![]() “We are not making any more land like this,” says Recklies. But does the island really have so much green space that it can allow property owners to use their woodlands as private dumps, or allow developers to bulldoze forests and wetlands?įor the Protectors of Pine Oak Woods, who have been fighting to preserve green space on Staten Island for over 40 years, the answer is simple. With over 12,300 acres of parkland, Staten Island is sometimes called “ The Greenest Borough” and “ The Borough of Parks.” Nearly one-third of the borough’s 38,507 acres of land are protected from development. Deer roamed freely through the woods and hawks circled overhead, but the mountains of debris spelled out the need for a governmental intervention. But wreckage and dumping on the private land were immediately apparent.Īt the mouth of Tappen’s Creek, where it empties into the polluted industrial waters of the Arthur Kill, car parts and tires were scattered across a high marshland, while in a nearby forest, abandoned trucks and televisions tumbled down a hillside. The change in ecosystems was unnoticeable, with the woodlands, meadows and marshes extending unimpeded across both properties. “Ninety percent are gone.”Īs the walk continued, however, the narrow footpaths soon led out of the DEC’s preserve, and into the neighboring properties that are now for sale. ![]() ![]() “The state came in and did a great job taking all these wrecks out,” says Recklies. The abandoned cars were carted away, flotsam was hauled up off the beaches, and almost all of the sunken boats and barges that once lined the shoreline were auctioned off to salvage companies, who broke them up for scrap, leaving behind an inviting stretch of sandy beachfront. In 2007, the Trust For Public Land began facilitating the acquisition of this land, and soon after, the DEC conducted an extensive cleanup. “Before the state came in, I went into the site and photographed and mapped all of the wrecks I could find. “Way back when, this was a party spot for teenagers, a place to race your motorcycle, and a place to dump your car,” says Recklies. “Come here in a month or two, and it’s a great place for butterflies!”īefore being acquired by the state, these 25 acres were far from pristine. “It’s a fairly small area, but it’s really nice,” says Recklies. While strolling through the DEC property, Don Recklies, the first vice president of the Protectors and the leader of that day’s walk, pointed out an array of trees and plants that have taken root on the preserved area, ranging from cottonwoods and white mulberry to milkweed and shadbush. This protected parkland is located just next door to the eight-acre waterfront site that is being sold. Twenty-five acres of the Sharrotts Shoreline are now part of a protected DEC Natural Resource Area, thanks in part to the advocacy work of the Protectors. The walk began at an overgrown street end, where a scattering of signs hidden in the bushes indicated that we were entering a preserve managed by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). On a recent weekend, the Protectors of Pine Oak Woods led a walk through this rugged urban wilderness, sharing insights into their efforts to preserve its diverse ecologies. The sale of these properties threatens to destroy centuries-old burial grounds, historic oyster middens, a purple martin colony, butterfly habitats, marshes, and wetlands, while also endangering the flow of Tappen’s Creek, which runs undisturbed along its original route. This March, 24.5 acres of land in the neighborhood were put on the market for $23 million by Kalmon Dolgin, including eight acres of waterfront property at the end of Sharrotts Road, and 16 acres of woodlands nearby, off Arthur Kill Road. There are no signs or public paths connecting this community to its shoreline, which is perhaps one reason why the wildlife here has flourished.īut a large portion of Charleston’s undeveloped natural areas may soon be sold off and bulldozed to make way for industrial development. Isolated and almost inaccessible, the secluded coastline here is part of the rural neighborhood of Charleston, where the narrow roads are lined with Victorian homes, ancient cemeteries, and active horse stables. This is the Sharrotts Shoreline, a unique maritime habitat that has somehow managed to thrive, even after decades of neglect. Deer and woodchucks wander through forests filled with abandoned cars geese and ducks paddle around marshlands littered with engine blocks and ospreys nest in a boat graveyard. On the South Shore of Staten Island, where Tappen’s Creek flows into the Arthur Kill, a remote wilderness has taken root on forgotten land.
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