About this project

The Welikia Project aims to illuminate the rich ecological history that underwrites the development of New York City, drawing awareness to how drastically our own neighborhoods have changed over time, and suggesting possible alternative futures. It roots us in place, helps us understand the place we live in, and fosters the long view.

After decades of effort, this project has flowered into books, concepts for digital engagement, and new forms of art and visualization, including the upcoming publication of Eric W. Sanderson's Before New York: An Atlas and Gazetteer, forthcoming from Abrams in 2026. Previously, Sanderson published Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City (Abrams, 2009) and Terra Nova: The New World After Oil, Cars, and Suburbs (Abrams, 2013).

This project is maintained by the Urban Conservation team at the New York Botanical Garden. If you have any questions about the project or data, please reach out.

Our approach

The science behind the Welikia Project is historical landscape ecology. Landscape ecology is the study of how different ecosystems (e.g. forests, wetlands, streams, etc.) combine together to create habitat for plants and animals. Historical ecology is the study of the environment of the past, using a combination of maps, texts, biological specimens, and modern ecology theory and modeling techniques.

Through the Welikia Project, we aim to reconstruct the ecology of this extraordinary landscape, layer by layer, map by map, literally “from the ground up,” starting with geology, soils, topography, then streams, springs, ponds, wetlands, etc., eventually connecting to species of plants and animals (including people.) The work is useful to urban planners, architects and landscape architects, engineers, artists, Indigenous people, and anyone who feels anything for New York City.

The goal of the project is not to go back to the past but rather to go forward into the future, taking on the wisdom and inspiration that nature provides.