6)
“The Bronx River
has been altered dramatically over the past 200 years by human impact and
industry. In order to create the Bronx
River Parkway, workers ‘straightened' the Bronx River, building artificial banks and
destroying the natural floodplain. Since bends in a river's flow naturally
slow erosion, the Bronx
River widened over time
as erosion sent silt downstream. The silt choked native plants and new, non-native
plants began to thrive, disturbing local wildlife.” (7)
“Industrial pollution and urban sewer
discharges have caused debris jams, flooding, excessive storm water runoff,
sedimentation, erosion, habitat loss and sewage overflows. The poor water
quality of the Bronx
River negatively
impacts the watershed's value as a recreational, educational, ecological and
economic resource.” (8)
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