BPC Parks Happenings is a monthly “snapshot” of the Authority’s work in maintaining Battery Park City’s parks and public spaces. Scroll down to see what’s on tap for October.
– Planting Plans: Arriving this month will be more than 45,000 flowering bulbs to be planted in advance of blooming season next spring.
– Rodent Redux: Dry ice applications continue at hot sports throughout Battery Park City in an effort to minimize the rodents within our open spaces. Arriving this month will be more than 45,000 flowering bulbs to be planted in advance of blooming season next spring.
– Lanterns Don’t Change Their Spots: The adult Spotted Lanternfly (SLF) population is being monitored and controlled using traps strategically placed in tree species favored by the species. Thanks to all for your for submissions of SLF sightings to iNaturalist.
– Tree Time: Our Parks Operations Team will be planting eight (8) native trees on the sidewalks of Battery Park City — two Red Maples (Acer rubrum), four Swamp Oaks (Quercus bicolor) and two Elms (Ulmus americana). These trees are being delivered as a part of the New York Power Authority’s Tree Power Program, which increases native biodiversity and natural carbon storage by offering a one-to-one match for tree plantings at customer locations throughout the state.
– Tree Down: One unhealthy oak tree will be removed on River Terrace due to hypoxylon canker. Hypoxylon canker of shade trees is a fungus that negatively affects growth and can eventually lead to the death of weak or diseased host trees.
– Pounds of Sand: As part of our ongoing maintenance of Battery Park City’s parks and public spaces, our Parks Operations team continues adding new play sand to the neighborhood’s sand boxes. The next and final location will be the Rockefeller Park playground’s large and small sand boxes. So far we’ve added new sand to the West Thames playground, Teardrop Park’s slide sand box and “Tot Lot” sand box, and the Kowsky Plaza playground. (Over the coming weeks, our team will also be replacing the sand at Kowsky Playground with the identical type of new sand recently added to Battery Park City’s other three playgrounds.)
– Heavy Use: Our Maintenance team will be conducting repairs to various playground equipment in Rockefeller and West Thames playgrounds this month. Minimal disruption is expected.
– Water Runs Dry: We will begin turning off all water play features in the children’s playgrounds and all decorative fountains starting mid-October. Drinking fountains and irrigations systems will remain activated until later in the season.
– Cruisin’ with Compost: Battery Park City’s two new Rocket A900 composters, installed at our 75 Battery Place facility last month, are closed-system composters allowing BPCA to now accept more types of food waste. Stay tuned for updated information on what can and cannot be accepted for composting! Please send any composting questions to compost@bpca.ny.gov. And read more about BPC’s composting program, as well as the New York City Department of Sanitation’s newly-launched citywide composting program, here.
– Volunteer with BPCA: Our Horticulture team is looking for volunteers who would like to join us in completing gardening tasks. Please fill out our application form, or email info@bpca.ny.gov for more info.
– Orange You Glad We’re Back? Our annual Pumpkin Drop program has returned for a third year. BPCA will collect pumpkins and gourds to compost beginning later this month at Esplanade Plaza and outside 75 Battery Place.
Sustainability at BPCA
– Compost It! In August we composted 6,422 lbs. of food waste and 49 lbs. of dog waste from the community. Please remember to use our green compost bins to discard your food waste. And if you’re walking along the South Esplanade or in one of our three dog runs, help BPCA reach zero waste by composting your dog waste. Read more about the history of Battery Park City’s dog waste composting program here.
Our community compost drop-offs, located at 75 Battery Place, Gateway Plaza, 200 Rector, the North End Avenue dog run, along the BPC Esplanade by North Cove Marina, and on the lower level of River Terrace and Chambers Street, are open 24/7 for drop-off of fruit and vegetable scraps. Email compost@bpca.ny.gov for more information or questions.
– Our Path to Zero: As a decades-long leader in sustainability, BPCA is striving to divert 90% of what is sent to landfill! To continue helping toward our Zero Waste goal, we ask that you rethink what you throw away in the parks, and please recycle or compost items. Actions that make a difference include–
– Use refillable coffee cups and water bottles
– Place compostable items in green bins
– Place dog waste (without baggies) in designated bins
– Minimize waste such as plastic snack bags
– Only take what you need when eating out, such as ketchup and other condiment packets and napkins
– Minimize use of plastic utensils – or bring your own reusable ones
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