Proposed NYC Rules Threaten Community Gardens

Update 2010-07-28:


The Baltic Street Community Garden in Park Slope, as it appeared in July 2008. It was destroyed in 2009 by the NYC Department of Education.
Baltic Street Community Garden

The agreement that has largely protected New York City community gardens for nearly a decade expires this September. Community gardens fall under different jurisdictions, depending on whether they are in private hands, such as a land trust organization, or on land controlled by an Agency of the City. In advance of the expiration of the agreement, the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR, or simply “Parks”) and Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) have drafted revised rules for governing the gardens under their care. In short: gardens will have no protection.

Public comments are due in writing by August 10. To view the proposed rules, or to submit comments:

  1. Visit Proposed Rules on the NYC.gov Web site.
  2. For “Agency”, Select “DPR” or “HPD”.
  3. Click [GO].
  4. Click “Community Gardens” to view the Proposed Rule (PDF). Click “Comment” to submit your written comments online.

There is a community meeting tomorrow evening for gardeners and advocates of NYC’s community gardens to learn about the issues and what we can do in response.

Gardener’s Information Session
Wednesday July 28 6-8pm
Brooklyn Botanic Garden Auditorium
1000 Washington Ave.
Subway: 2,3 to Eastern Pkwy, or B, Q to Prospect Park  

Public Hearing
August 10 11am
Chelsea Recreation Center
430 W. 25th St (btwn 9 & 10)
Subway: C, E to 23rd Street, or A to 34th Street

The Campus Road Garden in South Midwood, as it appeared in August 2008. It was destroyed earlier this year by Brooklyn College.
Campus Road Garden

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Related Content

Community Gardens
Other Community Garden posts

Links

Notice of Opportunity to Comment on Proposed Rule (PDFs) from Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) and Housing Preservation and Development

Take Action: Parks’ Policy Change Threatens Community Gardens, NYC Community Garden Coalition (NYCCGC)

New York’s Community Gardens Lose Protect Status, Threatened With Development Under New Rules, TreeHugger, 2010-07-27
Letter to Gardeners (PDF), NYCCGC, 2010-07-22
Protect our community gardens, EV Grieve, 2010-07-19

The 2002 Settlement

2002 Memorandum of Agreement (PDF), NYCCGC

Community Gardens Lawsuit Settles, The Municipal Arts Society of New York (MASNYC), 2004-02-09
Ending a Long Battle, New York Lets Housing and Gardens Grow, NY Times, 2002-09-19
Community Gardens in New York City: the Lower East Side of Manhattan offers a summarized timeline of community gardens in NYC from 1965-2002

Patrick Dougherty at BBG

I’m looking forward to this. Installation will take place from Thursday, August 5 through Sunday, August 31. The work is planned to be on display for nearly a year, through June 2011.


Press Release

Brooklyn, July 10, 2010—Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) announces the commission of its first site-specific sculpture to celebrated artist Patrick Dougherty, whose massive constructions made of woven saplings and twigs conjure up the creations of Lewis Carroll and Andy Goldsworthy for their outsized physicality and whimsical charm.


Dougherty began developing concepts for the work during a July 2009 visit to BBG, when he selected the Plant Family Collection—the physical and horticultural heart of the Garden—as the site of the future work. The final design will be revealed when construction gets under way in the first week of August 2010.

Dougherty sees himself in the tradition of artists for whom the process is as important as the end result, and his particular artistic process engages the expertise of staff throughout Brooklyn Botanic Garden. To locate a source for the saplings required for the sculpture, for example, BBG’s director of Science, Dr. Gerry Moore, called upon his field knowledge garnered during the Garden’s 20-year study of flora in the metropolitan area. He settled on Ocean Breeze Park on Staten Island, about 13 miles from Brooklyn Botanic Garden, which has an abundance of nonnative willow (Salix atrocinerea), a species typically targeted for removal. BBG Horticulture staff will oversee removal of the invasive plant material over a period of days, providing the double service of facilitating Dougherty’s project and improving the balance of native species in the park.

