Natural Area Mapping and Inventory of Pelham Bay Park Volume II Surveyed 2007 Prepared by the Natural Resources Group Michael R. Bloomberg, Mayor Adrian Benepe, Commissioner Bill Tai, Director January 9, 2008 Pelham Bay Park Natural Area Mapping & Inventory 226.69 acres Introduction City of New York Parks & Recreation (DPR) manages one of the most extensive and varied park systems of any city in the world. These 29,000 acres of city park property occupy about 15 percent of New York City’s total area. In addition to flagship parks such as Central Park and Prospect Park, the city’s parklands include over 11,000 acres of natural areas. Until the 1980’s, the Parks Department was primarily concerned with developed landscapes and recreation facilities rather than natural areas. In the absence of a comprehensive management policy, these areas succumbed to invasive species, pollution and erosion. In 1984, Parks established the Natural Resources Group (NRG) with a mandate to acquire, restore and manage natural areas in New York City. The wetlands, forests, meadows, and shorelines under NRG’s jurisdiction provide valuable habitat for hundreds of species, from rare wildflowers to endangered birds of prey. In addition to the goals mentioned above, NRG serves as a clearinghouse for technical research to aid in the protection and restoration of the city's natural resources. This inventory of Pelham Bay Park was conducted as part of NRG’s commitment to improving the natural areas of New York City parks. Volume I of the inventory was conducted in 1986, and includes all of Pelham Bay Park north of Pelham Bridge and a section of Talapoosa West. Volume II was conducted in 2007 and includes areas of Pelham Bay Park south of Pelham Bridge. More than three times the size of Manhattan’s Central Park, Pelham Bay Park is the City’s largest park property. Visitors to the park enjoy miles of bridle paths and hiking trails, Orchard Beach, the Bartow-Pell Mansion, two golf courses, and a breathtaking 13-mile saltwater shoreline that hugs the Long Island Sound. The native Siwanoy Native Americans originally inhabited this area, attracted by the plentiful deer, turtle, and sturgeon. When the Dutch West India Company purchased the land from them in 1639, they termed the area "Vreedelandt," meaning land of freedom. However, after years of unsuccessful attempts to occupy the land, the Siwanoy still controlled the area. The most famous of these failed communities was the short-lived English colony founded by Anne Hutchinson in what is now the northwest corner of this park. Having fled religious persecution in Puritan Massachusetts, Hutchinson and most of her party were killed by Native Americans just a short time later in 1643. The nearby Hutchinson River bears her name. Englishman Thomas Pell purchased 50,000 acres of land from the Siwanoy in 1654. Parkgoers can visit the site of the tree where he and Siwanoy leader Chief Wampage made their pact. In 1666, King Charles II chartered this land as part of the Manor of Pelham. During the Revolutionary War, Pell's land was part of the buffer between the British-held Manhattan and rebel-held Westchester. Hiding behind stone walls, 600 Massachusetts Patriots stopped the British and Hessian forces from making their way north from Rodman’s Neck. Remains of the walls can be seen in the Split Rock Golf Course. A plaque at Glover's Rock commemorates this battle at Pell Point. After the Pell family sold most of the land, Robert Bartow, a publisher and Pell descendant, purchased the remainder in 1836. He built the Bartow-Pell Mansion in 1842, a grey stone mansion with Greek Revival interiors located on Shore Road. It remained in the family until 1888, when the City acquired the estate. The mansion and its grounds have been maintained by the International Garden Club Incorporated since 1914. 2 The site opened as a museum and educational center in 1947. The park’s other historic residence, Hunter Mansion, was built in 1804. It once housed a collection of fine wines as well as paintings by European masters. Today only fragments of the foundation and landscaped features endure. In the late 1800s, Bronx resident and founder of the New York Parks Association John Mullaly spearheaded a movement to retain some of the natural areas before they were destroyed by overdevelopment. The State Legislature appointed a commission to acquire large tracts of land to form a Bronx parks system. Pelham Bay Park officially became Bronx Parks Department property in 1888 when the City of the Bronx purchased the land for a total cost of $2,746,688 and changed the collection of estates into a unified park. The original site was over 1,700 acres. The park evolved from natural woodland into an enhanced recreational facility when Parks Commissioner Robert Moses (1888–1981) filled the park with playgrounds, comfort stations and other amenities. He upgraded the Pelham and Split Rock Golf