Wild City

11:30a.m. – 4:30 p.m. 

New Yorkers share the urban jungle with wild animals large and small. From the coyotes in Central Park, whales and dolphins off the Rockaways, and peregrine falcons nesting on high-rises, these urban adapters remind us that nature is not so far away.  

Join us as we explore the ecology of these wild residents across a day of activities. Dive deeper into the role these animals play in a healthy ecosystem, and learn what we can do to support them, in a panel discussion including Mark Weckel, co-founder of Gotham Coyote, photographer and urban marine naturalist Chris St. Lawrence of Gotham Whale, and NYC Plover Project; moderated by Nathan Hunter, manager of the Bronx River Foodway.  

Then, get reacquainted with New York celebrity Flaco the Owl with a free screening Wild Inside, the new documentary by Penny Lane about the Eurasian Eagle-Owl that escaped the Central Park Zoo and set off on a magical odyssey through Manhattan, overcoming years of captivity and lack of survival skills to answer the call of the wild.  

Throughout the afternoon, natural space advocacy organizations including Gotham Whale will discuss their field work, and how citizen scientists can get involved.

Schedule

11:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. Wild Neighbors– meet local organizations working to improve wild spaces for New Yorkers 

12:30 – 1:30 p.m. Conversation: Wild City with Gotham Coyote and Gotham Whale (Fox Amphitheater. Free with RSVP) 

2:30 p.m. Screening: Wild Inside followed by a Q&A with special guests (Free with RSVP) 

RSVP recommended at the links above. Seating is first come, first served.

Special Guests 

Nathan Hunter (he/they) is a Bronx-based environmental educator and land steward. He works with the NYC Parks managing the Bronx River Foodway, a food forest inside Concrete Plant Park. Through his work, he explores how native plants, fungi, soil microbes, and people can work together to create resilient ecosystems that offer food sovereignty, reduce stormwater impacts, and combat climate change. Nathan is focused on collaborative growing practices that activate the public commons to support community health and land sovereignty. He is a budding forager, herbalist, and avid cyclist in NYC. 

Chris St Lawrence is a naturalist, published science communicator, and an award-winning conservation photographer. Based in New York City, he started his Gotham Whale journey when a whale swam up the Hudson River. He is Gotham Whale’s Director of Communications, and a whale-watch naturalist with American Princess Cruises in Brooklyn, where he connects New Yorkers with the wildlife that lives just beyond the city’s shores. He also volunteers with the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society, helping with large whale necropsies. Chris holds an MA in Environmental Conservation Education from NYU. 

Gotham Coyote 

Gotham Whale was established in 2009 as a non-profit research and education organization focused on the marine mammals of NY and NJ. It manages the New York City Humpback Whale Catalog which currently holds more than 480 individual whales. In addition to collecting sightings from commercial whale-watching vessels, Gotham Whale’s Citizen Scientist WANTED program calls on the general public to report their marine mammal sightings. All sightings are used to advocate for the protection of humpback whales, bottlenose dolphins, and other marine mammals in the busy NYC area. 

NYC Plover Project 

Open Worlds: Science is funded by Simons Foundation International and administered by the Simons Foundation’s Science, Society & Culture division.