Gowanus Conservancy Manager Recognized As Woman Leader

GOWANUS, BROOKLYN — Ask Amy Motzny about being named one of 22 women leading the environmental movement and she'll modestly change the subject.

Motzny instead will highlight how Temboo — the environmental software company behind the women leaders list — helps Gowanus Tree Network volunteers monitor trees in their neighborhoods. She'll talk about how street trees can capture stormwater in a flood-prone area.

Then she'll shift the conservation toward the pending Gowanus rezoning and the need for a sustainable plan.

Everything is interconnected for Motzny, watershed manager for Gowanus Canal Conservancy. Her honor is just a small link in a greater chain.

"I think that the Conservancy shares that vision as well," she said.

Temboo's list "22 Women Leading the Environmental Movement" includes former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, activist and writer Naomi Klein and other prominent women.

Motzny believes she made the cut after she and the Conservancy linked up with the company following a World Water Day presentation she made at a conference. They all shared an interest in how smart city concepts — a broad concept, but basically data gathering — can be applied to city planning, she said.

It led to a partnership between the Conservancy and Temboo that put sensors in tree beds across Gowanus. Volunteers with the Gowanus Tree Network use them to easily monitor whether trees need to be watered or how much water they're collecting, Motzny said.

"We just have had a really great partnership," she said. "It’s just been really rewarding on both ends."

The project fits in Motzny's wheelhouse. She hails from Michigan and spent years working on green infrastructure in the private sector and academia.

Much of Motzny's research at Columbia University stemmed from New York City's burgeoning green infrastructure plan, in fact. Primed for a position in which she could put plans to action, she shifted over to the Conservancy about three years ago, she said.

And there's fertile ground for action in the Gowanus area.

The high water table makes areas of Gowanus, Park Slope and Red Hook prone to flooding during storms. Rain overloads sewers and sends waste into the already-polluted canal. And an active, engaged community keeps an eye on city projects and zoning mandates that affect the area.

The Conservancy also stayed ahead of the curve on green infrastructure, Motzny said. Look at the Sixth Street Green Corridor, a span of 11 rain gardens between Park Slope and Gowanus that not only provide a beautiful green space but also an innovative way to capture rain water in a flood-prone area, she said.

Those so-called "bioswales" are connected underground so water is captured one-by-one down the line, Motzny said. If they look different from other rain gardens in the city, it's because they are, she said. Newer city projects have been drawn from a more "limited palette," she said.

"Finding a way to work within the constraints you have in areas like Gowanus is really important," she said.

That's why Motzny and the Conservancy hope city planners take concerns over combined sewer overflows and other comments seriously when the rezoning plan is released. They hope city planners use the Conservancy's lowlands plan as a guide, she said.

More information about Gowanus Canal Conservancy can be found here.