The Park:
Marine Park lies on the westernmost shore of Jamaica Bay. Its 798 acres include fragrant salt marshes, upland woods, grasslands and a plethora of garden beds surrounding active recreation areas. These habitats are home to a unique array of flora and fauna including cottontail rabbits, ring-necked pheasants, horseshoe crabs, oyster toadfish, diamondback turtles and breeding osprey.
Environmentally, 530 acres of Marine Park’s natural areas are protected by local law as a Forever Wild preserve. The Urban Park Rangers staff and program the Salt Marsh Nature Center that overlooks the natural areas and houses educational exhibits. Recreationally, the park offers amenities as varied as a golf course, cricket fields, and baseball diamonds, plus basketball, handball, bocce and tennis courts. The Carmine Carro Community Center is a modern geothermal building providing space for indoor activities for senior citizens. The park also contains four playgrounds, bicycle greenways, a canoe-and-kayak launch at Gerritsen inlet and five miles of nature trails. Most of these active sites are landscaped with flowering trees and welcome gardens displaying both perennial and annual plantings.
The Organization:
Marine Park Alliance assists NYC Parks in its largest Brooklyn property with a mission to provide cultural, environmental and volunteer programming for the health and well-being of all New Yorkers. This work can involve recruiting volunteers for a project, publicizing a program, mapping facilities, and more. We produce a seasonal calendar of free activities in the park and an easy-to-read map. We also coordinate a large corps of volunteers to upgrade problem areas from tackling overgrowth of weeds to painting benches.