Pelham Bay Park-Ticulars June 2010

Pelham Bay Park-ticulars June 2010

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Kids Explore Their Senses at Playground for All Children Worms & snails! Furry, smelly leaves! Crumbly black compost! It must be the Sensory Garden at the Playground For All Children. Each week, dozens of young students come here to stimulate their five senses. Gardener/Educator Han-Yu Hung meets with students and their teachers and conducts hands-on gardening activities that leave everyone with a new appreciation for the natural world. A sensory garden aims to provide a full sensory experience for the visitor. Its plants provide visual effects, interesting smells, unusual touches, and sometimes even sounds. Though everyone can enjoy being in a garden of this type, the plant array and choice particularly benefits people with special needs, whether physical, mental, or emotional. A typical session with Ms. Hung includes exploration, gardening, and soil and worm investigations. Children get to touch plants such as “lamb’s ears”(Stachys byzatina), smell the aromatic lemon balm (Melissa officina- lis) and fragrant honeysuckle flowers (Lonicera sp.), see a wide variety of Gardener/Educator Han-Yu Hung has been teaching children to use their “gardening” senses colorful flowers, and listen to the sounds of leaves and birds. They also for the past two years at Pelham Bay Park sow seeds, add compost, and water the planting beds, and learn about soil decomposers like worms, snails, and sowbugs. They enjoy watching these animals move, touching them, and holding them in their hands. Other sessions may focus on herbs, trees, pollinators, birds, or seasons.

“I like when I touched the worm,” said one child from P.S. 160. “It felt cool. Let’s go back next week!” Programs like these are important for children with special needs so they have the opportunity to benefit from hands-on, nature-based learning. In a city like New York, we sometimes forget that an hour or so in the garden can open up a world of adventure. The garden is wheelchair accessible and all are welcome to explore their senses. FRIENDS OF PELHAM BAY PARK

Last Opportunites for Some Spring TLC

Wrapping up a beautiful and productive spring season, Friends of Pelham Bay Park and other supportive groups have cleaned shore- lines, repaired trails and planted trees and shrubs. We have two more exciting opportunities this month to share with you that will help us care for the park's forest. As a member of the New York/New Jersey Trail Conference (TC), the Friends will host the TC’s Construction Crew on Saturday, June 19. Crew members and volunteers will be led by Joe Gindoff and Linda Sullivan, who will help us remediate some of the daunting drainage Volunteers from numerous groups are led problems that pockmark the bridle and hiking path between by Parks’ Natural Resources Group, planting nearly 2,000 trees on Hunter Island Bartow-Pell Mansion and Shore Road. Please consider joining us at 9:45 am at the Bartow-Pell Mansion parking lot, 895 Shore Road. Bring lunch, water and bug spray, and be sure to wear boots and long sleeves. We'll provide tools and gloves and work from 10 am to 2 pm. As part of the MillionTreesNYC initiative, Parks’ Natural Resources Group is hosting a three-part Forest Stewardship Program to teach volunteers to care for the thousands of newly planted trees in Pelham Bay Park. Stewards are needed to weed and monitor the new reforestation plantings, and will be trained in weed identification and proper management techniques. Stewards must attend 3 training sessions and commit to volunteer 12 hours over the summer. The sessions will be held at the Orchard Beach Nature Center at Section 2 on Saturdays, June 12, 19, & 26, from 9 am to 11 am. If you are interested, please contact Anthony Martinez, Bronx Outreach Coordinator with Partnerships for Parks, by calling 718-430-1861 or email [email protected]. GLEANINGS... Despite its common name, the horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) is more closely related to spiders and scorpions than crabs. Its name refers to the shape of its body which looks like a horse’s hoof. Horseshoe crabs are one of the world’s oldest animals, and for over 300 million years, these prehistoric creatures have remained virtually unchanged. As adults, horseshoe crabs live in deep water and come to shore to mate and lay eggs, particularly during the evening high tides of new and full moons. Their peak spawn- ing season ends this month. A female horseshoe crab will lay 90,000 eggs or more during a spawning cycle, yet it is estimated that, from so many eggs, only about 10 horseshoe crabs will make it to adulthood. Native Americans used and taught early settlers to use the horseshoe crabs to fertilize crops. They also ate horseshoe crab meat, used the shell to bail water, and the tail as a spear tip. UPCOMING SPECIAL EVENTS