During the rest of August, the sculpture will be brought to glorious life under Dougherty’s direction, aided by a corps of assistants from the Garden’s staff and volunteers. Some helpers will be scaling scaffolding to manage the vertical support poles; others will be instructed in the artist’s signature weaving process, which lends Dougherty’s sculpture its structural strength and visual dynamism.

Dougherty’s career melds his technical carpentry skills with his lifelong love of the outdoors. He began creating sculpture in 1980, fashioning single pieces in his backyard. Since then, he has created nearly 200 pieces for institutions and galleries. For more information about Patrick Dougherty at BBG, visit bbg.org/dougherty. For more information about Brooklyn Botanic Garden, visit bbg.org.

Contact: Kate Blumm, Brooklyn Botanic Garden
718-623-7241 | kblumm@bbg.org


Links

Patrick Dougherty at Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Patrick Dougherty

Be Green Organic Yards NY

The New York Sate Department of Environmental Conservation announced a new initiative to encourage the use of sustainable gardening and yard care practices.

Be Green(sm) Organic Yards NY will provide training and licensing. Businesses complying with their practices will be able to display the Be Green logo. DEC is also enlisting course providers to deliver the training.

I hope their program includes eliminating leaf-blowers.

From the July 2010 issue of NYS DEC’s online magazine, Environment DEC:


DEC’S “Be Green” Initiative Taps into Organic Yard Care

Having a truly “green” lawn will get easier with the help of “Be Green Organic Yards NY,” a new initiative recently announced by Commissioner Pete Grannis of the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).

Homeowners and business owners in many areas of the country are choosing organic yard-care management, which can range from a simple regimen of planting and pruning to the “big picture,” including plant selection and soil structure. The organic approach focuses on preventing problems before they occur and building a sustainable, healthy landscape. The goal of “Be Green” is to help create an organically managed environment for people, pets, wildlife and plants.

With Be Green Organic Yards NY, DEC offers a way for consumers and organic-yard businesses and course providers to participate in a “green” yard management initiative. When businesses provide Be Green services to manage lawns, plants and trees organically, they agree to meet DEC’s Be Green conditions. The conditions include prohibitions against certain pest management practices, such as the use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers.
How “Be Green Organic Yards NY” Works

In the first phase of the Be Green initiative, DEC encourages organizations that provide organic-yard management training to offer courses needed by companies interested in becoming Be Green businesses. The next steps in the initiative will unfold this year for businesses and consumers. Here’s how the Be Green Program will work:

  • Qualified course providers will sign up to participate in the new program and begin offering training needed by future Be Green businesses. Course providers will enter a license agreement to use the special state Be Green service mark (logo) in advertising this training.
  • Successfully trained businesses will be eligible to sign an agreement with DEC for the right to use the special logo. In return, they will agree to avoid using synthetic pesticides and other prohibited materials when providing Be Green services.
  • When the program is fully operating, consumers will be able to search DEC’s website for Be Green businesses in their area. DEC expects to have listings available in the fall. Consumers will be able to recognize Be Green businesses by the special state logo which may be included in their advertising. Representatives of businesses that provide Be Green services will carry Be Green identification cards.

Links

DEC’S “Be Green” Initiative Taps into Organic Yard Care
Be Green(sm) Organic Yards NY, NY State Department of Environmental Conservation:

NY’s Invasive Species Plan Announced

Chelidonium majus, Lesser Celandine, growing in my garden, June 2006.
Chelidonium majus, Lesser Celandine, Detail of flower

The plan will create the first-ever official lists of invasive species, both plant and animal, and create the legal authority to enforce controls as state regulations.

h/t @BuggedDoc


Press Release

Monday, June 28, 2010
Contact: Jessica Ziehm
518-457-3136
jessica.ziehm@agmkt.state.ny.us

COUNCIL RELEASES PLAN TO COMBAT INVASIVE SPECIES IN NYS
Report Identifies New Process to Categorize Non-Native Invasive Species

The New York State Invasive Species Council today submitted its final report to Governor David A. Paterson and the State Legislature. The report, titled “A Regulatory System for Non-Native Species,” recommends giving the Council authority to develop regulations for a new process that will prevent the importation and/or release of non-native invasive species in New York’s waterways, forests and farmlands.

