SPECIAL PLACES & OPEN SPACE
Actor and director Mark Ruffalo discusses threats from gas drilling in his home state of New York.
Background
Keeping the New York region healthy depends on safeguarding our valuable natural resources and green spaces. From the 700,000-acre Catskill Park, to the hundreds of community gardens in New York City, there are countless important open spaces and ecological gems that must be protected from unrestricted development and pollution.
These special places are often home to an unusual diversity of wildlife, offer recreational opportunities such as hiking and fishing, improve our air and quality of life, and even allow us to grow fresh, local food.
Our Campaign Goal
NRDC's goal is to expand and protect parkland and other special places in the New York region by advocating for strong environmental and land-use safeguards.
WHAT WE'RE DOING
- Leading a high-visibility campaign to protect the Catskills and other areas in the region from industrial gas drilling - and a technique called "fracking" - unless all proper environmental reviews are conducted and officials can show that drilling will not jeopardize public health or the environment. Learn about threats from proposed gas drilling.
- Opposing budget cuts to the Environmental Protection Fund (EPF), a longstanding and necessary source of funding for New York's parks, farmlands, and other conservation programs. Learn about EPF funding.
- Campaigning against ill-advised development proposals - including oversized casino complexes - in and around our upstate, unfiltered watershed and other special places.
- Leading initiatives to restore waterways such as Jamaica Bay and the Hudson River, so that New Yorkers can have access to the waterfront and fish and swim in surrounding rivers and bays. Learn about our water campaigns.
REPORTS, FACT SHEETS & RESOURCES
- Fact Sheet: Protecting New Yorkers' Health and the Environment by Regulating Drilling in the Marcellus Shale
- Switchboard: Incidents Where Hydraulic Fracturing is a Suspected Cause of Drinking Water Contamination
- Report: Comments Submitted by NRDC on the Hydraulic Fracturing Study to be Undertaken by the EPA
- Fact Sheet: Saving Jamaica Bay
- Times Union Op-Ed: Casinos too risky in Catskills
What You Can Do
Receive our E-Updates
NY Updates, Action Alerts, Newsletters
Protect the Adirondacks
Developers want to build a large Adirondacks resort that would fragment 6,000 acres of forested landscape above pristine Tupper Lake, Lake Simond and the Raquette River.
Help protect this ecological jewel.
NY Blogs on 
- New tools bring more jobs and local, clean energy to your town
- posted by Pierre Bull, 7/2/13
- Report: Runoff Pollutes NY & NJ Beaches, But There's a Cleaner, Greener Future
- posted by Larry Levine, 6/26/13
- New Study Confirms, Yet Again, Higher Rates of Methane Contamination in Water of Homes Near Frack Well Sites
- posted by Daniel Raichel, 6/25/13
- What's In New York State's Grocery Bag?
- posted by Margaret Brown, 6/20/13
- A National Model for Sustainable Food Waste Disposal Is Being Created Where? Right Here in New York City
- posted by Eric Goldstein, 6/17/13