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Saturday, July 21, 2018

Marine Park Salt Marsh Nature Trail

One of NYC's most magical natural areas is all but unknown to most residents of the city's cosmopolitan core. The nature trail through the Marine Park Salt Marsh in southern Brooklyn takes you through an environment as different from Manhattan's urban hubbub as you can imagine.

marine park salt marsh nature trail brooklyn nyc

Restored salt marshes can be found elsewhere in the city, for example on Randall's Island/Ward's Island and in Inwood Hill Park. The city even has a Salt Marsh Alliance, headquartered at the on-site Nature Center here. But nowhere else in the five boroughs, that I know of, can you take a lengthy walk through a large salt marsh environment.

marine park salt marsh nature trail brooklyn nyc

There are watery vistas to be seen from the Marine Park Salt Marsh Nature Trail. After all, this is New York City, with its purported 578 miles of coastline. (I don't disbelieve that figure, but I've never pinned down who came up with it or how it was derived.)

marine park salt marsh nature trail brooklyn nyc

Mostly, though, you're ensconced in flora as you trek along the sandy trail.

marine park salt marsh nature trail brooklyn nyc
marine park salt marsh nature trail brooklyn nyc
marine park salt marsh nature trail brooklyn nyc

Exertion-wise, it's an easy hike.

marine park salt marsh nature trail brooklyn nyc

But bring water, sunscreen, and a hat. You'll be exposed to the elements without a break. The sunshine can be roasting-hot even in the fall, as on this October day.

Birdwatchers can rejoice at the edges of the water.

marine park salt marsh nature trail brooklyn nyc
marine park salt marsh nature trail brooklyn nyc

And if you look hard enough you can find some color amid the grasslands.

marine park salt marsh nature trail brooklyn nyc

The southern spur of the salt marsh grounds can get very muddy. We didn't explore too far down that way.

marine park salt marsh nature trail brooklyn nyc
marine park salt marsh nature trail brooklyn nyc

This dog and owner were more adventurous.

marine park salt marsh nature trail brooklyn nyc

Perhaps there's an opportunity here for a venturesome seaweed-farming entrepreneur.

marine park salt marsh nature trail brooklyn nyc

The Salt Marsh Alliance website tells us that over the decades, more than three quarters of Jamaica Bay's original salt marsh has been filled – that is, destroyed – to make way for homes and industry. The Marine Park Salt Marsh, once "a wasteland filled with trash and abandoned cars," is now "restored to its natural condition – proof that a rare and fragile ecosystem can safely exist" even adjacent to an urban one.

marine park salt marsh nature trail brooklyn nyc

Located in the middle of the inlet is Mau Mau Island, which you can see from the Nature Trail. It has an interesting history. Untapped Cities explains that this man-made isle was a trash dump. When Robert Moses covered it with sand, then asphalt, he unintentionally initiated the gradual natural restoration of a piece of the Jamaica Bay coast's grassland habitat.

Maybe more people from outside the neighborhood would visit if the subway came down this far. But Marine Park's relative isolation is probably a blessing for the salt marsh environment, and for the pristine atmosphere you feel on its lonesome walkways.

(However, you can get to Mau Mau Island via the A Train and a boat if you get a gang together, dress in costumes, and join up with the Battle for Mau Mau Island flotilla. But that's a story from an alternate universe.)

marine park salt marsh nature trail brooklyn nyc

All photos © Jon Sobel, Critical Lens Media

Monday, July 2, 2018

The Healing Garden: A Mobile Public Park

What's the smallest park in New York City? I don't know if anyone knows for sure. Septuagesimo Uno was probably the smallest I'd ever visited.

Until a couple of weeks ago. Strolling through the the Rubin Museum Block Party, we happened upon a trailer with open doors on the side and in the back. We walked past, not giving it much thought. But then I did a double take, had to double back and step inside.

The trailer, as I later learned, is called The Healing Garden. Its creator, Kim Holleman, describes it as a "mobile public park."

healing garden nyc
Image from kimholleman.com

The cut-through image above, from The Healing Garden web page, belies the trailer's actual plain-metal outward appearance. All the more startling, then, is the contrast when you step inside, where you find plants (native to New York, of course), wooden benches, a "naturalistic stone water-fall and fish pond," and happy visitors.

So here it is: my new candidate for Smallest Park in NYC.

healing garden nyc

The Healing Garden has been hauling around the city since its debut at an NYC Parks Department event in 2006. It's quite an idea, bringing a park to the people instead of making the people go to a park – even only a handful of people can squeeze inside. I'm glad we ran into it.

All photos © Jon Sobel, Critical Lens Media except where noted