2
Building Alliances
BUILDING ALLIANCES
In 2004/05 the Bronx River Watershed Coalition (Formerly
known as Watershed Committee 7) continued to strengthen alliances with
other regional partners including the New York City borough of the Bronx, the New York City
Department of Parks and Recreation, the Bronx River Alliance, the Bronx
Zoo (Wildlife Conservation Society), the New York Botanical Gardens and
Fordham University.
Treating the river as an integral entity also means bringing
together all the municipalities (cities, towns and villages) that border
the reservation and other interested constituent organizations, such as
the Bronx River Conservancy, the Garth Woods Conservancy, the Federated
Conservationists of Westchester County (FCWC), and the Kensico
Environment Enhancement Program (KEEP).
The Westchester municipalities that border the Bronx River
are Yonkers, Eastchester, Valhalla, North Castle, Mount Vernon,
Tuckahoe, New Castle, Harrison, White Plains, Scarsdale, Elmsford,
Bronxville, Greenburgh and Mount. Pleasant.
The Westchester Planning Department developed a Memorandum of
Agreement for the Bronx River Watershed Coalition and to date five
municipalities and four participating organizations have signed on. The
remaining cities, towns and villages are expecting to sign on before the
end of 2005. Municipal
cooperation is essential to both the re-vitalization of the Bronx River
and to gaining public acceptance of the environmental stewardship.