The report, prepared by the nine-agency Council and co-led by the Department of Agriculture and Markets and the Department of Environmental Conservation, introduces a new process for assessing each invasive species for its level of threat, its socioeconomic value, and for categorizing them into distinct lists for appropriate action.


State Agriculture Commissioner Patrick Hooker said, “In recent years, we have struggled with the economic and environmental impacts of non-native species such as Plum Pox Virus, Emerald Ash Borer and the Asian Longhorned Beetle, but we have also acknowledged the positive aspects associated with some, such as timothy, Norway maple and lady bugs. With the adoption of this report, New York will now have a process by which the merits of various invasive species will be evaluated and their level of harm and/or benefit will be reviewed to ensure unacceptable ecological or health risks are not purposefully introduced as pets, nursery stock, food or other uses.”

State Environmental Conservation Commissioner Pete Grannis said, “New York needs to take action now to curb the many pathways that invasive species use to make their way here. With this new regulatory approach, we can do just that. The system the Council is proposing strikes the right balance of minimizing the major threats to our ecology and economy while allowing for the careful use of those plants and animals that pose lower risks.”

The new assessment process would allow the state to categorize invasive species – such as zebra mussels, Sirex wood wasps and Eurasian milfoil – as “prohibited,” “regulated” or “unregulated.” As a result of this classification system, regulatory control where necessary, would help restrict movement of potentially harmful plants and animals.

Species in the “prohibited” category would be the most restricted as they pose clear risks to New York’s economic, ecological and public health interests, and, therefore, would be banned from commerce entirely. “Regulated” species would be restricted, but not prohibited from commerce, and require practical and meaningful regulatory programs. “Unregulated” species would be identified as those non-native species that do not pose a threat and therefore could be used freely in commerce.

Two “tools” would be used in assessing risks from non-native plants and animals. One evaluates the inherent, biological “invasiveness” of each species, i.e., some species are better “weeds” than others. The other tool looks at socio-economic values to help the Council decide whether the social benefits of a plant or animal outweigh the potential harm. For example, earthworms have often been shown to have positive effects on soil structure and fertility in agricultural and garden ecosystems; however, glacial ice sheets that covered most of New York some 11,000 to 14,000 years ago left New York worm free. Thus, today’s worms are actually European invaders and considered a non-native invasive species, but are clearly valuable.

The process of categorizing invasive species and other report recommendations were developed with the assistance of a 17-member steering committee comprised of representatives from state and federal agencies, conservation, academic and industry groups including agriculture, pets, nursery and landscape. In addition to Department of Environmental Conservation and Department of Agriculture and Markets, the Council is made up of the Commissioners of Transportation, Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, and Education; the Secretary of State; the Chairperson of the New York State Thruway Authority; the Director of the New York State Canal Corporation; and the Chairperson of the Adirondack Park Agency.

The New York State Invasive Species Council’s final report is available online at http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/63402.html.

New York State is engaged in efforts to reduce the impacts of existing invasive species, such as the Asian Longhorned Beetle and most recently, the Emerald Ash Borer. Department of Agriculture and Markets’ horticultural inspectors have successfully treated 549,856 trees in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island as part of efforts to eradicate the Asian Longhorned Beetle and protect our forests and urban trees. The Emerald Ash Borer was found in Randolph, Cattaraugus County, in June 2009. The Departments of Environmental Conservation and Agriculture and Markets responded quickly and removed affected trees. Since that time over 387 compliance agreements have been written to prevent the human spread of the Emerald Ash Borer.


