Flushing Meadows Corona Park

NYC PARKS CELEBRATES NEWLY RESTORED SUSTAINABLE LANDSCAPE AROUND MEADOW LAKE IN FLUSHING MEADOWS CORONA PARK

NYC Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver, FAICP, today joined Council Members Rory Lancman and Karen Koslowitz to cut the ribbon on the $3-million restoration of Flushing Meadows Corona Park’s Meadow Lake Shoreline.

The restoration includes infrastructural improvements to prevent storm water contamination of the lake’s ecosystem, and thousands of new native plants. Renovations were made possible by the generous funding of $1.4M from the City Council and $1.4M from the NY State Department of Environmental Conservation Clean Water-Clean Air Act grant.

“Since the 1939 World’s Fair, the story of Flushing Meadows Corona Park has been one of continued improvement – eight decades of building, public programming, and now, environmental restoration,” said Commissioner Silver. “Meadow Lake is the heart of the World’s Park, and in the coming months and years, we will continue to collaborate with our volunteer stewards to make sure it stays as green, healthy and cared-for as it is today!”

"Today, we can see Meadow Lake as nature intended it to be: surrounded by thousands of native plants and without storm water contaminating its ecosystem,” said Council Member Lancman. “This investment is crucial for the southern half of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, and hopefully represents just the beginning of needed improvements in my portion of the park."

"I was pleased to join my colleague Council Member Rory Lancman and former Council Member Jim Gennaro to celebrate a restored Meadow Lake Shorefront at Flushing Meadows Corona Park," declared Council Member Karen Koslowitz. "As Chair of the Queens Delegation to the NYC Council, I was pleased to sponsor $1.4 Million in funding to restore the park's natural beauty for all to enjoy. This restoration effort also protects against flooding and was designed to provide both a sound and a visual barrier from the traffic inundated Grand Central Parkway. Thank you to Parks Commissioner Silver and Queens Parks Commissioner Lewandowski for their outstanding commitment to making our quality of life that much better, one park at a time."

NYC Parks designers engineered the shoreline restoration to maximize shallow wetland areas along the shore and to protect the wetland from wave action. The project also includes a bio-retention basin to treat the first flush of storm water coming from the Grand Central Parkway into Meadow Lake. In order to improve the park experience, NYC Parks constructed two berms of excavated fill and high-quality soil, which function as a traffic noise barrier, as well as two small concrete outlooks were created at the lake edge.

NYC Parks horticulturalists removed invasive phragmites along the wetland and replaced them with with 22 species of herbaceous plants and grasses, including Cyperus flavescens (yellow flatsedge), a NY State rare species that NYC Parks is conserving. Other species planted include: Arrow arum, catail, softstem bullrush, fox sedge, dark green bullrush, softstem bullrush, bushy bluestem, swamp milkweed, Rose mallow, Seaside goldenrod, Blueflag iris, New York aster, foxglove beardtongue, swamp verbena. NYC Parks’ Forest Restoration Team also mobilized nearly 200 volunteers to help plant 1,650 native trees and shrubs along the new berms.

Flushing Meadows Corona Parks’ Meadow Lake is the largest freshwater lake in the city.

Know Before You Go

World's Fair Marina