Environmental Education
The Hunters Point Parks Conservancy began working on environmental education initiatives in 2019 and plans to expand them in the years ahead. Both Hunter’s Point South Park and Gantry Plaza State Park hold remarkable potential to teach students and the public about resilient design, urban ecology, native species, climate change adaptation, and other environmental education topics. Our currently active programs in this area can be found below.
We also have an active blog where we write posts about the parks history, resilient design features, ongoing park initiatives and more. Check it out here.
Gardening Club
The Hunters Point Parks Conservancy partners with Hunter's Point Community Middle School to run an afterschool gardening club for students in 6th - 8th grade at the school. The program was piloted in the Spring 2019 semester with 10 students and continued in Fall 2019 with 15 students. HPPC and teachers at the middle school led the students in weeding, restoring, and replanting a school garden space on the corner of Borden Ave. & Center Blvd. that had been neglected for years.
In the fall, students were also able to work on a few projects in Hunter's Point South Park with the help of NYC Parks gardeners. We look forward to continuing this program for years to come! Thank you to Macy's and TF Cornerstone for providing funding for this program. Thanks as well to HPCMS principal Sarah Goodman and teachers Mrs. Mathai and Mr. Agosto who make it possible!
Urban Ecology Curriculum
The Conservancy began a partnership with Newtown Creek Alliance (NCA) in 2019 to bring a place-based urban ecology curriculum to two LIC middle schools.
Newtown Creek Alliance created the first phase of the curriculum and implemented it in a few Brooklyn schools in 2018. In 2019, HPPC received funding from TF Cornerstone to help NCA write two new units (Climate Change Adaptation & History and Geography of Newtown Creek) and expand the program into LIC.
HPPC & NCA worked together to train nine teachers, five from Hunter’s Point Community Middle School and four from PS/IS 78, in the curriculum and how to integrate it into their existing lesson plans. The lessons and activities have been implemented in the classroom, and we look forward to expanding the program further. Find out more about the curriculum at the NCA website.
In 2020, HPPC worked with NCA and the local middle schools to create a pollinator meadow on 48th Ave. in Long Island City which will be integrated into the Urban Ecology Curriculum in future years. You can read more about that project here.
Virtual Resilient Design Tour
The 11 acres that make up Hunter’s Point South Park were designed to promote the ecological well-being of the Long Island City waterfront community. The park plays an important role in the community beyond being a recreational space. It is a model for social, cultural, and ecologically sustainable design. To recognize this, Newtown Creek Alliance and HPPC created this interactive guide to demonstrate the ecological significance of the park to the surrounding community and the resilient design strategies used to make the park function as a powerful tool to protect the community against the impacts of climate change. Explore salt marshes, berms, bioswales (also known as rain gardens), gabion walls, rip rap, native plantings, floodable multi-use basins, and more in this virtual tour!
Leave No trace coloring pages
In Spring 2021, HPPC partnered with The Blue Bus Project on a ‘Leave No Trace’ campaign around LIC. The goal was to convince park patrons to respect our parks and natural environment and to dispose of waste properly.
One facet of the campaign was the design and distribution of coloring pages for children, since it is important for children to learn to be good park stewards at a young age! There are two coloring page options - Click here to download page 1 and click here to download page 2.
Historical Education
In 2021, while we could not gather for in-person events due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Conservancy began creating some virtual video content, focusing on the history of our parks and our neighborhood. Check out some of the video content below. We hope to expand on these pieces with some in-person history tours and events in the near future.
LIC and Hunters Point Through the Ages
In the Spring of 2021 HPPC took viewers on a 5-part journey through the history of Hunter's Point and Long Island City. The adventure emphasized a special focus on maps and historical images of our area and was led by Andrew Kapochunas, local resident, amateur historian, and member of the New York Map Society. All five videos can be found on our YouTube channel and the links are below:
A Reimagined Shoreline: The History of Gantry Plaza State Park
HPPC and Tom Balsley, Managing Principal of SWA/Balsley and designer of both of our waterfront parks, teamed up in May 2021 to create a video about the history of Gantry Plaza State Park and the design process which led to this beautiful 12-acre oasis we now have on the Long Island City waterfront.
The video was released to celebrate Gantry Plaza State Park's birthday. On Friday, May 21st, the park turned 23 years old. HPPC is extremely appreciative of Mr. Balsley and his team's work to create this amazing park that now sees over 1.5 million visitors annually.