Have You Heard About FMCP'S Conservation Corps?

The Alliance for Flushing Meadows Corona Park, in collaboration with NYC Parks and the city’s Summer Youth Employment Program, supports our park’s annual Conservation Corps program. The Alliance supplies all members with park-branded equipment like gardening belts, backpacks, SPF shirts, and gardening hats. NYC Parks and its Operations team here in FMCP administrate the program.

The Conservation Corps is a workforce development program that gives local youths a chance to learn valuable skills in environmental management, while getting paid for it! Growing each year, the 2024 cohort of the Conservation Corps grew to 17 members, up from 12 last year. Many members of our Conservation Corps come from the environmentally-minded John Bowne High School in Kew Gardens Hills.

One member of our 2024 cohort came back to the Conservation Corps for a second year. Returning to FMCP meant he could expand on his work experience from the previous summer, to start shadowing professional arborists and greenhouse gardeners while learning about all aspects of urban environmental stewardship.

Other participants are drawn to the program because of the opportunity to be outside. Rather than sitting behind a desk, Conservation Corps members can spend their summers getting daily exercise outdoors and keeping their community’s vital green spaces beautiful. One member of the Corps remarked that working hard out in the park was better than going to the gym!

A new partnership with the Ladders for Leaders program in the 2024 edition of the program, has allowed the Conservation Corps to bolster its educational curriculum and tailor it to the stewardship projects happening in the park.

Alumni of the program go on to study fields like Environmental Science, Agriculture Science, and more. Recent participants have been accepted to prestigious programs like Cornell University and the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Some participants are even second-generation Parkies!

Funding for the Conservation Corps is generously supported by a grant from the Association for a Better New York.

Please contact us at info@allianceforfmcp.org with any questions about the program.

Check out some pictures from this year’s Conservation Corps cohort:

Evening Under the Sphere 2024: Thank You from the AFMCP Team!

A huge, sincere thank you to everyone who attended or donated to Evening Under the Sphere 2024!

Through our sponsors, ticketholders, and donors we were able to raise over $187,000 that will support the Alliance for Flushing Meadows Corona Park to continue our annual programming, volunteer opportunities, and maintenance operations in FMCP!

The event was a great success and provided an awesome venue, under our beloved Unisphere, for the Queens community to come together in celebration of our achievements.

In particular, we recognized the achievements of three outstanding contributors to our community:

Jennifer O’Sullivan, representing New York City FC

Jackson Koo, representing Con Edison

Christopher Caltieri, accepting the Claire Shulman Award for Public Service

These three honorees exemplify everything we love about Queens and the civic spirit we are so proud of here in Flushing Meadows Corona Park.

Because of our intrepid friends at the Queens Night Market, Evening Under the Sphere features some of the best food in New York City. Here are the vendors who made this cornucopia of delicious eats happen:

Super Chori
Bstro
Epis by Steve
Buffalo Jump
Thaitai Eatery
Tacos El Guero
Eemas

DiLena's Dolcini
Treat Yourself Jerk
Mao's Bao
Daaku Indian BBQ
Hong Kong Street Food
Trini Treats Queens

This event would not be possible without the support of the Queens Night Market.

And a deep, heartfelt thank you to the sponsors of this year’s event.

Our sponsors are the reason we are able to keep ticket prices affordable and EUS a community-focused event. Outside of EUS, these sponsorships help fund an entire year of essential programming and maintenance operations in the park. Here is the full list of sponsors who have supported FMCP this year: 

Check out this slideshow featuring some of our favorite photos from this year’s event, captured by Steph Venegas of Natives.

See you in the park!

January 21st is Squirrel Appreciation Day

Squirrel on the court during US Open, Photo courtesy of Sports Illustrated

This blog post is written by Lee Hittner-Cunningham, the Alliance’s Natural Areas Stewardship Coordinator who is serving in partnership with Americorps.

Squirrels are a common sight in New York and across much of the country, in landscapes rural, urban, and suburban. We often forget to appreciate common things–we see them every day, and come to take them for granted. In the case of squirrels, some of us go beyond taking them for granted and simply dislike them. They dig up our gardens, chase beautiful birds off our bird feeders, and are often considered a pest. When I went home for the holidays, my father showed me the series of baffles he had set up around his bird feeders to discourage squirrels, and sighed about how they occasionally managed to outsmart this system and jump onto the feeders from nearby trees. While I could sympathize with his frustration, I also took a moment to look at our backyard, at the distance the squirrels must be leaping to overcome the baffles, and admire the physical ability and mental acuity of these animals. This Squirrel Appreciation Day, I invite you to join me in my admiration.

