Freshkills Park

Freshkills Park 2011 Tour Season Open For Registration

IMMEDIATE
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
No. 9
http://www.nyc.gov/parks

Freshkills Park, located on Staten Island’s West Shore, is opening its gates again this spring for guided tours. The site, once the world’s largest landfill, is being transformed into one of the next great regional parks of the 21st century. Tours are available on select Saturdays in two sessions (10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. start times) from April through November and are led by the Urban Park Rangers and a member of the Freshkills Park staff. Registration for tours for April and May opens today, March 2, 2011.

At 2,200 acres, Freshkills Park is one of the most ambitious public works projects in the world. Once completed, the park will be almost three times the size of Central Park and the largest park developed in New York City in more than 100 years. In addition to providing a wide range of recreational opportunities, including many uncommon in the city, Freshkills Park’s design, ecological restoration and cultural and educational programming will emphasize environmental sustainability and a renewed public concern for our human impact on the earth.

Tour guides will discuss the site’s history, engineering and landscape design, including the abundant flora and fauna that are returning to the area. The tour will take visitors to the tops of two of the site’s four large landfill mounds, offering spectacular vistas of the expansive site as well as views of downtown Manhattan and all four of the Staten Island bridges. In addition, tour participants will learn about the four near-term projects: North Park, with its panoramic landscape overlooking the Travis neighborhood and the tidal creeks of the adjacent William T. Davis Wildlife Refuge; South Park, offering a network of walking and biking trails leading to the top of Little South Mound; Schmul Park, an existing playground that is currently being renovated into a colorful recreation site; and the Owl Hollow Fields.

Tours last 90 minutes and are free of charge, but seating is limited. To register or to learn about private group tour options, visit http://www.nyc.gov/parks/, keyword: Freshkills Park, or call 311.

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