Audubon Society Ecology Tour Of Roosevelt Island - What Impact Will Proposed FDR Memorial Have On Nesting Cormorants and Other Wildlife?

Image of Cormorants Nesting Off Southpoint Park From David Byrne's Journal

Blogger City Birder reports that the Audubon Society will be exploring Roosevelt Island this Saturday June 6. From City Birder:

Exploring Roosevelt/Welfare/Blackwell's Island
Guide: Gabriel Willow
Discover one of the lesser-known islands of the archipelago that is New York City. Roosevelt Island has a rich ecological and human history: located in the middle of the East River between Manhattan and the Brooklyn/Queens border, it has been known as Blackwell's Island for the family that farmed it (their farmhouse still stands today), and later as Welfare Island for the many city hospitals and institutions found there. We will visit fascinating architectural remnants of these eras, and search for birds from this prime location in the center of the East River. We could see some of the gulls, cormorants, and herons that nest on smaller islands nearby.
$20 ($18 for members)

Register for the exploration here.

Talking Heads David Byrne took a bike tour of Roosevelt Island and shot some Cormorants too.

This might be the last year to see these nesting birds near Roosevelt Island's Southpoint Park if the proposed Kahn Memorial (disguised as a FDR Memorial) is built and replaces much of the green park land with granite and concret.

FDR Memorial Room Image From Village Voice Runnin Scared Blog

This is what will be lost at Southpoint Park - Wedding Image From Jerry Yoon

I may have missed it but I did not see any mention of the Kahn/FDR Memorial's ecological impact on the surrounding bird and other wildlife habitat other than it's impact on Fish habittats in the Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt's Institute's SEQR Environmental Impact Study. If such a study has not been conducted to date, I would hope that it will be done prior to any RIOC Board approval of the project.