The long jumps–up to 10 times the length of their body–that the squirrels in my father’s backyard were making to get to his bird feeders is one of their impressive physical abilities. This, paired with the flexibility of their ankles, makes them adept at moving between trees. In watching squirrels overcome bird feeder baffles, we can see their dexterity in combination with their intelligence as they use creative approaches to overcome obstacles. This intelligence is also on display in the strategies squirrels use to protect their buried nuts. Squirrels have been observed pretending to bury nuts while keeping their food in their mouth to throw off other animals that might be watching them. Being clever and nimble has allowed these animals to survive and thrive in a variety of environments.

The presence of squirrels in cities is a fairly recent development, and one caused by human intervention. They were introduced to urban parks in the 1870s, and since then, their population has grown to make them the common city-dwellers they are today. This means that if you’re out and about in the city today–and especially if you’re in a park–you’re likely to see one of these scrappy New Yorkers. If you have a moment to spare, take a moment to watch them, considering the host of skills it takes for them to make it in the city. 

December 5th is World Soil Day!

This blog post is written by Lee Hittner-Cunningham, the Alliance’s Natural Areas Stewardship Coordinator who is serving in partnership with Americorps.

World Soil Day was first celebrated on December 5, 2014, after it was designated by the United Nations as a day to celebrate and raise awareness about the vital role that soil plays in the health of our planet. This year’s theme is Soil and Water: A Source of Life. Plants can’t grow in compacted soil that lacks nutrients, and the loss of plant life goes on to impact the rest of the ecosystem, from the microorganisms that live in soil to animals that rely on plants for food. Compacted soil is also unable to absorb water, making it prone to flooding in extreme weather. As extreme weather conditions become more and more common, it becomes more and more important to tend to our soil.

One way to improve the health of soil is by adding compost to it. Composting is the process that turns food scraps, leaves, and other organic waste into a soil-like substance that can be used as mulch or fertilizer. All biodegradable materials will eventually decompose, but composting creates a hospitable environment for the microorganisms responsible for decomposition, efficiently converting waste into usable compost. The environmental benefits of composting are several: it reduces the amount of waste going to landfills, cuts greenhouse gas emissions, and creates a useful product.

At FMCP, we are using compost to remediate bare, compacted lawn areas. The compost adds nutrients to the soil and welcomes back microorganisms, making the soil healthy enough for plants to grow in it. We have long partnered with the Queens Botanical Garden to compost our fallen leaves, and this year, we are starting our own compost pile. In the future, we'll be able to use the resulting compost in gardening, tree planting, and lawn restoration. 

The transformation of food scraps and leaves into compost is a reminder of how life feeds life, and of the larger ecosystem in which we all belong. Soil sustains us all, and if we’re thoughtful about how we manage waste, we can give back to the soil.

You can be part of that giving back! Composting is becoming more accessible for NYC residents. By October 2024, Curbside Composting will be available to all city residents—and it’s already available throughout Queens! If Curbside Composting isn’t available in your neighborhood yet, you can take your compost to a drop-off site.

World Wildlife Conservation Day 12/4

This blog post is written by Lee Hittner-Cunningham, the Alliance’s Natural Areas Stewardship Coordinator who is serving in partnership with Americorps.

On December 4th we celebrate World Wildlife Conservation Day to raise awareness about endangered flora and fauna. NYC Parks staff are working throughout the city to safeguard a variety of species by monitoring animal populations to mitigate threats and managing habitats to protect the natural areas where they live and reproduce.

The parks themselves are critical urban green spaces that allow species to live alongside humans in the city. You can observe local flora and fauna throughout Flushing Meadows Corona Park, which is host to a variety of ecosystems.

You can also stop by the Queens Zoo, located on the far side of the Hall of Science Bridge near the Unisphere. While it's not connected to FMCP, the Zoo is a great place to visit while you're at the park. You can learn about (and see!) a variety of species from North and South America, including formerly endangered species such as the American bison and the bald eagle. The existence of these formerly endangered species is a testament to the effect of conservation efforts and the importance of continued action. Guided by their motto, “Saving Wildlife and Wild Places,” Queens Zoo is engaged in work to reestablish endangered species such as the New England cottontail and the Puerto Rican crested toad.

Throughout the park, our stewardship work is aimed in part at making FMCP a welcoming habitat for the many species of flora and fauna in New York. Wildlife in the city face many challenges, including pollution (including light and sound pollution), habitat loss and fragmentation, and migration difficulties created by buildings and highways.

Given these challenges, urban green spaces are key to conservation efforts. We invite you to join us in our stewardship of the park at volunteer events throughout the year, where we will undertake projects such as planting a variety of native species, removing invasive ones, and cleaning up litter. This work allows the native flora and fauna to flourish here at FMCP.