Where once the metropolis stinking garbage dumped massively is currently the Park Fresh Kills in Staten Island County. The park is on track to be declared the biggest waste conversion project to park on the planet.
The site of 890 hectares (two thousand 200 acres) is the largest park in the city in over 100 years. It has trails and meadows for hiking and cycling.
The park will be fully completed in 2035, but some sections are already available on a limited basis for personal tours and school groups. Since 2010, he has hosted nature walks, watching groups ofbirds , flying kites and kayak tours.
Later this month, 280 hectares (700 acres) for one of the tours that are made by temporarily open to the public park three times a year.
“We have something almost every weekend,” said Cait Field, park manager for the development of science and research.
Visitors who knew the old landfill have said that transformation, even partial, is remarkable.
Audubon Naturalist New York Clifford Hagen, who runs tours for watching birds through Fresh Kills, recalls the putrid odors emerging from the place, now coated with a protective layer and ground.
Today, “It is only natural smells of swamps, with the arrival and removal of the tides,” he said.
“It’s always a special moment for all when they step on the site for the first time,” Hagen said. “Then, once you get on the hills, you can admire the industries in New Jersey and you can see the Freedom Tower in Manhattan and all commercial development just outside in Staten Island and you realize you’re in the middle of New York city “.
For five decades after its opening in 1948, was the Fresh Kills landfill main city garbage.
The last regular delivery of a garbage barge was in 2001 when the site was closed by Mayor Rudy Giuliani, partly in response to Staten Island residents who protested for being the dumping groundof the city.
Currently, the city garbage is sent to landfills in South Carolina, Virginia and waste conversion plant in New Jersey.
On a recent visit, the park was calm, without a hint of foul odor. Gulls that once fed on the 150 million tons of household waste have been replaced by about 200 species of birds . An eagle osprey sat in her nest while some hawks flying over the area.
