Fresh Kills

Last updated
Fresh Kills
Downtown Manhattan view over Freshkills Park.jpg
View of Fresh Kills from Fresh Kills Park
Wpdms usgs photo fresh kills.jpg
Fresh Kills on the western edge of Staten Island
Location
Country United States
State New York
City New York City
Borough Staten Island

Fresh Kills (from the Middle Dutch word kille , meaning "riverbed" or "water channel") is a stream and freshwater estuary in the western portion of the New York City borough of Staten Island. It is the site of the Fresh Kills Landfill, formerly New York City's principal landfill.

The watershed (basin) of the Fresh Kills drains much of the wet lowlands of the western portion of the island and flows into the Arthur Kill around the Isle of Meadows. Its co-tributaries include the Rahway River, Morses Creek (New Jersey), Piles Creek, and, via Newark Bay, the Passaic River and the Hackensack River. The channel around the north end of the Isle of Meadows is sometimes called Little Fresh Kill and the southern channel is called Great Fresh Kill.

The stream has two major branches. The north branch is Main Creek and the Springville Creek. The south branch is Richmond Creek, which drains much of the central part of the island, with its headwaters near Historic Richmond Town, on the southern end of the terminal moraine of the island. The system of streams provides recreational kayaking and wildlife viewing in the preserved wetlands.

Since 2006, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation has been implementing the master plan developed by landscape architecture firm Field Operations to transform Fresh Kills Landfill into Fresh Kills Park. Covering 2,200 acres (8.9 km2), nearly three times the size of Central Park, Fresh Kills Park will offer a variety of public spaces and facilities for varied activities including nature trails, mountain biking, community events, outdoor dining, sports fields, kayaking and canoeing. In addition, the park's design, ecological restoration and cultural and educational programming will emphasize environmental sustainability and a renewed public concern for our human impact on earth. Renewable energy is planned both for use in capital projects and for large-scale demonstration and public benefit. Photovoltaic cells, wind turbines and geothermal heating and cooling are components of current capital projects. While the full build-out will continue in phases for the next 30 years, the first sections of parkland to be developed opened in early 2010, and the park is expected to be complete by the 2030s. [1]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Collect Pond</span> Historic pond in Manhattan, New York

Collect Pond, or Fresh Water Pond, was a body of fresh water in what is now Chinatown in Lower Manhattan, New York City. For the first two centuries of European settlement in Manhattan, it was the main New York City water supply system for the growing city. The location of the former pond later became the site of a jail, and is now memorialized by Collect Pond Park, which includes a reflecting pool to acknowledge the historic importance of this body of water.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Jersey Meadowlands</span> Region of New Jersey, United States

New Jersey Meadowlands, also known as the Hackensack Meadowlands after the primary river flowing through it, is a general name for a large ecosystem of wetlands in northeastern New Jersey in the United States, a few miles to the west of New York City. During the 20th century, much of the Meadowlands area was urbanized, and it became known for being the site of large landfills and decades of environmental abuse. A variety of projects are underway to restore and conserve the remaining ecological resources in the Meadowlands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur Kill</span> Navigational channel of the Port of New York and New Jersey

The Arthur Kill is a tidal strait in the New York–New Jersey Harbor Estuary between Staten Island, New York and Union and Middlesex counties, New Jersey. It is a major navigational channel of the Port of New York and New Jersey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raritan Bay</span> The southern portion of Lower New York Bay between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey

Raritan Bay is a bay located at the southern portion of Lower New York Bay between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey and is part of the New York Bight. The bay is bounded on the northwest by New York's Staten Island, on the west by Perth Amboy, New Jersey, on the south by the Raritan Bayshore communities in the New Jersey counties of Middlesex and Monmouth, and on the east by Sandy Hook Bay. The bay is named after the Raritans, a branch of the Lenape tribe who lived in the vicinity of the bay and its river for thousands of years, prior to the arrival of Dutch and English colonists in the 17th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fresh Kills Landfill</span> Landfill site

The Fresh Kills Landfill was a landfill covering 2,200 acres (890 ha) in the New York City borough of Staten Island in the United States. The name comes from the landfill's location along the banks of the Fresh Kills estuary in western Staten Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New York–New Jersey Harbor Estuary</span> One of the most intricate natural harbors in the world

The New York–New Jersey Harbor Estuary, also known as the Hudson-Raritan Estuary, is in the northeastern states of New Jersey and New York on the East Coast of the United States. The system of waterways of the Port of New York and New Jersey forms one of the most intricate natural harbors in the world and one of the busiest ports of the United States. The harbor opens onto the New York Bight in the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast and Long Island Sound to the northeast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isle of Meadows</span> Island in Staten Island, New York, United States

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richmond Creek (Fresh Kills)</span> Urban stream in Staten Island, New York

Richmond Creek is a major stream in Staten Island, New York City. Its upper drainage basin includes the remote forested hills in the center of the island. It empties into the Fresh Kills.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kissena Park</span> Public park in Queens, New York

Kissena Park is a 235-acre (95 ha) park located in the neighborhood of Flushing in Queens, New York City. It is located along the subterranean Kissena Creek, which flows into the Flushing River. It is bordered on the west by Kissena Boulevard; on the north by Rose, Oak, Underhill, and Lithonia Avenues; on the east by Fresh Meadow Lane; and on the south by Booth Memorial Avenue. The park contains the city's only remaining velodrome, a lake of the same name, two war memorials, and various playgrounds and sports fields.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flushing River</span> Creek in Queens, New York

The Flushing River, also known as Flushing Creek, is a waterway that flows northward through the borough of Queens in New York City, mostly within Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, emptying into the Flushing Bay and the East River. The river runs through a valley that may have been a larger riverbed before the last Ice Age, and it divides Queens into western and eastern halves. Until the 20th century, the Flushing Creek was fed by three tributaries: Mill Creek and Kissena Creek on the eastern bank, and Horse Brook on the western bank.