Moses Builds a Beach Saturday, June 12 at 1 pm Robert Moses, NYC's famous Parks Commissioner, left a lasting imprint on the Bronx. Learn about him and the building of Orchard Beach at this Ranger talk. MEET: Orchard Beach Nature Center, Section 2. Call (718) 378-2061 for information. Free Screening of Blueprint New York City featuring Pelham Bay Park Saturday, June 12 at 7 pm, St James Recreation Center Join NYC Media and the Parks Department for a free screening of Blueprint New York City - Parks! The hour-long special takes viewers on a tour of five iconic parks – Central Park, Prospect Park, Pelham Bay Park, The 2010 Pooch Picnic Contest Winners! Flushing Meadows Corona Park, and the Staten Island Greenbelt. Using lush visuals from the present day, vintage photos, archival footage, and expert interviews, their history comes to life in an exploration of how the Red, White, and Blue – with You! design of urban parks transformed the City’s landscape. For information Monday, June 14, 3:30 – 5 pm on this outdoor screening, visit the Parks website at Celebrate Flag Day at Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum and learn www.nyc.gov/parks. how the American flag has changed over time, drawing from the history of Bartow-Pell Mansion. Explore patriotic symbols throughout the house’s Greek Revival interior of the mansion and create a flag of your own. Appropriate for ages 6 and up. Space is limited, registration required. Cost $5 per person; Members $3 per person. Call 718-885-1461 or email [email protected]. Trail Building Saturday, June 19 at 9:45 am Join the Friends of Pelham Bay Park and the Construction Crew of the New York/New Jersey Trail Conference and help repair the park’s hiking and bridle path. See Friends article above for details. Take Me Out to the Ball Game 1864! Saturday, June 19 at 1 pm Travel back in time and enjoy a "base ball match" with the New York Mutuals playing by authentic 1864 rules using replica balls, bats, and A Favorite Fishing Spot along Eastchester Bay uniforms¬but no helmets or gloves! After the game, kids get to join in the fun with a game of rounders with team members, plus free house tours and a raffle for the game ball. Registration requested. Cost $15 adults, $5 children 6-17; Members: $10 adults, $3 children 6–17. Call 718-885-1461 or email [email protected]. Forever Wild! Explore Twin Island Saturday, June 19, 1 pm American-Made Music Comb the beaches, scour the salt marshes, and hike the woodlands of these former Islands that are now connected to Orchard Beach. MEET: Orchard Beach Nature Center, Section 2. Call (718) 378-2061 for A Patriotic Concert information. presented by

Seining the Shores The Bronx Arts Ensemble Sunday, June 20, 11 am There's more than one way to catch a fish! For this slightly diffrent Friday, June 25 take on fishing, you cast in a net instead of a line. Who knows what 7 pm you'll come up with! MEET: Orchard Beach Nature Center, Section 2. Call (718) 378-2061 for information. Pelham Bay Park Family Camping Main Lawn, enter park at Middle- Friday, June 25, 6 pm – 7 am town Road & Stadium Avenue Pitch a tent and sleep under the stars near the Orchard Beach Nature Center. Go on a night hike to meet the nocturnal residents of Pelham Join us for an evening of patriotic tunes Bay Park. Bring a flashlight and sleeping bag. Space is limited. To sponsored by Councilman James Vacca register, visit www.nyc.gov/parks/rangers/register by June 16. and the Pelham Bay Parks Administrator’s Island Hopping Office. Bring a blanket or chair. Limited Sunday, June 27, 11 am parking. For rain location, call after 2 pm on Orchard Beach is surrounded by islands--some big, some small, and day of show: 718-601-7399 or 718-931-1721. some only show up at low tide, but most have names and some have Visit www.bronxartsensemble.org for more stories. Explore these island by canoe with the Rangers. Space is information. limited. To register, visit www.nyc.gov/parks/rangers/register by June 16. Into the Depths Saturday, July 3, 2 pm Pull on some waders and use seining nets to find out who’s living below the surface of the water at Orchard Beach. MEET: Orchard Beach Nature Center, Section 2. Call(718) 378-2061 for information. To learn more about Pelham Bay Park, to volunteer or to find out about events and pro- grams, visit the Parks & Recreation website at www.nyc.gov/parks, or call the Park Administrator’s Office at (718) 430-1890 or email us at [email protected]. This e-newsletter is financed in part by Federal Community Development Funds. Special Thanks to Pelham Park-ticulars Photographers/Editors/Writers: S.Farrington, L.Gonzalez, & H.Hung