Top of the Island

Freshkills Park had its second annual “sneakpeak” open house Sunday. On the western end of Staten Island, Fresh Kills, as it was then called, was the site of one of the world’s largest landfills. The last barge of trash was delivered in 2001. Other historic highlights: NYC’s ocean dumping outlawed by Supreme Court 1934; Fresh Kills Landfill established 1948; becomes only remaining municipal landfill 1985. It is now in the process of being transformed into a 2,200 acre park, and, as all landfill-to-parklands are, it’s a complicated piece of engineering.For us carfree types in other boroughs, getting to Freshkills is a trek. This time, we took the special free ferry from The Battery, an option unlikely (?) when the park is officially open. The boat slipped down the Kill Van Kull and Arthur Kill, heavily industrialized (and still working) bodies of water studded with bird sanctuaries (Shooter’s Island, Prall’s Island, Island of Meadows) that I’ve always wanted to sail. Kill Van Kull, by the way, is where you’ll find many of the harbor’s tugboats.Oz to the distance. Unseen to the left, westward to the mainland, the smoking fens of Industrial Jersey.Near the top of North Mound, we saw kestrels, turkey vultures, monarch butterflies, and dragonflies. Plus paper kites. On the ground, this caterpillar, and many little grasshoppers. In a tree:No osprey, for most of them are on their way south now, but we saw several nest sites. There was a hawk watch on top of the park’s hill; they were ironically noting how many loose balloons floated by, too, off to kill sea turtles and sea mammals. That’s right, kid, that innocent-seeming balloon you lost is now a murderous piece of garbage.The park has a long way to go, but has obviously come a long way from the big stink and eyesore it was. (Although there is something to be said for such an eyesore, since our garbage is now dumped in NJ, VA, & SC, out of sight/out of mind of those of us who produce it.) The dominate trees were black locust and eastern cottonwoods, scrubby pioneer species who thrive on disrupted ground. Phragmites were everywhere in the lowlands. The Park’s master plan is grand, not for short-term gratification, as it covers 30 years of transforming the vast dump into a multi-use, multi-habitat park. Among other things, plans are ahoof to use goats keep the meadows meadowy.