Fish going belly-up at Willow Lake

From the Daily News:

Dozens of fish are turning up dead in a Queens lake — and no one is sure why.

Carp have been seen floating on the shores of Willow Lake, a part of Flushing Meadows Corona Park that the city is turning into a wild preserve.

More than a dozen dead fish were seen floating or washed up on shore during a visit to the lake on Friday.

A large number were spotted on the western edge near the walking bridge. More washed up by the bird blind on the eastern side of the lake.

The city has been transforming Willow Lake in Flushing Meadows Corona Park into a wildlife preserve with hiking trails. But in recent weeks scores of dead fish have been spotted floating along the lake's edge. No one is sure why but some speculate herbicides might be the cause.

But there were signs of life near the dead fish and tires floating in the water. Other fish were seen jumping in the air.

The scandal that Queens pols won't talk about

From LTV Squad:

I immediately set out to walk the trail. What I found amounts to a coverup.

The 2 large sections of the trail which were washed out and passable via paving stones have been completely covered by a brand new, thicker layer of woodchips. It completely covers up the oily soil underneath. Yes – I said it again: It covers it up. Was any of the oily mud scraped up and sent out for testing?

No work has been done on the Willow Lake Trail Bridge. Nature, however, has taken over the burned out portions with lush green vines – so unless you knew better you might not realize you’re crossing a ‘temporary’ bridge.

Between Willow Lake Bridge and the Grand Central Parkway Bridge, the trail is completely not passable. The paving stones that were used to cross the 2 washouts further east are now being placed on the west end of the trail. They suddenly dead end though, and you’re left to make you’re way through the mud, thick vegetation, and wooden planks to try to make your way to the bridge over the highway. As of this writing, if you try to access the park/trail from the forest hills side, you can only cross the bridge over the Grand Central Parkway. The path is completely lost in the brush throughout this west end of the trail.

A friend of mine from the neighborhood had this reaction when trying to enter from near the Grand Central Parkway: “I just went into the Forest Hills entrance, and it is EXACTLY as it was the last time I went in there 8 years. ago. Sidewalks cracked with tons of growth. Broken lamps. I got 100 feet down the path and had to turn around because the path is the same muddy piece of crap it used to be. Pat Dolan would be pissed if she saw her name on the gate. (As far as I know, from my side of the park, that sign and gate is the only new thing to this area)”

Between Willow Lake Bridge and the Grand Central Parkway Bridge, the trail is completely not passable.

Clearly, they are still working on making this end of the path passable. Why did they even open up the trail if you can’t walk the entire length?

I’ll tell you why: lack of coordination. Clearly our friends at City Hall and The Parks Department were completely embarrassed by the photos posted here. Someone miscommunicated how far the work crew had progressed and they reopened the trail. Assuming there is a work crew presently working on repairing the trail, it probably won’t take them more than 1-2 weeks to finish the job (depending on the size of the crew of course).

All of the old abandoned lamp posts are still along this portion of the trail. You’d think the city would rip them out of there and get a few bucks for the scrap metal.

Curiously, the new ‘Duck Blind’ that they built at the edge of the lake was basically abandoned on Sunday. The new woodchip trail does not branch off to it clearly, and reeds are growing all around it.

Again: the message sent is lack of coordination. A rush job.

Attention NYC Parks Department and City Hall: Queens is still calling, and we want some answers. We’re not going to stop asking until you provide them in great detail.

Reopening this park is a nice first step. Anyone that now goes there will be able to clearly see its potential and what an asset it is to the community this parkland is. That’s a very good thing. I have nothing but praise to the workers who pulled this off so quick, and nothing but disdain towards the politicians who allowed this fiasco to fester for so long. Make no mistake about this: opening the trail is the first large step – now it needs to be maintained, and the soil and water around the lake need to be tested so we know what we’re dealing with and can come up with a plan to clean up any potential toxic chemicals.

Walking the Pat Dolan Trail

Dear QC,

I strolled the Pat Dolan Trail on opening day, curious to see for myself what was in store. After entering from the Park Drive East side, I was greeted by a fairly clean path atop the mulch, but it was very newly strewn, and did not make for steady walking unless one were readily to tolerate wood chips in the shoes. The grounds look fairly lush, but in late May/early June, NYC is usually in bloom. The photos on ltvsquad.com were obviously taken before the height of the season, and I believe would be more reflective of how the park looks year-round. A lot of the brush remains to be cleared away. As I wove my way clockwise around the western side of the lake, the path completely gave way to mud several inches thick, traversable only by a few brittle and slippery planks. I didn't dare even take out my camera to snap the worst of it, lest I should have lost my footing and dropped it into who knows what. Hope your readers enjoy the pics.

