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Click on the map to learn more about endangered species and habitats. Map courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service |
Protection of Endangered Species and Habitats in the Hudson River - New York Bight
Watershed
In a study of the New York Bight ecosystem, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service identified populations and habitats of endangered and threatened species. Among the laws that require the protection of these species are the Endangered Species Act, New York State Environmental Conservation Law, New Jersey Endangered and Nongame Species Conservation Act, and New Jersey Endangered Plant Species List Act. Many of these species and their habitats are rare or declining throughout the region and, in several cases, are globally threatened with extinction. They are especially vulnerable to loss, fragmentation, or degradation of their essential habitat, to human disturbances, to competition with or predation by exotic species or feral animals, and to overexploitation and environmental contaminants. Yet despite more than 300 years of human settlement and the associated impacts on the native fauna and flora, the Bight and its adjacent shorelands and uplands are rich in living resources. Click on the map to learn more about rare plants and animals that occur in the region, and to read about 11 different habitat types that lie within 25 miles of New York City's Central Park.
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