Class of 1976

BILL DUKE takes to canoes to showcase Brooklyn waterway's potential.

Once a dumping ground for heavy industry, local sewers and the Mafia, Brooklyn's Gowanus Canal earned the moniker "Lavender Lake" for its pungent stink and supposed toxicity. Today detritus and dead rats float through the water, as Bill Duke and other members of the Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club well know as they paddle along the 2-mile waterway into New York Harbor. As quixotic as it may seem, paddling has a practical goal for Duke and the Dredgers: educating the public about the canal's recreational possibilities and advocating its revitalization. The 5-year-old organization has introduced thousands to the latent beauty of the canal; after reading the DAM July/Aug 2004 cover story about the canoe's important connection to the College, Duke decided to invite local alumni to share the experience. "This is a great way to enjoy nature without getting in a car," he says. About 25 intrepid alums have witnessed the unique view of New York the Gowanus provides. Due to growing recreational activity on the canal, funds are being raised to dredge the still-contaminated underlying sediment, and the city's Department of Parks and Recreation plans to establish public open spaces on its banks. In addition, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has teamed with the Department of Environmental Protection to study possibilities for ecosystem restoration. Though the Dredgers recently picketed City Hall to protest a relaxing of sewage overflow standards that would affect the canal, Duke maintains they are a low-key group: "Our real purpose is to get people out there and educate them—but I also just enjoy it!"