Many people are starting to realize that the Bronx River make for a wonderful nature excursion. One can go on one's own with a permit, but group trips are also organized by the Bronx River Alliance, a nonprofit dedicated to restoring and protecting the river.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the river's overgrown banks made it a magnet for crime. Long before then, in the late 19th century, the river had become essentially an open sewer, in which factories, farms, and housing developments dumped their refuse. At one point the contamination was so bad that animals started dying in the Bronx Zoo.

Then in 1974, a group of community activists, supported by Bronx Borough Police Commander Anthony Bouza, formed the Bronx River Restoration Project, the predecessor to the Bronx River Alliance.

According to the New York Sun, today, thanks to the alliance and its 60-some partner organizations, the river is an active recreation area, an outdoor classroom for students, and clean enough for a beaver to make its home. The alliance and its partners have removed debris and blockages, cleared invasive vegetation, and restored the floodplain in the Bronx River Forest. The alliance has also trained local residents in environmental conservation and mobilized groups of students to monitor water quality.