[goo.gl]

Related Content

My blog posts on invasive species

Links

New York State Invasive Species Council Releases Plan to Combat Invasive Species in New York State, Press Release, NYS Department Of Agriculture And Markets, 2010-06-28

Invasive Species List Report, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation

BBG Celebrates Native Plants Throughout July

Native Rhododendrons blooming in BBG’s Native Flora Garden, May, 2009
Native Flora Garden


Press Release

Celebrating Our Backyard: Brooklyn Botanic Garden Presents Native Plant Month, July 2010

Brooklyn, NY—June 29, 2010—This spring, the results of a 20-year study of the flora of the New York metropolitan region by Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) found many native species locally extinct or in precipitous decline. During the month of July, BBG will highlight the region’s native flora, displaying its beauty, explaining its importance, drawing attention to its plight, and providing simple ways to help in its restoration. BBG’s knowledgeable horticulturists and scientists will offer a behind-the-scenes look at the power of the native plant through field trips, workshops, and other insightful classes and lectures.

In 1911, the “Local Flora Section” was the first garden to open to the public at BBG. Since then, the Garden has maintained its commitment to the study and conservation of locally native plants, most recently through its multiyear New York Metropolitan Flora project (NYMF), in which nearly every species growing within a 50-mile radius of the city was cataloged and mapped. Many of the native plants in the study—which found a significant number of species in perilous decline—are propagated in the Native Flora Garden, as the Local Flora Section is known today, in an effort to conserve them.


JULY 2010: NATIVE PLANT MONTH PROGRAMMING AT BBG

TALK: Bringing Nature Home
Thursday, July 8 | 6:30 p.m.
With as many as 33,000 species imperiled in the U.S. alone, it is clear that citizens must change their approach to gardening and landscaping if they hope to share space with other living things. Join ecologist and author Doug Tallamy to learn about the key role native flora must play in the restoration of our landscapes. Only by supporting a large, healthy diversity of insects that coevolved with native plants can we keep herbivores in balance and gardens aesthetically pleasing. Fee required; advance registration is recommended but seats may be available at the door. Call 718-623-7220 or go to bbg.org/classregistration.

CURATOR’S TOUR: The Native Flora Garden with Uli Lorimer
Thursday, July 8 | 5–6 p.m.
Limited space: register now! Curator Uli Lorimer will lead this tour of BBG’s 99-year-old Native Flora Garden, which represents nine local plant communities, including the distinctive kettle pond and pine barrens habitats. Get behind-the-scenes insight into this extraordinary garden and how it has evolved since 1911. Learn about the visionary work of BBG’s founders in researching and documenting native plant life, both in the Garden and the greater metropolitan area. Fee and registration required; call 718-623-7220 or go to bbg.org/classregistration. Registration deadline: Wednesday, July 7.

FIELD TRIP: Native Plants and Restored Natural Areas: A Field Trip to Staten Island
Saturday, July 10 | 8:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m.

It turns out that the city’s smallest borough is big on natives! This day trip, led by restorationist Cindy Goulder, begins with a private guided tour of the Greenbelt Native Plant Center, the NYC Parks Department’s 13-acre nursery and greenhouses on Staten Island. See how hundreds of native plant species are propagated and grown from seed and learn principles underlying native plant cultivation. The Sweetbrook Stream and Wetland Restorations help recover the ecological health and function of urban waters, thanks to the indigenous wetland and upland plant species intentionally placed to increase local plant diversity and wildlife habitat. The Salt Marsh Restorations at Old Place Creek have reestablished many acres of tidal marshes after centuries of displacement by agricultural and industrial uses. Learn how invasive plants were removed and zones of marsh and maritime woody plants reintroduced to this estuarine community. Fee and registration required; call 718-623-7220 or go to bbg.org/classregistration. Registration deadline: Wednesday, July 7.

CLASS: Great Natives for Tough Places
Sunday, July 11 | 10 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Discover how to turn tough urban spaces into a natural haven! This workshop, led by garden designer Joan McDonald and based on the BBG handbook Great Natives for Tough Places, identifies gardening challenges caused by city buildings, impermeable surfaces, rainwater runoff, construction, and other disturbances that compact and degrade soil. Students will explore solutions with five spectacular designs using unusual native plants chosen for their ability to thrive in urban environments. Students will receive a copy of Great Natives for Tough Places. Fee and registration required; call 718-623-7220 or go to bbg.org/classregistration. Registration deadline: Thursday, July 8.

