Tags: New York City Department of Parks & Recreation

This year Freshkills Park has taken Discovery Day virtual and is excited to host activities and experiences created by the Freshkills Park team and community partners. Near or far, join us for our first “Discovery Week @ Home.”  Throughout the week, learn more about the history, wildlife, recreation, education, and art at the park through virtual experiences.  

The new NYC Parks Public Art Map & Guide makes it easy to find the vast collection of monuments and temporary public art located throughout the city’s parks. Existing outside the closed environment of a museum, public artwork is not separated from the everyday.

Enjoy Freshkills Park’s unique experience and spectacular views at the last Discovery Day of the year. During this free event, 700 acres and eight miles of trails in the normally closed site will be open, with opportunities to explore and learn about the landfill-to-park project.

Freshkills Park is excited to introduce and welcome Win Shanokprasith, the new Visual Design Intern, to the team. Win is a recent graduate from the Maryland Institute College of Art, and he is an artist, designer, and arts educator.

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.

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.

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. 

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 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.

New 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. 

Freshkills Park is a big fan of temporary structures. As a site that’s only open for public events a few days each year, it’s really valuable to have materials that can be stored, assembled, dismantled, stored, assembled, and so on.

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.

NYC Parks is looking for a Freshkills Park Programming Operations Coordinator.

The application deadline is January 8, 2016. Additional information is available at the NYC Parks website.

Major responsibilities:

• Under general supervision, coordinate public program and special event planning and operations on-site at Freshkills Park, including supervision of event staff and logistics and facilities management.

12 years since James Corner Field Operations won the City of New York design competition.  In 2006, NYC Parks assumed responsibility for implementing the project using Field Operations’ Draft Master Plan as a conceptual guide. The basic framework of the plan integrates three separate systems—programming, wildlife, and circulation—into one cohesive and dynamic unit.

Freshkills Park has a lot to be thankful for. In honor of Thanksgiving, we would like to express our gratitude to:

DSNY for their partnership on this great project.

Park Manager Bonnie Williams and her wonderful crew for caring for those sections of Freshkills Park already built.

We love the New Springville Greenway. Completed this summer, the 3.2 mile bike and walking path runs the length of Freshkills Park on the eastern edge along Richmond Avenue. To celebrate the new 3-mile greenway, we’re sharing NYC Parks Landscape Architect Andrew Deer’s 3 favorite places along the way.