The New Creek is an urban stream on the East Shore of Staten Island, New York City. The creek is fed by many natural springs in the area, which were used by the Lenape Indians before the arrival of European colonists in the 17th century. Many of the springs have been channeled underground by urban development as the population expanded throughout New York City and Staten Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Freshkills Park</span> Public park in Staten Island, New York

Freshkills Park is a public park being built atop a former landfill on Staten Island. At about 2,200 acres (8.9 km2), it will be the largest park developed in New York City since the 19th century. Its construction began in October 2008 and is slated to continue in phases for approximately 30 years. When fully developed by 2035–2037, Freshkills Park will be the second-largest park in New York City, after Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx, and almost three times the size of Central Park in Manhattan. The park is envisioned as a regional destination that integrates open grasslands, waterways and engineered structures into a cohesive and dynamic unit for social, cultural and physical activity, learning and play. Sections of the park will be connected by a circulation system for vehicles and a network of paths for bicyclists and pedestrians. The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation is managing the project with the New York City Department of Sanitation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kittatinny Valley</span>

The Kittatinny Valley is a section of the Great Appalachian Valley in Sussex and Warren counties in northwestern New Jersey that is bounded on the northwest by Kittatinny Mountain, and in the southeast by the New Jersey Highlands region. The valley is roughly 40 miles (64 km) long, with a breadth of 10 to 13 miles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William T. Davis Wildlife Refuge</span>

The William T. Davis Wildlife Refuge (WTDWR) is an 814-acre (3.29 km2) wildlife refuge straddling the New Springville and Travis sections of Staten Island. The park was named in honor of Staten Island native William T. Davis, a renowned naturalist and entomologist who along with the Audubon Society started the refuge with an original acquisition of 52 acres (210,000 m2). Additional acreage was acquired in increments and the park is today 814 acres (3.29 km2). Beginning in 2010, the adjacent 223-acre (0.90 km2) North Park section of Freshkills Park has undergone preparation to serve as an expansion of the wildlife refuge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kissena Creek</span> Buried stream in Queens, New York

Kissena Creek is a buried stream located in the neighborhoods of Flushing, Fresh Meadows, Hillcrest, and Kew Gardens Hills in the New York City borough of Queens. Kissena Creek originates in a now-filled swamp within Kew Gardens Hills and Pomonok in central Queens, flowing east to Hillcrest. The creek then travels mostly north and west, largely flowing beneath Kissena Park Golf Course, Kissena Park, Kissena Corridor Park, and Queens Botanical Garden, before merging with the Flushing River in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tibbetts Brook</span> Stream in downstate New York

Tibbetts Brook, originally Tippett's Brook or Tibbitt's Brook, is a stream in the southern portion of mainland New York, flowing north to south from the city of Yonkers in Westchester County into the borough of the Bronx within New York City. Originally emptying into Spuyten Duyvil Creek as part of the Harlem River system, the stream is now partially subterranean, ending above ground at the south end of Van Cortlandt Lake within Van Cortlandt Park. There it proceeds into city sewers, draining into either the northern end of the Harlem River or the Wards Island Water Pollution Control Plant. The brook provides significant watershed to both Van Cortlandt Park at its south end and Tibbetts Brook Park at its north end. There have been modern proposals to daylight the southern portion of the brook back onto the surface.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spring Creek Park</span> Public park in New York City

Spring Creek Park is a public park along the Jamaica Bay shoreline between the neighborhoods of Howard Beach, Queens, and Spring Creek, Brooklyn, in New York City. Created on landfilled former marshland, the park is mostly an undeveloped nature preserve, with only small portions accessible to the public for recreation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edgemere Landfill</span> Former landfill in Queens, New York

Edgemere Landfill is a former municipal landfill located in Edgemere on the Rockaway peninsula in Queens, New York City. It is located on a man-made peninsula on the Jamaica Bay shoreline, at the eastern end of the Rockaway peninsula. A portion of the site is currently open to the public as Rockaway Community Park. The entire site is owned by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sunswick Creek</span> Buried stream in Queens, New York

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rattlesnake Creek (Bronx)</span> River in the Bronx, New York

Rattlesnake Creek is an underground waterway in the northeast Bronx, New York City. It flowed above ground level until the mid-20th century, with a waterfall and a pond over its course. Rattlesnake Creek has since been mostly covered over, but a small portion of it is still visible in Seton Falls Park.

References

40°34′36″N74°11′14″W / 40.57667°N 74.18733°W / 40.57667; -74.18733