Our Goals & Objectives

Baykeeper's goal is to protect, preserve, and restore the Hudson-Raritan Estuary's environment for the good of our natural and human communities. Over the next ten we plan to achieve the following objectives: The Hackensack Meadowlands will be protected - A vast urban wildlife Refuge will be established there, conserving a prime habitat for birds and fish, and becoming a cherished ecotourism destination for the region's citizens.

Priority natural habitat will be preserved and restored - Key Estuary lands and waters will protected for the ultimate good of wildlife and communities. Citizen volunteers will play active leadership roles in this stewardship.

Oysters will thrive from Sandy Hook to the Tappan Zee - Our waters will become so clean that oysters can again be proudly served on New York City and New Jersey restaurant tables.

Fences will come down, and pollution cleaned up - The Estuary will become available to everyone for walking, swimming, boating and fishing, along all of its 650 mile shoreline.

Agencies will aggressively prosecute polluters, seeking remuneration for damages - Baykeeper believes that in order to restore the Estuary, polluters must pay for the harm they've done to public trust resources. The resulting clean waters will nourish fish, shellfish, bird life and the Estuary's people.

Great river-centered greenways and waterfront parks will unify communities and support habitat - The haphazard, poorly planned, special interest-driven, urban sprawl that has divided communities and harmed habitat in the past will be replaced by cooperative community efforts that feature thriving ecosystems as the centerpiece of sustainable green redevelopment.

Urban communities will be revitalized - Cities and towns will be revitalized economically and spiritually through their renewed awareness of our integral place in nature, and through the cooperative efforts of empowered citizens, communities, business and government. We will enrich human and natural communities with programs that promote green development and green jobs.

An empowered people will recognize their place as stewards of the Hudson-Raritan Estuary - We will see that the New York, Newark, Raritan and Jamaica Bays; the Lower Hudson, Hackensack, Passaic, Rahway, Raritan, Shrewsbury and Navesink rivers; and the entire Estuary watershed, are part of a single bioregion in which there is no separation between states, counties and towns.