WORKSHOP: Gardening with Native Plants
Tuesday, July 13 | 6–9 p.m.

Why are native plants important, and which ones are best for a garden? What does “native” really mean, anyway? Explore these questions with native plant authority Uli Lorimer, curator of BBG’s Native Flora Garden and learn how a garden can reflect the region’s—even a densely populated urban region’s—spectacular natural environment. Fee and registration required; call 718-623-7220 or go to bbg.org/classregistration. Registration deadline: Monday, July 12.

CLASS: Edible Native Plants in Brooklyn
Saturday, July 18 | 2–5 p.m.
Limited space: register now! Wild ginger, spicebush, fiddlehead ferns, wild leeks—these are just a few of the delicious vegetables and seasonings native to the region. Unlike conventional crops, many of the northeastern edible native plants are excellent for shade gardens, and most are perennials that will feed people year after year. Learn from local food specialist Leda Meredith which edible native plants will thrive in a garden and how to grow, harvest, and use them. Fee and registration required; call 718-623-7220 or go to bbg.org/classregistration. Registration deadline: Thursday, July 15.

Contact: Kate Blumm, Brooklyn Botanic Garden
718-623-7241 | kblumm@bbg.org


Prunus maritima, Beach Plum, blooming this past April in the Pine barrens section of BBG’s Native Flora Garden
Prunus maritima, Beach Plum, Native Flora Garden, Brooklyn Botanic Garden

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Related Content

Where to begin?! Check out my Native Plants reference page, also available from the menu at the top of the blog.

June 16: Community Visioning Workshop for a new Communal Garden

The Parsonage at the Flatbush Reformed Church is the proposed site for a new communal garden.
Parsonage


This Wednesday, June 16 at 6pm

Are you a gardener, or have you always wanted to get your hands in the dirt?
Sustainable Flatbush is collaborating with the Flatbush Reformed Church to create a new community garden!

Join us in a creative brainstorming session to plan this new neighborhood green space!

WHAT: Community Garden Visioning Meeting
WHEN: Wednesday June 16th at 6pm
WHERE: Flatbush Reformed Church, 890 Flatbush Avenue (at Church Ave.)

Refreshments and childcare will be provided!

What to expect at the meeting:

* see the garden location!
* contribute your ideas for what the garden will be
* what we can grow (flowers? herbs? vegetables?)
* how we can best use the space we have
* how we will build and maintain the garden
* learn how you can get involved!

Sign up here to attend a Visioning Meeting and keep up-to-date on news related to the garden.

For more information: 718-208-0575 / info@sustainableflatbush.org


Sustainable Flatbush brings neighbors together to mobilize, educate, and advocate for sustainable living in our Brooklyn neighborhood and beyond.

The Flatbush Reformed Church is a welcoming, inclusive and ecumenical Church located in the heart of Brooklyn.


A section of the wall filled in by participants in the first Visioning Workshop on June 6.
Church Garden Visioning Workshop

Related Content

Help Envision a New Garden: Sunday, June 6, 2010-06-02

Links

New community garden — not at Brooklyn College, Helen Klein, Flatbush Life, 2010-06-08

Flatbush Reformed Church
Sustainable Flatbush
CAMBA
Flatbush Farm Share CSA

Help Envision a New Garden: Sunday, June 6

Update: June 16: Community Visioning Workshop for a new Communal Garden

Update, 2010.06.04: Added information about the site.
Update, 2010.06.03: Added registration link.


The Parsonage, Flatbush Reformed Church, 2103 Kenmore Terrace, corner of East 21st Street, Flatbush, Brooklyn
Parsonage
Thus Sunday, June 6, from 4-6pm, we’ll be holding the first of two Community Visioning Workshops for a new communal garden on the grounds of the landmarked Flatbush Reformed Church. One site is a small, fenced-off area. The other is the front lawn of the Parsonage. This landmarked historic building was built in 1853 – though portions of it may be even older – and moved to this site in 1913.