Sincerely,
Jon Torodash

Parks opening up Willow Lake Trail

The Daily News has a story about the Parks Department suddenly deciding to open up the Willow Lake Trail on weekends. Check out the photos and compare them to the ones featured on this blog a few short days ago.

Did that story light a fire under someone's ass at Parks? Or, are they opening up the trail with all that eyesore crap still there?

Looks like fodder for a future post.

Willow Lake a festering craphole

Good morning.

For 15+ years, the willow lake trail, and 55 acres of parkland right in the middle of Forest Hills, has been closed to the public. This parkland is located at the very southern end of Flushing Meadow Corona Park. It has been closed for so long, most people have forgotten it even exists - which is the only reason there hasn't been any substantial press about it in years. The only money spent on it has been for new gates that are never opened and designed exclusively to keep citizens out. Why? What are corrupt Queens politicians hiding?

We took it upon ourselves to take a look. What we found is a truly disturbing situation: a huge parcel of parkland that looks more like a toxic wasteland in the Jersey Meadowlands than a proper city park in NYC. Portions of the existing trail through this parkland are flooded out, and only passable via makeshift bridges constructed of pallets and sticks. One actual bridge was burned out in the late 90s and never repaired. This elevated level of neglect would never, ever be allowed to happen in Central Park. Money that was allegedly allocated to fix up this park appears to either have never been budgeted or disappeared into someone's pockets.

Read my report. I'm sure you'll find a very solid story here, potentially froth with potential scandal. The only thing it's missing are quotes from politicians and the parks department - frankly I was too disgusted by what I saw to want to bother contacting either and listen to more lies and excuses.

Joseph Anastasio
LTV Squad

Willow Lake goes wild

From the Daily News:

WILLOW LAKE Preserve is about to get a little more wild.

The city is reforesting part of the area around the smaller of the two lakes in the southern end of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. The move is expected to attract more birds, butterflies and other critters to the 106-acre site.

Officials are hoping it will also attract more visitors to organized nature walks in the area. The next one is on Saturday.

About 14 acres will be cleared of invasive plants to make way for trees, shrubs and wildflowers, city officials said. The planting will occur next year.

Mike Feller, chief naturalist for the Parks Department's Natural Resources Group, said he has already seen signs of success.

"Spotted sandpipers have now shown interest in the site and are breeding there," said Feller, who is overseeing the project.

The resident muskrats are still there and the butterfly population will become more diverse, he said.

Photo from Queens Tribune

2 Queens parks reopen

From NYC Parks:

"The Jackson Heights community has very little green space compared to most neighborhoods, and Travers Park is an extremely heavily used by a very diverse and supportive community. We are grateful the City Council and Mayor Bloomberg allocated almost $2 million to improve the play equipment and expand its features to allow more children to enjoy the park," said Parks Commissioner Benepe. "We added a beautiful leaf and vine spray shower, made the playground ADA compliant, installed a bike rack and new benches, and greened the park through the addition of attractive new plantings."

Also from NYC Parks:

Currently, Parks' Natural Resource Group is restoring Willow Lake so access is limited, pending the project's completion. The restoration project of Willow Lake began in Spring 2009, and includes the removal of phragmites and other invasive plants, amending soil, and planting almost 13,000 native trees, shrubs and wildflowers to improve biodiversity, hydrology, and ecosystem function around the lake. The Willow Lake Reforestation project is being done in conjunction with the Department of Environmental Protection and the state Department of Environmental Conservation. The project is scheduled for completion at the end of 2011.

Willow Lake to be restored

From the Queens Tribune:

The lush green wrapped around the calm of Willow Lake remains locked away; the wildlife preserve is in various states of neglect and overgrowth.

In 2006, the end of the footbridge crossing into Willow Lake showed a marker that outlined the trail, which was completely grown over.

Now a timeline has finally been set for the area’s late-2011 reopening, after years of remaining closed to the public.

The Parks Department began rehabilitating the appendage to Flushing Meadows Corona Park last fall, with a multi-phased approach aimed at restoring the area’s natural growth and inhabitants.

“The philosophy is, where you restore the plant life, the animals will follow,” said Bram Gunther, Parks Dept. Deputy Chief of Forestry and Horticulture.

The Parks Dept. is currently eliminating invasive species, namely phragmites, porcelain berries and mugwarts, which Gunther said decreases biodiversity.

There will also be a systematic attempt to stymie erosion through the use of silt fencing and hay bales, which keep soil in place until new plantings’ roots can take hold and provide stability.

And yes, there will be new plantings – plenty of them.

According to Gunther, the agency plans to add just under 13,000 trees to the Willow Lake preserve as part of the City’s MillionTreesNYC initiative.