Tags: Freshkills Park

On June 21st, Freshkills Park will take part in Inside the Bird Chorus, a project conceived by the philosopher and artist David Rothenberg as a dialogue between musicians and bird populations of New York City. The 21st of June is the summer solstice, making it the longest day of the year.

In spite of slightly chilly temperatures and some dramatic weather, Freshkills Park volunteers helped host 1,500 people at the May 15th Discovery Day. Visitors, who got to experience the Park in a variety of different ways, were awed and inspired by the landscape. 

It’s so inspiring to see how people are photographing Freshkills Park. That’s why there’s the new Fresh Look: Freshkills Park Photo Contest, inviting people to share their images of the unique landscape.

Between now and July 5th, photographers can submit their images to photo@freshkillspark.org

Freshkills Park will offer a Discovery Day event on May 15th, 2016 from 11am to 4pm. During this free event, 700 acres and eight miles of trails in the normally closed site will be open, providing opportunities to explore and learn about the landfill-to-park project.

On Saturday April 16, 2016, twenty-five energetic New York Cares Volunteers arose early and took the bus from Manhattan to Staten Island to help the Freshkills Park Team get ready for spring.

One group removed the disheveled piles of dead grasses from Schmul Park and left behind a carpet of mulch through which peeked  small clumps of new green growth.  

Freshkills Park will offer a Discovery Day event on Sunday, May 15th from 11am to 4pm. Thanks to the support of program partners, sponsors, and collaborators, there will be lots of ways to discover the landfill-to-park project.

5K Run/Walk
Just before Discovery Day begins, the Mid Island Rotary Club of Staten Island will host a 5K Run/Walk at the park starting at 10:30am.

Transportation Alternatives’ April 17th “Bike the Boros: Staten Island” event will include special access to Freshkills Park. Those who enjoyed the popular Tour de Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island series will love the new “Bike the Boros” series. This series is built on the same premise, to celebrate NYC streets by biking on them with gusto, with each event covering a different borough.

The upcoming Staten Island Unlimited Triennial Talk at the Alice Austen House will include a discussion and Q&A with Michael McWeeney, whose photograph of Freshkills Park is included in the photography exhibition.

McWeeney has been photographing Freshkills Park as part of Capturing Change, a series of photo essays in collaboration with Urban Omnibus that invites small groups of photographers to the site to document the engineered landscape’s evolution.

Freshkills Park’s Manager for Science & Research Development Dr. Cait Field will participate in a panel discussion at Rutgers University on Wednesday, April 27th. Called Re-envisioning Post-Industrial Public Landscapes, the discussion will include panelists from Freshkills Park and Liberty State Park in Jersey City.

The New Springville Greenway on the eastern edge of Freshkills Park is included in the New York City Department of Transportation 2016 NYC Bike Map. This 3.2-mile fitness path is part of the seven new miles of off-street bike lanes in New York City.

Freshkills Park will offer Discovery Day on May 15th from 11am to 4pm. During this free public event, 700 acres of the otherwise closed site will be open for outdoor recreation, providing opportunities to explore and learn about the landfill-to-park project.

Fifteen years ago this week, the final barge of household garbage arrived at Fresh Kills Landfill. To celebrate this milestone, the website’s new interactive landfill-to-park timeline illustrates almost 100 years of changes in the area.

The last barge to Fresh Kills marked the end of 53 years of landfill operations.

The Freshkills Park Development team is seeking a motivated and energetic Seasonal Programming Associate to deliver the park’s seasonal calendar of activities & events.  The Programming Associate will spend time engaging New Yorkers of all ages with hiking, kayaking, canoeing, birding, environmental education, presentations, arts events, and tours – for a one of a kind park. 

The Freshkills Park staff is gearing up for its 2016 season and we cannot wait to welcome our volunteers back to the Park for weed warrior days, special events, and park beautification efforts.  As the volunteer program grows, we are looking for feedback from past volunteers about your experience at the park – why you do it, what works well, and where we might be able to improve.

The work of Mierle Laderman Ukeles, the artist-in-residence for the NYC Department of Sanitation for the past 30+ years, is featured in a new book edited by Kari Conte titled “Seven Work Ballets.” According to Sternberg Press, the book focuses on a series of seven grand-scale collaborative performances that took place between 1983 and 2012 in New York, Pittsburgh, Givors, Rotterdam, and Tokamachi.

Freshkills Park will offer Discovery Day events on May 15th and June 26th, 2016 from 11am to 4pm. During these free events, 700 acres of the otherwise closed site will be open for tours and recreation.

Happy National Invasive Species Awareness Week! An “invasive species” is a plant, animal, or other organism that’s not native to the ecosystem under consideration whose introduction causes or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health.

On February 9th, students at James Madison High School built a chain of plastic bags around the school building in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. The project was meant to raise awareness about excessive use of the material and its harmful impact on the environment.

The Freshkills Park Office has started planning for the 2016 season and we’re excited to welcome new and returning volunteers to our growing community.  Your help during public events will make it possible for thousands of people to visit and learn about closed sections of the park.

On President’s Day weekend, millions of birds were recorded as part of the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC). According to the New York Times, this was the 19th year that both amateur and expert ornithologists worldwide have contributed bird sightings to this citizen science project, run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the National Audubon Society and Bird Studies of Canada.