Volunteers in Marine Park, Brooklyn, engaged in a restoration effort by planting native vegetation after wildfires devastated the area last fall. The wildfires, attributed to the driest recorded period in NYC history, resulted in significant damage, with nearly a dozen acres burned. The Marine Park Alliance, supported by a $20,000 grant from the City Parks Foundation, aims to introduce more resilient native plant species to help mitigate fire risks. Key city officials emphasized the importance of restoring natural areas that are challenging to access for traditional fire control.
"They're more resilient. They don't get as dry. They're not as likely to burn in a flashy way, like phragmites does," said Scott Middleton, executive director of the Marine Park Alliance.
"Hopefully, it'll be, it'll continue to be rainy and wet. But we had a huge fire on the other side of Gerritsen Creek in the middle of March," Middleton said.
"Our city's natural areas make up a huge portion of our park system. And they're some of the hardest to reach, you know, there are no fire hydrants in the same way that you would find on streets," said Heather Lubov, executive director.
"In some cases, it's just burning off sort of light brush. But in other cases, we had damage to trees and shrubs and other more permanent woody vegetation," said Eric Peterson.
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