Front lawn, looking east from East 21st Street
Parsonage

The main area is the front lawn of the Parsonage. It’s a large area, about 25-feet deep, from the fence along Kenmore Terrace to the porch of the house, and about 85-feet long, from East 21st Street to the Church parking lot. There are opportunities to further develop the buffer plantings, 3-1/2-feet between the fence and the sidewalk, that Church members have already established.

Buffer Plantings, looking from the entrance gate toward East 21st Street
Flatbush Reformed Church

The site is dominated by large, mature Oak trees lining the fence on Kenmore Terrace and East 21st Street. These cast dense shade, and working with this constraint will be one of the challenges for designing the garden and plantings. I have a lot of experience with urban shade gardens, and see the potential in this site.

Parsonage

The most interesting aspects of this project will be the community partnerships. CAMBA, a large community-based service organization, has a young mothers program that meets at the Parsonage. We want the space and gardens to be child-friendly, and provide opportunities for exploration and learning about nature and gardening. The Flatbush Farm Share CSA distributes from the front lawn of the Parsonage. They offer shares for all income levels, and subsidize low-income members. We want to accommodate their needs for space and provide opportunities for education programs.

Soil Sampling for Texture Analysis
Soil Sampling

Press Release

Sustainable Flatbush is partnering with the Flatbush Reformed Church to create a new community garden! The whole community is invited to be involved in the planning and care of this neighborhood green space.

Two Community Garden Visioning Meetings have been scheduled for Sunday June 6th and Wednesday June 16th. At these brainstorming sessions community members will visit the garden area, located on church grounds, and work collaboratively to envision this new public green space: what can be grown, how to best utilize the space, how the garden will be built and maintained, what to name the garden, and how to be a part of it!

The new community garden is a joint project of Sustainable Flatbush’s Urban Gardens & Farms Initiative and the Flatbush Reformed Church.

The Urban Gardening and Farming Initiative works to foster community gardening efforts in Flatbush, promoting healthy local food, sustainable horticulture practices, and community building and beautification.

Sustainable Flatbush brings neighbors together to mobilize, educate, and advocate for sustainable living in our Brooklyn neighborhood and beyond.

Flatbush Reformed Church is a welcoming, inclusive and ecumenical Church in the heart of Brooklyn.

WHAT: Community Garden Visioning Meetings
WHEN: Sunday, June 6th at 4pm and Wednesday, June 16th at 6pm.
WHERE: Flatbush Reformed Church, located at 890 Flatbush Avenue at Church Avenue, just three blocks east of the Q train or three blocks west of the 2 train, Church Avenue stop.

Sign up here to attend a Visioning Meeting.

Refreshments and childcare will be provided.

Parsonage

Related Content

Flickr photo set

Links

New Community Garden at Flatbush Reformed Church!, Sustainable Flatbush, 2010-05-31

Flatbush Reformed Church
CAMBA
Flatbush Farm Share CSA

More Green Roofs for Parks Recreation Centers

Ten Parks recreation centers, including three in Brooklyn, will be getting green roofs. The planting will be based on two regional plant communities:

Each system will include 12 experimental plots, 85 square feet each, with soil depths ranging from 4 to 6 inches.

Each plot will be planted with a species mix from two native plant communities, the Hempstead Plains (Long Island) and Rocky Summit Grasslands (e.g. Bear Mountain) of the New York City region. These models were chosen because they are meadows, have plants that can tolerate the desiccated soils and high winds typical of roof conditions, and provide prime foraging for native insects and birds.

