That big forum about water quality and other issues concerning the Gowanus Canal is coming up this week. It will be held on Thursday (12/6). Called “The Future of the Gowanus Canal: A Community Forum on Environmental Quality,” it will include New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Pete Grannis. Representatives from the NYC […]

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On this somewhat gloomy Fall Sunday, we’re not sure a discussion of Gowanus Canal water quality–or of the long and uncertain time frame for cleaning things up–brightens things. Yet, here we are. Today’s Times considers the often reported topic of the canal’s water quality and a pending cleanup. The Times City Section story says, in […]

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We spotted the actual Gowanus Canal swans and got them in photos and on video. We watched one of them swim from the Union Street Bridge to the Third Street Bridge, where it joined its mate and paddled around for while. We don’t know if they understand that Prospect Park Lake is just a short […]

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Gowanus Canal fans will not want to miss Something Bright, Then Holes, a collection from LA-based poet Maggie Nelson. Why? The section called “The Canal Diaries,” which draws rich parallels between the debris and decay that flourish around the Gowanus Canal and a romantic breakup.–Brit in Brooklyn

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Feeling nostalgic? Read about Ye Olde Gowanus Canal in 1998: “For decades the Gowanus Canal has been a dead zone, a post-industrial wasteland of garbage-strewn lots, dumped corpses and raw sewage awash in fetid water.”–NYT

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We’ve had a lot of Gowanus fauna items this week, including people catching foot-long bluefish and taking them home for dinner and (thank you, readers for your help identifying this creature) a cormorant we photographed doing some fishing of its own. A blogger and reader sent us a link yesterday to his own post about […]

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From oysters being exported to Europe in Colonial times to toxic mud being scooped from it, the Gowanus has seen some changes. The oysters went early, though, as it was called “a blot on America’s civilization” by the 1880s.–Pardon Me for Asking

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Yesterday, we posted about people fishing in the Gowanus Canal, catching foot-long bluefish and eating the catch. The bird on the Gowanus in this photo is also fishing. In the past, we’ve posted about herons and other birds around our favorite canal, but we’d never seen one of them for ourselves. So, we were excited […]

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Don’t look now, but people–well, at least, a handful of people–are fishing in the Gowanus Canal, catching fish and taking them home and eating them. We are not making this up. A very reliable source tells us that the fishermen put their hooks in the water near the Third Street Bridge and that they are […]

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We believe that the more forums and community meetings that are held about the future of the Gowanus Canal and about cleaning it up, the better. Another will be coming up on Thursday, December 6. Called “The Future of the Gowanus Canal: A Community Forum on Environmental Quality,” it will include New York State Department […]

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We have nothing to add to this except to say that we wouldn’t want to do it, no matter how much we like the Gowanus, and even wearing a harness and if the six-pace of Mountain Dew has been rigged.

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Mark down 2012 and 2013, give or take, a potentially very significant years for the Gowanus Canal. Last night, the Department of Environment Protection and the Army Corps of Engineers made presentations at a Community Board 6 Environment Committee meeting about the scope of the environmental problems in the Gowanus, the possible remedies and the […]

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If you’re interested in all the many issues concerning the present and future of the Gowanus Canal, there’s a Community Board 6 committee meeting tonight (10/22) at PS32 on Hoyt Street. The notice we got about it says: There will be a Presentation by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the New York City […]

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That awful storm on August 8 that spawned the Bay Ridge Tornado, also resulted in a whole lot of crap going into the Gowanus Canal and New York Bay. Poop Culture author Dave Praeger sent us an email pointing us toward a blog entry he’s just done. Most of it deals with the grotesque, yet […]

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This is not the first time we’ve noted fish in the Gowanus, but it’s the first time we’ve had photos of them. We found these guys near the Carroll Street Bridge and there were literally hundreds, if not thousands, of them. We noticed them because some were jumping out of the water at leaves floating […]

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Here are a couple of events this weekend on the Gowanus, which we take please in noting after a week during which everyone seemed to have run a story about the environmentally-challenge state of things on the canal, thanks to past activity and continued dumping of sewage and other toxins. October 6 and 7, Saturday […]

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Last week wasn’t a good one for the Gowanus Canal’s image. In fact, if the Big G were a person, it would be headed back to therapy for some self-esteem related issues. The onslaught culminated yesterday with a story in the Daily News featuring a biology professor calling the strains of gonorrhea and other things […]

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If you’re interested in getting a sense of how bad the water quality in the Gowanus Canal is, then you need to check out a recent article in Scienceline, which is published by NYU. (We found it, actually, thanks to a post in Green Brooklyn.) It provides a nice history of the Gowanus, pollution, the […]

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The reader who sent the photos of these swans on the Gowanus Canal wrote that “I took this pictures today from my studio at 4th street and Bond. It warms the heart to see these swans on the canal.” Yes, it does. Of course, this is not to be confused with the Gowanus Canal heron […]

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From the YouTube, a short documentary-ish type of vid featuring our favorite Brooklyn canal.

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Ever wanted to see the Gowanus Canal from the water? Of course, you can always do that in a canoe courtesy of the Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club, but here’s a chance to do it in a boat. The Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment, which sponsors many great tours all year long, is offering its […]

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Now that September is upon us, there are a number of Brooklyn waterfront and water-related activities worth noting. We begin with our favorite body of water, the Gowanus, where Gowanus bacChANAL 2007 takes place on September 21 from 5PM-9PM. According to the Gowanus Dredgers, which hosts the annual party, “Billy Bones, the ‘Friendly Pirate’ will […]

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Perhaps you recall the Black-Crowned Night Heron on the Gowanus Canal that we posted about back in June. It goes by the name of Manzana. It turns out Manzana has a friend of some sort. We got an email from Ellie Hanlon of the Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club pointing us to her flickr photo of […]

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There is no more dramatic way to see the Gowanus Canal than to get in a canoe and start paddling. You get to see the canal from sea level and (hopefully) emerge (unscathed) known that you have challenged all of the damage done to our favorite canal by man. If you want to get out […]

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We often post about the issue of sewage and the Gowanus, which is one of the things that will doom any cleanup effort of the canal if left unaddressed. Unfortunately, there is ample evidence that –claims in the Atlantic Yards Environmental Impact Statement to the contrary–the massive development at Atlantic Avenue and Flatbush Avenue will […]

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