The Natural Resources Defense Council's (NRDC) purpose is to safeguard the Earth: its people, its plants and animals and the natural systems on which all life depends. The NRDC works to restore the integrity of the elements that sustain life -- air, land and water -- and to defend endangered natural places.

Brad Sewell of the NRDC is one of 2 co-chairs of the Jamaica Bay Watershed Protection Plan Advisory Committee, a representative body of agencies, community groups, and universities guiding the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) in the progress of the Jamaica Bay Watershed Protection Plan. This activity is being tracked in the Advisory Committee section of this website.