A Green Roof Is Coming To A Recreation Center Near You!, Daily Plant, 2010-05-06

Here are the species they’ve specified from each community:

Hempstead Plains:

  • Schizachyrium scoparium, Little bluestem (Grass)
  • Panicum virgatum, Switchgrass
  • Sorghastrum nutans, Indian grass
  • Baptisia tinctoria, Yellow wild indigo
  • Solidago nemoralis, Gray goldenrod
  • Asclepias tuberosa, Butterfly-weed
  • Eupatorium hyssopifolium, Hyssop-leaved boneset
  • Rubus flagellaris, North Dewberry

Rocky Summit Grasslands:

  • Carex pensylvanica, Pennsylavania sedge
  • Danthonia spicata, Poverty-oat grass
  • Deschampsia flexuosa, Common Hairgras
  • Lespedeza capitata, Bush-clover
  • Lysimachia quadrifolia, Whorled loosestrife
  • Cunila origanoides, Stone-mint, Dittany
  • Solidago odora, Licorice-goldenrod
  • Vaccinium angustifolium, Low-bush blueberry

Cunila origanoides is one of the three native plant species that were given away at the kickoff for NYC Wildflower Week last Saturday in Union Square. It’s in the Lamiaceae, the Mint Family. Its leaves smell like oregano. (The other two species were Thalictrum pubescens and Hystrix patula.)
I would expect that these plants have been propagated at the Greenbelt Native Plant Center. I’m trying to confirm that.

Related Content

Greenbelt Native Plant Center, Staten Island, 2010-05-03
NYC Wildflower Week, 5/1-5/9, 2010-04-29

Links

A Green Roof Is Coming To A Recreation Center Near You!, Daily Plant, 2010-05-06

NYC Wildflower Week, 5/1-5/9

The Native Flora Garden at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, May 2009. This was the first garden constructed after BBG was established on the site of a municipal ash dump 100 years ago, and the first public garden devoted to native plants. Next Wednesday’s tour of this garden with Uli Lorimer, curator of BBG’s Native Flora Garden and an instructor in their Certificate in Horticulture program, is one of over 45 FREE events in all – available during NYC Wildflower Week.
Native Flora Garden

NYC Wildflower Week kicks off Saturday 5/1. This is the third year for the event, and it’s bigger and better than ever. There are events all over the city, including tours of locations otherwise closed to the public. I’m looking forward to visiting, for the first time, the Greenbelt Native Plant Center on Staten Island, “the only municipal native plant nursery in the country.”

You can get all the details at the official, extensive, NYCWW Web site, or at the Parks Department event page:

From Friday, May 1, to Saturday, May 9, we’re celebrating the hundreds of native flowers, trees, shrubs and grasses in the Big Apple. Take advantage of the spring weather, and come out for a week of environmental learning, with free activities, walks, and talks galore.

I’m proud that this year, for the first time, I’ve been invited to participate in an official capacity. This Saturday morning, May 1, I’ll be on-hand at the information booth at Union Square to help answer questions and provide information about native plants.

A male Agapostemon, Green Metallic Bee, on a native perennial Helianthus, Sunflower, in my backyard native plant garden. Native plants provide vital habitat – food, forage, and shelter – for this and the rest of the more than 250 of bees native to NYC.
Agapostemon sp., Metallic Green Bee, Jade Bee

What can you do to help preserve NYC’s native plants?

Take a walk.
Head outdoors with a field guide and a friend to learn about the botanical jewels in your neck of the woods. Preservation comes to those places that are loved by people.

Ride with the masses.
Whenever possible, take mass transit. Let your legislators know how you travel. New roadways promote sprawl and destroy and degrade habitat. If this money were instead used to bolster mass transit, we could conserve oil, preserve biodiversity and decrease sprawl.

No picking.
Removing native plants from the wild depletes natural populations. Never take plants from parks or other open spaces. An exemption – if a site were slated for development, then the plants should be rescued and moved to another site, but ONLY if you were absolutely certain that the plants would otherwise be destroyed.

Be civically active.
Development is the cause of native plant destruction. Make note of open space slated for a strip mall or housing complex or active recreation area (because even settings like ball fields and golf courses eat up natural habitats). Attend community board meetings. Voice your dissent. Open space allows for passive recreation, like plant hunting, birding and hiking. Such activities nurture the naturalist in all of us.

Preserve open space.
Work to save our natural areas. Become a member of a local land trust or conservancy devoted to preserving open space and natural resources. If one doesn’t exist, consider starting your own.

