Flushing Meadows Corona Park

The Daily Plant : Monday, February 5, 2007

Willow Lake Trail Restoration Awarded $84K Grant

Parks & Recreation will continue its restoration of the Willow Lake wetlands in Flushing Meadows Corona Park with a recently awarded New York State grant. The $84,480 grant was awarded through the New York State Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation’s Recreation Trails Program and will be used for the restoration of Willow Lake Trail.

“Willow Lake is a precious resource for Queens residents and all New Yorkers,” said Queens Borough Commissioner Dorothy Lewandowski. “We are thrilled to have been awarded this grant, which will enable us to move even further in our efforts to restore access to this beautiful freshwater wetland.”

With the grant monies, the Willow Lake Trail, which was closed for public safety when its only bridge across the lake was destroyed, will be cleared and resurfaced for pedestrian use. Once the trail is restored, the public will once again be able to reach Willow Lake via two pedestrian overpasses—one over the Van Wyck Expressway and one over the Grand Central Parkway. The trail will link to the Brooklyn Queens Greenway and provide a direct pedestrian route between the neighborhoods of Forest Hills and Kew Gardens.

In other efforts to restore access to Willow Lake, Parks has begun to clear the path between the two pedestrian bridges and have fixed the wooden access bridge for temporary use until more permanent repairs can be made through Capital construction, which has funding available. The permanent repair is being coordinated with the Department of Transportation.

The Flushing Meadows Corona Park Conservancy, with Parks & Recreation, has begun to schedule guided tours of the area and the Urban Park Rangers are planning to offer canoe tours beginning next spring. Programming will continue to expand to increase access to this wetland area.

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO IN THE PLANT
(Thursday, February 3, 1994)

The AAAAAAA (American Association for the Advancement and Appreciation of Animals in Art and Architecture) will hold its annual meeting in the wildlife gallery of the Central Park Zoo. New York Times Architectural Historian Christopher Gray will deliver the keynote address. The 7A (abbreviation for the acronym) aims to document all representations of animals in public art and architecture in New York City. The club conducts group “safaris,” or walking animal-identification tours throughout the city, and relies on its members to stalk previously unrecorded specimens concealed in the concrete jungle. So far, through “safari” walk and member call-ins, the organization has spotted over 1,000 animals.

QUOTATION FOR THE DAY

“Fame always brings loneliness.
Success is as ice cold and lonely as the North Pole.”

Vicki Baum
(1888 – 1960)