2015: An Amazing Year
It’s been an amazing year at Freshkills Park. We have accomplished so much!
2015 by the numbers
Over 10,000 people experienced Freshkills Park this year, whether visiting the park during our new Discovery Days, special events, and programs or participating in presentations around the City. Much of this work was supported by our growing volunteer corps, and all of it was supported by the funds and advocacy of the Freshkills Park Alliance.
Art
Our Arts Program had a remarkable year with the installation of our first public art work – NEST – at the St. George Ferry Terminal. We were awarded a National Endowment for the Arts grant for a project to be designed this spring. Public arts workshops took place in collaboration with local groups and organizations, and tours for artists and photographers yielded Capturing Change, an online exhibition in cooperation with the Architecture League and project ideas for the coming year.
Science and Research
Our Science and Research program reached a whole new level. BioBlitz saw 425 scientists and students on site for 24 hours counting and categorizing plants, animals, insects and fish, yielding an ecological baseline and lots of astonishing finds. Our tweeting bird box campaign successfully crowd sourced the funds to bring the park’s wildlife the public. We went from two to five active research contracts, and Con Edison gave us funds toward a mobile Environmental Education unit.
Capital Projects
We also continued building the park, opening the 3.2-mile New Springville Greenway. And, after much hard work, Parks and Sanitation Commissioners signed an agreement that will cover operations of North Park Phase 1, the first project within the former landfill property. We were also just awarded funding for design and engineering services through a competitive Regional Economic Development grant to plan a community hub along the New Springville Greenway as an entrance to the future East Park.
