Southern Plain
2024 - 2030
Southern Plain
The Southern Plain is the area where many victims of the AIDS epidemic were buried in mass graves, starting in 1989. This area is now at high risk of being impacted by sea-level rise.
According to climate studies conducted by the city, the water table here is projected to rise to 9 feet below the surface by 2050 and to just over 4 feet by 2100. For this reason, new graves should not be deeper than 3 feet below the surface, and caskets should never be stacked.
The rising water table will soon cause existing graves to shift, potentially accelerating erosion. To address this, our proposal utilizes deep-rooted prairie and wet-meadow species to anchor both existing and proposed graves in place. These species will replace the heavily mown, shallow-rooted lawn grass the city currently maintains on the island, providing a nature-based solution for stabilization.
The rising water table will soon cause existing graves to shift, potentially accelerating erosion. To address this, our proposal utilizes deep-rooted prairie and wet-meadow species to anchor both existing and proposed graves in place. These species will replace the heavily mown, shallow-rooted lawn grass the city currently maintains on the island, providing a nature-based solution for stabilization.
Impact of sea level rise
Sea Level Rise Threat to Burial Areas
This image uses the city's 2015 sea level rise projections to map the change in the high tide mark. Assuming groundwater levels correlate closely with the high tide mark (as suggested by the seven-foot groundwater depth found in Test Pit 32), the implications for the burial grounds are severe:
By 2050, groundwater will be less than one foot below the surface of both the existing mass graves and the future mass graves proposed in the 2022 burial capacity study.
The proposed new mass graves in this single area constitute roughly 20% of the total future burial space the city is currently depending on.
Landscape of Hope
This project was conducted in collaboration with landscape architecture researchers at The Ohio State University Knowlton School and was made possible with support of the Lily Auchicloss Foundation and through a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Landscape Design Team Members: Jake Boswell, Jack Gruber, Brendan Ayer and Melinda Hunt
©2025 The Hart Island Project