Join a botanical society.
New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut all have native plant societies. These groups lead tours through local fields and forests and always welcome new plant people. See our Resources page to learn more.

Compost with care.
Most homeowners believe it is environmentally responsible to pile lawn refuse (grass clippings, leaves, twigs) in adjacent open areas. Don’t. By dumping garden waste in woods or at property edge, you may be inadvertently overwhelming critical habitat for plants and animals!

Lay off the herbicide.
Is it really that important to have a “weed free” yard? The struggle for pristine green carpet (aka lawn) is a struggle against nature itself. Herbicides kill the native plants on and around your property. Instead, keep turf to a minimum, and maximize color, richness and beauty with native plant gardens.

Legal protection for plants.
New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut all have something in common – none of these states have laws safeguarding native flora. Moreover, they have no legal protections for rare plants. An undeveloped lot chuck-full of uncommon and unique vegetation is not legally viewed as special. This site is just as likely to be built upon as a lot full of crummy weeds. This happens even at the Federal level, where most of the money from the Endangered Species Act goes towards animal protection. Let your legislators know that your flora should have rights. Flower power!

Why Wildflowers?, NYC Wildflower Week

Cypripedium calceolus var. pubescens, BBG Native Flora Garden, May 2009
Cypripedium calceolus var. pubescens

Related Content

Native Plants

Links

NYC Wildflower Week

Web site
Facebook Fan Page
Twitter stream

Other

Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Greenbelt Native Plant Center
Torrey Botanical Society

White-Nose Syndrome Reaches Missouri

White-nose Syndrome (WNS) continues to spread north, south, and west. It was discovered earlier this year in Ontario and Tennessee. It has now also been confirmed in a Missouri cave.

In mid-April, 2010, the Missouri Department of Conservation confirmed Missouri’s first signs of a new disease in bats that scientists have named “White-Nose Syndrome.” The name describes a white fungus, Geomyces destructans, typically found on the faces and wings of infected bats.
MDC monitoring new bat disease in Missouri, Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC)

White-Nose Syndrome and Bat Hibernation Areas – April 19, 2010, Bat Conservation International
White-Nose Syndrome and Bat Hibernation Areas - April 19, 2010

This is the westernmost spread of WNS since it was first discovered in bat winter-hibernation caves – hibernacula – in New York in the Winter of 2006-2007. This reaches far past even the discovery of WNS in Tennessee, within the bounds of Great Smoky Mountain National Park.

Biologists at Great Smoky Mountains National Park have received confirmation that one Little Brown bat collected from its hibernating refuge in the Park’s White Oak Blowhole cave tested positive for Geomyces destructans [the fungus and the presumptive causative agent of White Nose Syndrome (WNS)]. White Oak Blowhole cave contains the largest known Indiana bat hibernacula in Tennessee. The Indiana bat is a federally listed endangered species which has seen declines in the Northeastern U.S. due to WNS. White Nose Syndrome has killed in excess of 90% of the bats in many of the caves and mines in the Northeast, and is just now showing up in the Southeast.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park Bat Tests Positive for White Nose Syndrome Fungus, Press release, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, 2010-04-19

I put up my bat house two years ago in response to learning about WNS. I fear it may never receive any tenants. Without critical scientific breakthroughs on the mortality of this disease, we may see the extinction of several bat species within a decade.

The new bat house

Mortality rates approaching 100 percent are reported at some sites. White-nose Syndrome has now moved into Canada, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee and Maryland. It threatens some of the largest hibernation caves for endangered Indiana myotis, gray myotis, and Virginia big-eared bats. Ultimately, bats across North America are at imminent risk.
White-Nose Syndrome, Bat Conservation International

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Related Content

Bats, Bat Houses, and White-Nose Syndrome, 2009-03-26
Bat Houses, 2008-04-13
Northeastern Bats in Peril, 2008-03-18

Links

Great Smoky Mountains National Park Bat Tests Positive for White Nose Syndrome Fungus, Press release, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, 2010-04-19
MDC monitoring new bat disease in Missouri, Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC)
White-Nose Syndrome, Bat Conservation International