"Mayor Adams’ proposed budget cuts may place an outsized burden on park conservancies and small volunteer groups. With less than 1 percent of the city budget spent on parks, they’re finding it harder and harder to keep up."
"NEW YORK—On a warm Wednesday morning in June, half a dozen volunteers slip on waders and gloves provided by the Van Cortlandt Park Alliance, a small nonprofit dedicated to preserving and supporting the Bronx park. They are preparing to go to war with the water chestnut, an aquatic invasive species that has spread a dense canopy across a large portion of the park’s large main pond.
Noel Hefele, a volunteer coordinator with the alliance, leads everyone to the shore. Soon enough, volunteers and three alliance employees are trudging through the pond as far as their waders will allow, using rakes to collect the water chestnuts and bring them to the bank.
“The smell is really getting to me today,” said Gina Lauria, 24, a trail technician with the alliance. As the team moves through the water, bubbles of gas float to the surface all around, and the pungent smell of rotten eggs fills the air. Over time, water chestnut plants sink to the bottom of the pond, where they decay, trapping gases there."
Lauren Dalban reports for Inside Climate News June 22, 2024.
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