It is estimated that approximately 1,400 acres of tidal salt marsh have been lost from the marsh islands in Jamaica Bay, New York since 1924, with the system wide rate of loss rapidly increasing in recent years. From 1994 and 1999, an estimated 220 acres of salt marsh were lost at a rate of 47 acres per year.
With the Manhattan skyline less than 10 miles to the north, the eight by four mile marsh islands complex is an integral part of the Bay, which has been targeted for restoration by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, National Park Service (Gateway), New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, New York City Department of Environmental Protection, The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the National Resources Conservation Service and the New York/New Jersey Harbor Estuary Program.
To quell further erosion of the islands, and adding to an already impressive list of habitat restoration projects in the Bay, the Army Corps commenced the placement of sand from the Harbor Deepening Project’s Ambrose Channel contract in August 2012 to restore Black Wall and Rulers Bar marsh islands.
President Barack Obama signs flood insurance bill into law. 
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