Gateway National Recreation Area | |
---|---|
IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape) | |
Location | New York and New Jersey, United States |
Coordinates | 40°27′14″N 73°59′49″W / 40.45400°N 73.99699°W |
Area | 26,607 acres (107.67 km2) [1] |
Established | October 27, 1972 |
Visitors | 8,728,291 (in 2022) [2] |
Governing body | National Park Service |
Website | Gateway National Recreation Area |
Gateway National Recreation Area is a 26,607-acre (10,767 ha) U.S. National Recreation Area in New York City and Monmouth County, New Jersey. It provides recreational opportunities that are not commonly found in a dense urban environment, including ocean swimming, bird watching, boating, hiking and camping. [3] More than 8.7 million people visited Gateway National Recreation Area in 2022, making it the fourth-most visited unit of the National Park Service.
Gateway was created by the U.S. Congress in 1972 [4] to preserve and protect scarce or unique natural, cultural, and recreational resources with relatively convenient access by a high percentage of the nation's population. [5] It is owned by the federal government and managed by the National Park Service.
In 1969, the Regional Plan Association proposed a new national seashore in the New York metropolitan area, to be administered by the United States Department of the Interior. [6] U.S. President Richard Nixon put his support behind a very similar proposal in 1970, with one significant change: instead of being designated a "seashore", the protected area would be a national park. In May of that year, the president started the process of getting Congressional approval for this move. [7]
The United States House of Representatives approved the creation of Gateway National Recreation Area in September 1972, and most of the land was transferred to the National Park Service (NPS) for inclusion in Gateway National Recreation Area. In the same vote, the House denied the state's provision to create a housing development at Floyd Bennett Field, which was to be part of the Gateway Area. [8] Gateway National Recreation Area was officially created on October 27, 1972, along with Golden Gate National Recreation Area in San Francisco. Gateway included over 26,000 acres (11,000 ha) of land. [9] This excluded some of the land proposed by the RPA, including the Coney Island shore. [10]
The recreation area comprises three units and 11 park sites in all. Primary law enforcement in the Gateway National Recreation Area is the responsibility of the United States Park Police in the New York units, and National Park Service Rangers in the New Jersey unit.
Jamaica Bay Unit, in Brooklyn and Queens, includes much of the shoreline and water below the Shore Parkway beginning at Plum Beach and ending at John F. Kennedy International Airport, along with several dozen islands in Jamaica Bay, a tidal estuary. It also includes most of the western part of the Rockaway Peninsula, which separates Jamaica Bay from the Atlantic Ocean. Among the sites in this unit are:
The Staten Island Unit is located on the southeastern shore of Staten Island facing Lower New York Bay. It includes Hoffman and Swinburne Islands, both off limits to visitation and managed primarily for the benefit of avian species. The unit also includes the following three sites:
Sandy Hook Unit is in Monmouth County in northern New Jersey. The barrier peninsula forms the other side of the "gateway" to New York Harbor, and includes two park sites:
Gateway National Recreation Area | |
---|---|
IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape) | |
Location | New York and New Jersey, United States |
Coordinates | 40°27′14″N 73°59′49″W / 40.45400°N 73.99699°W |
Area | 26,607 acres (107.67 km2) [1] |
Established | October 27, 1972 |
Visitors | 8,728,291 (in 2022) [2] |
Governing body | National Park Service |
Website | Gateway National Recreation Area |
Gateway National Recreation Area is a 26,607-acre (10,767 ha) U.S. National Recreation Area in New York City and Monmouth County, New Jersey. It provides recreational opportunities that are not commonly found in a dense urban environment, including ocean swimming, bird watching, boating, hiking and camping. [3] More than 8.7 million people visited Gateway National Recreation Area in 2022, making it the fourth-most visited unit of the National Park Service.
Gateway was created by the U.S. Congress in 1972 [4] to preserve and protect scarce or unique natural, cultural, and recreational resources with relatively convenient access by a high percentage of the nation's population. [5] It is owned by the federal government and managed by the National Park Service.
In 1969, the Regional Plan Association proposed a new national seashore in the New York metropolitan area, to be administered by the United States Department of the Interior. [6] U.S. President Richard Nixon put his support behind a very similar proposal in 1970, with one significant change: instead of being designated a "seashore", the protected area would be a national park. In May of that year, the president started the process of getting Congressional approval for this move. [7]
The United States House of Representatives approved the creation of Gateway National Recreation Area in September 1972, and most of the land was transferred to the National Park Service (NPS) for inclusion in Gateway National Recreation Area. In the same vote, the House denied the state's provision to create a housing development at Floyd Bennett Field, which was to be part of the Gateway Area. [8] Gateway National Recreation Area was officially created on October 27, 1972, along with Golden Gate National Recreation Area in San Francisco. Gateway included over 26,000 acres (11,000 ha) of land. [9] This excluded some of the land proposed by the RPA, including the Coney Island shore. [10]
The recreation area comprises three units and 11 park sites in all. Primary law enforcement in the Gateway National Recreation Area is the responsibility of the United States Park Police in the New York units, and National Park Service Rangers in the New Jersey unit.
Jamaica Bay Unit, in Brooklyn and Queens, includes much of the shoreline and water below the Shore Parkway beginning at Plum Beach and ending at John F. Kennedy International Airport, along with several dozen islands in Jamaica Bay, a tidal estuary. It also includes most of the western part of the Rockaway Peninsula, which separates Jamaica Bay from the Atlantic Ocean. Among the sites in this unit are:
The Staten Island Unit is located on the southeastern shore of Staten Island facing Lower New York Bay. It includes Hoffman and Swinburne Islands, both off limits to visitation and managed primarily for the benefit of avian species. The unit also includes the following three sites:
Sandy Hook Unit is in Monmouth County in northern New Jersey. The barrier peninsula forms the other side of the "gateway" to New York Harbor, and includes two park sites: