Center for the State of the Parks: Park Assessments
Gateway National Recreation Area
Published May 2007
Gateway National Recreation Area, located in New York City and northern New Jersey, protects more than 26,000 acres of land and waters offering an array of recreational, cultural, and natural values. More than 330 species of birds and 71 species of butterflies live within the park or stopover at Gateway during their arduous seasonal migrations along the Atlantic coast. Gateway's buildings, landscapes, and archaeological sites offer great samples of America’s coastal defenses from the Revolutionary War through the Cold War.
Recognizing Gateway National Recreation Area's importance within the New York City metropolitan area and the National Park System as a whole, NPCA's Center for State of the Parks endeavored to determine the current conditions of the park's natural and cultural resources. Researchers gathered information and used established, peer-reviewed methodologies to assess and systematically rate conditions of both cultural and natural resources at Gateway National Recreation Area.
Current overall conditions of Gateway's known cultural and natural resources rated "poor" scores of 46 and 53, respectively. This report contains descriptions of park resources and summaries of resource conditions.
