The Fresh Kills site was once a network of waterways with acres of tidal wetlands. When the Fresh Kills Landfill opened in 1948, people did not realize the ecological value of this habitat. Now NYC Parks is transforming the former landfill into Freshkills Park.
...MOREBefore closing almost two decades ago, Fresh Kills Landfill was known as the largest landfill in the world. During peak operations in the 1980s, Fresh Kills received as much as 29,000 tons of trash per day. By 1991 it was the last remaining landfill in New York City, accepting household trash from all five boroughs.
...MOREFor the past two years, NYC Parks staff have partnered with the College of Staten Island (CSI) and the Interstate Environmental Commission (IEC) to monitor the water quality within Freshkills Park and study the health of the waterways. This year’s results were consistent with data from last year, which shows great progress in the remediation and restoration of the park.
...MORE“I cannot endure to waste anything so precious as autumnal sunshine by staying in the house.” –Nathaniel Hawthorne, The American Notebooks.
Perfect autumnal weather welcomed hundreds of visitors to the scenery of Freshkills Park on September 30 for Discovery Day.
...MOREBy early April, ospreys had arrived at Freshkills Park after spending the winter in warmer places. Nicknamed “fish hawks,” these large raptors like being close to shallow water for easy access to food. The birds quickly got to work building their summer homes on tall platforms close to the creeks.
...MOREThis summer, NYC Parks staff launched a biological filtering dock, or “living” dock, at Freshkills Park. This dock will help clean the water within the site’s network of tidal creeks using native plants and shellfish. The dock will also increase biodiversity, which makes the park’s tidal wetland ecosystem more resilient in the face of climate change and storm events.
...MORECaitlyn Simon is an Environmental Science Intern for Freshkills Park. She was born and raised in NYC and lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn when she is not attending Amherst College in Massachusetts. She is a rising senior double-majoring in Environmental Studies and Geology.
...MORESummer is a great season for birdwatching! As the weather warms up, migrating species return from their wintering grounds. Birds can be seen foraging for food, building nests, displaying for mates, and defending their territories. Sometimes you can hear them calling to mates and declaring their territories to potential rivals.
...MOREKaitlyn Brudecki is a Science and Research Intern for the Freshkills Park project. She grew up in Greenpoint, Brooklyn then later moved to Middle Village, Queens. She studies Aquaculture at the Urban Assembly New York Harbor School.
What are you working on?
...MOREStorm surges reached near record highs in Boston during an intense winter storm early this year. Storms are being seen with increasing strength and frequency throughout the country, and they’re being coupled with increasing costs of repairs and restorations. This has given rise to creative mitigation strategies to limit the impact of severe weather events.
...MOREThursday, June 28th
Friday, June 29th
Between June and September, NYC Parks staff conducted weekly water testing at the park to look at the health of the waterways. NYC Sanitation regularly conducts tests to monitor the air, surface water and groundwater at Freshkills Park. While the data that Sanitation collects is used to assess the effectiveness of the landfill infrastructure, this testing was focused on tracking the site’s restoration from an ecological perspective.
...MOREIn 2016, NYC Parks created a Wildlife Unit in response to the city’s rising wildlife population and the challenges they present—more than 600 native wildlife species currently call our city home. The unit serves as an informed resource for citizens and policymakers, and aims to create a future where urban animals are an understood and appreciated part of the city.
...MOREFreshkills Park is the largest landfill-to-park project in the world, but it isn’t the first or the last of its kind. Over the past few decades, cities all over the world have converted closed landfills into parks. With planning and innovative engineering, these projects have increased the amount of open green space in urban areas, improving the environment and increasing the quality of life for residents.
...MOREDid you know that the month of May is dedicated to celebrating the importance of wetlands? Back in 1991, the EPA and its partners designated May as American Wetlands Month to educate Americans about the value of wetlands as a natural resource.
...MOREThe Freshkills Park Team is looking for a Development Intern, Public Art Program Intern, Environmental Monitoring Intern, and Communications Intern to join the staff at the project’s lower Manhattan headquarters this summer. These four part-time positions will involve site visits and provide opportunities to collaboratively contribute to ongoing park planning and project implementation.
...MOREThis past year marked the fifteen-year anniversary of the Fresh Kills Landfill closure. In March of 2001, the final barge of household garbage arrived at the landfill. Later that year, the City of New York announced an international design competition for the development of a plan for Freshkills Park.
...MOREDear Friends:
This year’s $30 million funding for the Mayor’s Anchor Parks initiative is a wonderful recognition of the progress we’re making as Freshkills Park continues to take shape. The Anchor Parks project, now entering design, will focus on South Park.
...MOREWritten by Jessa Orluk, Freshkills Park Programming Associate.
One hot day this past October, a student told me, “Well, our waste has to go somewhere. It’s selfish, but we don’t want it here. It’s not our problem.”
He was one of 16 high school students on a field trip to Freshkills Park.
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