Wild Oyster Survey with the Billion Oyster Project

Join Billion Oyster Project and Randall’s Island Park Alliance at Little Hell Gate Salt Marsh on Randall’s Island for a wild oyster survey along the Harlem River shoreline. Wild oyster surveys are an opportunity to explore your local waterfront and build collective knowledge about where oysters live in NYC.

Learn to count and measure wild oysters along the coast while collecting data to help understand current wild oyster survey populations in New York Harbor. Participants, ages 16+, will learn about how oysters grow, and get up close and personal with the local oyster population while collecting and recording data.

Registration is required to attend this event.

Location: north side of the Little Hell Gate Salt Marsh

Before the event, please watch this video about Wild Oyster Surveys and how to do one, skim through this Protocol Handout explaining what you will do in the field, and send in your digital waiver.

ALL Participants are required to complete this digital waiver in order to participate in this Wild Oyster Survey event. Signed waivers can be submitted electronically via the link provided.

Please wear weather appropriate clothing (water-proof gear in rain, hat when it’s sunny, etc.) and sturdy shoes that you don’t mind getting wet or muddy. Closed toed shoes are required, we suggest rubber boots.

Sunscreen, bug spray, light snacks, and water bottles will be provided, but we encourage you to bring a personal water bottle and sunscreen, especially on sunnier days. Our team will provide all other field supplies including clipboards, data sheets, etc.

Accessibility information
This outdoor event will require walking, bending down, and squatting, on uneven, slippery, rocky, muddy, and sandy ground. Stools will be available nearby as needed, though participants should expect to be standing and/or squatting for up to 2 hours. There are no bathrooms near by the survey site, though there are bathrooms in the park. Parking is available on site. Please reach out with specific questions about accessibility.

Inclement Weather
All outdoor events are subject to cancellation/rescheduling in the case of inclement weather (e.g. extreme heat, heavy rain, lightning etc). If there is light rain, the event will still take place. In the case that this training needs to be canceled or rescheduled, you will receive an email additional with more information.

Wild Oyster Surveys are made possible through a grant from the Dr. Scholl Foundation. This program is part of Billion Oyster Project’s

Please reach out to wildoyster@billionoysterproject.org with any questions, or to be placed on the waitlist in the event RSVPs are full.

What’s included
Participants ages 16+ will learn to count and measure wild oysters along the Randall’s Island shoreline.