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| | Alley Pond at Environmental Center, NY | | | |
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Alley Pond at Environmental Center, NY
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| no partners | | Alley Pond Environmental Center sits right up the road from my neighborhood, and hiking the trails there has been on my to-do list for a good bit. The morning featured moderate temperatures, a nice breeze, and just about clear sky, so I took a quick trip out there and had an enjoyable hike.
Some background on this section of Alley Pond Park (Alley Pond Park extends beyond, by a good bit, the Environmental Center section). This sections features a visitor/nature center, with educational classes inside and guided tours outside. The trails themselves feature nature walks and informative signs. Very nice.
The land of the Environmental Center section consists of a fairly large salt water marsh, which (per the information signs) fills and drains with ocean waters (or in this case salt water bay waters) as the tides rise and fall. This rising and falling water levels create different habitat types in concentric rings. The lowest, central type sits below the lowest tide level and holds a constant thin stretch of water that weaves its way down the center of area. The next lowest level forms a U-shape around this central spine of water, and consists of muddy wet sandy soil, no vegetation, as the ground seems to stay sufficiently saturated to retard growth. This U-shape has its open end to the north, where the salt water enters the marsh from Long Island sound.
The next level up consists of high reed grass, acres and acres. No trees or shrubs have penetrated this level, and all the reed grass has grown to the same height. So this results in a large expanse of vegetation with a flat top. This level, like the previous one, forms a rough U-shape, in this case outside the U-shape of the muddy soil layer. The ground continues its gentle slope up, to a point where leafy vegetation takes hold, in abundance. This habitat features a very thick, dense forest.
I should mention a further level, urban concrete. The nature area sits nestled, or more like squeezed, between a two interstates, one to the West the other South, the local Northern Boulevard to the North, and a residential community East . This seems typical for urban parks. Think Camelback in Phoenix. That park find itself hemmed in by residences and neighborhoods, to the point where the mansion have crept a fair distance up the back side.
At the time of my hike, the Environmental Center building and adjacent parking lot sat vacant, under reconstruction, and this reconstruction spawned high barrier fencing. The reconstruction and fencing blocked the normal North access to the trails. So getting to the trails required using an alternate access, at the south end. Not difficult, but certainly obscure. One reaches the south end of the Environment Center section trails not from some street, or parking lot, of following some signs. One follows a twisty path that, though paved, meanders through and under the reconstructed mega-interchange for the two interstates. I live next by and know this route. Most might not. The obscurity of finding this alternate entrance, plus the general drop in activity due to the concurrent COVID outbreak (May, 2020 when I took this hike), meant I met no-one. Despite being the center of a dense suburban residential area.
As could be expected on a trail near a coastal marsh, the elevation change was minimal, like non-existent except for the parts weaving through the interchange of the interstates. The information signs explained the local flowers and animal life, and how the salt water march ecology decomposes pollutants such as road oils and pesticides. One part of the trail runs to a fairly non-intrusive observation deck, which allows good views of the various types habitat, including Northern Boulevard, the urban concrete level. Being in an urban area, the nature area also contained a smattering of trash, not overwhelming and only mildly detracting. While I am not sure, I did see what looked like evasive species remove efforts. In particular evasive vine removal, where the vines are cut just above the root, and then left to decompose.
Birds seemed to love the place – I could not identify them, and none very exotic-looking, but good that the nature area provides for birds. A jack rabbit scampered across my path, no picture possible, moved way too fast. Some wild flowers, were present, but overall we might be past blooming time for others. The trail itself provided for wooden slats and walkways in particularly muddy area, so no issues with traversing. The north end contained small, fairly stagnant ponds, not picturesque or appealing, but I sense a natural component of this lowland area, as the pond likely drain very slowly.
Good stuff, and right in the area. |
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