Sustaining the Environment
Prospect Park is 585 acres of rolling meadows, waterways and woodlands in the heart of New York’s most populous borough—and also one with the least amount of green space per resident. Prospect Park is home to Brooklyn’s only lake and last remaining forest, and is an important wildlife habitat that supports more than 250 species of birds and other fauna.
Since its founding, Prospect Park Alliance has undertaken an extensive restoration of the Park’s natural areas, including the woodland Ravine and the Park’s historic watercourse and lake, which suffered from significant erosion and neglect. The Alliance’s work to restore the Park’s woodlands over the past two decades represents a $15 million investment that has encompassed nearly 200 acres of woodlands, and the planting and ongoing care of more than 500,000 trees, plants and shrubs.
The Alliance’s Landscape Management team includes ecologists who monitor the health of the Park’s aquatic and woodland areas, and arborists who evaluate the trunks, limbs and root systems of more than 30,000 trees, which represent more than 200 species. The Alliance’s Landscape Management team removes invasive plants while introducing thousands of native shrubs, flowers and trees each year, and cares for the Park’s watercourse, including Brooklyn’s only Lake. They strategically repair erosion on damaged hillsides and maintain trails throughout the Park. Each of these tasks is critical to preserving the Park’s natural habitats.
