Who could have imagined that the return of one furry mammal to the Bronx would be the winning story of the week?
"Bronx José," as the new Bronx River beaver has been dubbed, has gotten more press than the Anna Nicole Smith debacle this past week, and that's saying a lot.
Why the hubbub?
For one thing, there haven't been any beavers in the Bronx for at least 200 years, as was reported in a story in Friday's New York Times.
But the bigger story, the more important story, of course, is the story of the restoration of the Bronx River. Since at least the 1990's efforts have been made to clean up that river, and many people in New York remember pictures of cars and other non-river-like items being pulled out of the water regularly.
This cleanup, a cleanup that continues, is no miracle. It's been an effort that has involved hundreds of people, millions of dollars, and enforcement of environmental regulations, lead by the Bronx River Alliance, a coalition of groups that's the River's guardian. With support from the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation and money secured by elected officials like
Congressmember José Serrano (after whom the beaver is named), the River is now "clean" enough for Bronx José to set up housekeeping on a part of the River that passes through the Bronx Zoo.
It's been a truly remarkable year. Alewives, a kind of herring that haven't spawned in the Bronx River for decades, were re-introduced to the River on the first day of Spring last year (as I'd previously blogged about), and they are reported to be doing well. And at least a couple of new parks have been opened along the River's banks in the South Bronx. 15 miles of a proposed 23-mile Bronx Greenway are already in place and a new coalition is forming that hopes to make the water in the Bronx River -- and other waterways in NYC -- suitable for recreation including swimming.
Of course, this is really the story of the people who live alongside the River, a River that flows right through the heart of the Bronx and through a variety of neighborhoods. The people of the Bronx have fought hard to bring a measure of environmental justice to their communities and they have succeeded.
At a time when the news is overwhelmingly bad - Iraq, spiraling health care and housing costs - and an Administration that still refuses to accept the basic science behind the global warming phenomenon, the return of Bronx José is a sweet reminder that environmental efforts can and do pay off every day. And that, if a beaver can find his way back to the Bronx, once the most maligned borough in the Nation, there's still hope for almost anything.
So, move over Punxsutawney Phil. Bronx José is back on the block.
Now if we can only find Bronx José a mate...