Courses in the 1930s and began one of his most ambitious park projects: the building of today’s Orchard Beach. Eager to increase public use of the area, Moses initiated an $8 million project that added a new parking lot and a 90,000-square-foot bathhouse complex. When it opened in 1936, the landfill-fortified beach attracted thousands of bathers. In 1947, the beach was extended 1.25 miles by filling in the shallow water in LeRoy’s Bay between Hunter and Twin islands, adding 115 acres of parkland. When the Department of Sanitation received permission to use the area south of the Pelham Bridge as a landfill, conservation groups succeeded in having the State designate 375 acres of marshland as a wildlife refuge. The Thomas Pell Wildlife Refuge was created in 1967. In 1921 the American Legion planted rows of trees along the Bronx’s Grand Concourse, each with a bronze plaque, to a soldier, who gave their life in service during World War I. In 1928 when the boulevard was widened and the subway built underneath, these trees were removed. At the behest of several veterans groups, the trees were consolidated into a Memorial Grove between Baychester Avenue and Shore Road. The grove is part of the Bronx Victory Memorial that was erected in 1932 and dedicated in 1993. It includes a landscaped plaza and a raised paved terrace in which stands a massive limestone pedestal with sculptural reliefs. At the center of the pedestal, a Corinthian column is surmounted by a gilded bronze victory figure. To facilitate the protection, management and restoration of Pelham Bay Park, NRG completed an inventory of the area using entitation, a process of identifying and describing ecologically distinct plant communities. Using aerial photographs and field reconnaissance, Parks staff delineated distinct ecological entities, known as entitation units, based on cover type, understory structure, species composition, and topography. Evidence of historical use, current use, environmental disturbance, and additional notes were also recorded for each unit. Entitation of Pelham Bay Park resulted in a map and database that can be used to locate valuable and threatened areas. They also serve as a baseline for measuring change over time. Entitation Entitation is a type of plant community inventory well suited to the patchy environments often found in urban areas. Originally designed for European landscapes, the system was revised by NRG in 1985 for use in urban parkland. NRG has used entitation widely and successfully to facilitate acquisition and restoration decisions. Put simply, entitation is a process of breaking up a park into manageable parts called “entities” or “entitation units.” Entitation units are defined using a weighted list of criteria. The first level of distinction is based on cover type (e.g. closed forest, vineland, scrub), followed by canopy species composition, understory type (e.g. herbs, vines, shrubs), and understory species composition. Additional factors, such as topography and soil condition (e.g. wet, moist, dry) are also taken into account. 3 To prepare for fieldwork, mapping technicians examine aerial photographs and delineate areas of similar cover. The mapping staff use the aerial information to create a strategy for covering land area. In the field, boundaries are identified as described above. For each unit, staff record the data listed above, as well as current uses, environmental disturbances, historical indicators, community stability, and comments. 4 5 6 7 Pelham Bay Entitation Unit Descriptions, Surveyed 2007 Unit: 890 Acreage: 2.86 Mgmt. Concern: Yes Site: Species Height Exotic Historical Uses Disturbances Herbaceous Mugwort <5' yes Trash Deciduous Cottonwood, Eastern >30' & 5-30' no Hemicryptophytes Mulberry, white 5'-30' yes Level Ailanthus 5'-30' yes Dry/Moist Porcelain berry <5' & 5-30' yes Oriental bittersweet <5' & 5-30' yes Comments: This unit is an herbaceous community with some trees, sumacs, and viney areas. It is bordered by railroad tracks, and an old highway ramp which is no longer in use. Other species present include: royal Pauwlonia, Ailanthus, smooth sumac, staghorn sumac, white mulberry, Japanese knotweed, milkweed, evening primrose, Queen Anne's lace, daisy fleabane, smartweed, ragweed, and goldenrod. MC: because of invasive vines such as porcelainberry and Oriental bittersweet. Unit: 891 Acreage: 0.37 Mgmt. Concern: No Site: Species Height Exotic Historical Uses Disturbances Closed Forest Cottonwood, Eastern >30' & 5-30' no Deciduous Phragmites <5' & 5-30' yes Geophytes Level Dry/Moist Comments: This is a cottonwood forest on the edge of a Phragmites unit. Phragmites is the dominant ground vegetation. Other species present include: white mulberry, black locust, white snakeroot, and garlic mustard. City of New York, Parks and Recreation, Natural Resources Group 8 Pelham Bay Entitation Unit Descriptions, Surveyed 2007 Unit: 892 Acreage: 1.21 Mgmt.