Apr. 17, 2025 By Adam Daly Over 400 student volunteers from across the city helped plant native beach vegetation along the dunes of Coney Island Creek Park this past planting season, part of an effort to combat flooding and climate impacts threatening the southern Brooklyn neighborhood. The students — representing 20 public schools from…
Apr. 15, 2025 By Kirstyn Brendlen To tree, or not to tree? That is the question at the center of the third lawsuit targeting the city’s long-planned overhaul of Fort Greene Park. The lush but aging greenspace was chosen as one of eight city parks to be overhauled by the Parks Without Borders program…
Apr. 9, 2025 By Lauren Rapp Just as the city is reawakening after months of winter, so are the delicate sprouts of native grasses and wildflowers in the micro-urban grasslands of Green-Wood Cemetery. Visitors may notice a stark difference between grave plots along Green-Wood’s peaceful paths. Some public lots are almost entirely obscured by…
Mar. 28, 2025 By Kirstyn Brendlen A long-delayed project critical to the success of the Gowanus Canal Superfund cleanup reached an early milestone this week, as the city finished excavating space for a massive underground sewer overflow tank. The Red Hook tank — formerly known as the Head End tank — will catch 8…
Mar. 13, 2025 By Kirstyn Brendlen Months after hundreds of brush fires burned through Brooklyn’s green spaces, its parks are still recovering — and girding themselves for a future where those blazes are more frequent. This week, the Prospect Park Alliance and Marine Park Alliance were among five city park groups to receive “wildfire…
Feb. 21, 2025 By Alesandra Tejeda The timer started at 8:11 a.m last Saturday morning. Almost immediately, Laura Waterbury, an environmental educator with the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy and the leader of the morning’s birdwatching walk, shouted: “Oh! In the water!” Everyone turned to peer through their binoculars at the Double-crested Cormorant that had…
Jan. 30, 2025 By Kirstyn Brendlen Almost 15 years after Newtown Creek was named a federal Superfund site, the government is taking a step toward cleaning it up — or, at least part of it. The Environmental Protection Agency this month finalized plans for an “early action” cleanup of one of the most polluted…
Jan. 28, 2025 By Lauren Rapp A giant, rare and notoriously stinky flower bloomed at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden over the weekend, drawing hundreds to smell something “putrid.” The Amorphophallus gigas, known as the “corpse flower,” bloomed for just three days, prompting residents to brave frigid temperatures for a chance to see and smell…
Jan. 20, 2025 By Kirstyn Brendlen Columbia Street Waterfront District residents and politicians are demanding the immediate shutdown of a city-owned concrete recycling facility they say is filling the air with hazardous dust. Dozens of locals picketed outside the Columbia Street plant on Wednesday, waving signs that read “Shut it down” and “Protect our…
Jan. 16, 2025 By Lauren Rapp El Puente is celebrating its 38th annual Three Kings Celebration with a youth-led play, “Planting a Seed,” bringing to the stage a cultural event centered around community, resilience, and connection. The show, which will be performed on Jan. 17 and 18, will highlight over 70 young performers including…