This November, Staten Island Athletic Club (SIAC) will return to Freshkills Park for their fourth annual Championship Cross-Country Races. Last year’s 10k and 5k races were a huge success with a record number of registered runners, including clubs like the Prospect Park Track Club, Team In Training, NYC Runs, and Central Park Track Club.
...MOREIn 2015, sophomores from CUNY Macaulay Honors College worked with professional scientists across 233 acres and two days in August to conduct a BioBlitz at Freshkills Park. A BioBlitz is a 24-hr biological survey event aimed at developing a snapshot of as much biodiversity as possible in a given area at a particular time of year.
...MOREThis May and June, over 100 students and teachers from Staten Island travelled to Freshkills Park to volunteer in the introductory phase of a new water monitoring program. They were studying the quality of Main Creek, a tidal waterway that runs through the park.
...MOREPatrick is an AmeriCorps member serving through the NYC Service Civic Corps program. During his time at Freshkills Park, he has been a driving force behind the new citizen science water monitoring program, inviting volunteers to study water quality and better understand the health of the wildlife at the park.
...MOREArtist Eva Neves will lead two walking tours at Discovery Day on June 26th. Called Sketch and Stroll, the walks invite people to practice being more mindful and aware as they move, drawing their thoughts, feelings, and stories in relation to their surroundings.
...MOREOn a recent, sunny Saturday, six enthusiastic Citi volunteers cleaned up the Main Creek kayak launch at Freshkills Park. This volunteer project was part of Global Community Day, the organization’s annual day of service where tens of thousands of Citi employees, along with their families and friends, come together as a global volunteer team.
...MOREArturo Romua has taught thousands of students in New York City about the Freshkills Park project through presentations, workshops, and walking tours. He came to Freshkills Park through New York City’s Parks Fellowship & Conservation Corps, a 40-week public service commitment in which individuals were assigned to divisions throughout the agency to help protect and enhance New York City’s parks and natural resources.
...MORESince 2016, NYC Parks staff have been monitoring the water quality within Freshkills Park to look at the health of the waterways. Tidal creeks run through the center of the Freshkills Park site, branching off in different directions from the Arthur Kill.
...MORENew York City is in the process of creating its first wetland mitigation bank in the marshlands surrounding Saw Mill Creek on Staten Island. Saw Mill Creek, a tributary to Prall’s Creek and the Arthur Kill, is encircled by the largest expanse of remaining salt marsh along Staten Island’s west shore.
...MOREIt’s been an amazing year at Freshkills Park. We have accomplished so much!
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.
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On August 29th and 30th, Freshkills Park teamed up with CUNY Macaulay Honors College to conduct a BioBlitz of North Park. A BioBlitz is a 24-hr biological survey event aimed at developing a snapshot of as much biodiversity as possible in a given area at a particular time of year.
...MOREFreshkills Park has already seen a vigorous return of wildlife. White-tailed deer roam the grasslands, turtles nest in the salt marsh, osprey swoop over Main Creek, and muskrats leave tracks through the wetland. Now Freshkills Park can add another species to the list: bald eagle.
...MOREFrom commercially sailing NYC waterways to conducting doctoral research on South American weakly fish, Cait Field brings experience as a scientist, mariner and educator to her new job as the Freshkills Park Research Program Manager. Cait is currently completing a PhD in Neuroscience and Behavior at CUNY Graduate Center.
...MOREWith a population of nearly 5.4 million people on less than 300 square miles of land, Singapore is the third densest country in the world. Once a part of Malaysia, it became an independent nation in 1965, and by doing so, the new island city-state began to increasingly rely on importing food to feed its people.
...MOREThe Freshkills Park Team endeavors to keep up with innovative programming and research on NYC Waterways and recently took a ferry to Governor’s Island to visit the Harbor School, home of the Billion Oyster Project. The Harbor School provides a truly unique maritime program for high school students with a curriculum built around restoring one billion oysters to New York Harbor.
...MOREThink about bugs; now think about billions of insects concentrated in one facility. Some might get queasy at this thought; however, that is exactly what is happening at a new 90,000 square foot facility near South Africa’s Capetown. Typical production of protein requires a great deal of water, land and capital.
...MOREThe Environmental Protection Agency has finalized its cleanup plan for Gowanus Canal. The Brooklyn Canal, bound by Park Slope, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens and Red Hook, was declared a Superfund site in 2010 and communities have long been pushing for its cleanup.
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