Our Hudson River Foundation Grant for Wetlands Restoration

WETLANDS RESTORATION PROJECT

Summer of 1998

Review of the Wetlands Restoration Project as of August 16, 1998:

To the Hudson River Foundation:

The primary focus of our project has been to improve a fragment of freshwater wetlands that exists in our school garden adjacent to our school property on Tibbett Avenue. Before the project began, a small cattail filled wetlands emptied into a wooded manmade ditch filled with swamp willow, rushes, mugwort, and numerous other plants, both exotic and native. Our goal was three-fold: 1. to create a pond in the wooded region below the cattails, 2. improve the marginal areas around the cattails and pond with more native vegetation characteristic of fresh-water wetlands, and 3. set up an educational program to better inform and educate the school community of its wetlands environment and its attributes.

We began with the educational component in May, with the construction of a kiosk at the entrance of the garden. This kiosk was built by the school shop teacher on weekends, and he was paid a stipend of $500.00 for his labors. So far, this kiosk provides information about the garden’s history and activities provided for volunteers.

I am happy to report that our first goal was met with great success, and our second and third goals have been partially met, with good results thus far. Building a pond was no small feat, but thanks to the five Kennedy students who worked with me this summer, we were able to work steadily toward our goal of a pond by early August. All five students, Evagelia Bakoulis, Dominique Guadelupe, Jose Jimenez, Sara Kempton, and Luis Lopez all proved able and dedicated workers, and for all their work, each will receive stipends of $1,000, courtesy of the grant.

We began work on Wednesday, July 1, and finished Thursday, August 6, in all, about six weeks of work, and total, about 190 hours of work for each. We began by examining the site of pond construction, taking measurements, and working with coordinate paper designs. In the first week, we took a trip to the Teatown Reservation in Ossining, New York, to take a tour with native plant specialist Susan Carpenter, to view potential native plants that could be incorporated into our small ecosystem.Throughout the project, Susan has worked with us to provide practical advice and written materials to help us with ideas for wetlands vegetation.

In the second week we began to remove unwanted exotics throughout our wetlands such as ragweed, mugwort, and Virginia Creeper. We also had to remove one swamp willow to make way for our pond. We excavated our pond area entirely by hand, using pick axes and shovels. This whole component took up much of our time, right up to the end of our third week. By the time we finished with the pit, it was twenty feet long and ten feet wide, four feet deep, with a “lamb chop” shape.

The second phase of the project involved a visit to Waterford Gardens, an aquatic garden center in Saddle River, New Jersey. There we met with James Lawrie, who went over the mechanics of pond construction and management. At that point we purchased a liner for our pond, and the stone needed for our rim. We purchased a Pennsylvania Blue Stone, which contains little lime in it, and should have little impact on the pH of the water. What followed was the setting up of the pond bottom, which meant setting up an aeration system with PVC pipes to avoid oxygen bubbles under the liner, a half ton of sand, and layers of weed mat. After laying down the liner itself, we set up the capstones, our waterfall, and bog areas on either side of our pond.

In the final week, we tested our pond, and found with great relief that it didn’t leak, and overall looked great! We made a few trips to nurseries to buy marginal plants at places like Waterford Gardens (for aquatic plants), Sprain Brook, Frank’s, and Home Depot. We did lots of landscaping around the pond, cleaned out the pond one last time to get rid of concrete and dirt debris, and made our fish purchases. With great fanfare (and a garden barbecue), we introduced seven Comet Goldfish and six tadpoles to our pond. One week later, the fish are doing well, and if indeed our pond seems a suitable habitat, we will get more fish.

In a month I will send you photos of the finished pond, along with a photo essay the local newspaper has been working on about our project. In this package, I have a few photos showing the work in progress.

In the fall, we will continue with the removal of mugwort and other exotics in our cattail region, and will introduce more natives in that region. Unfortunately due to time constraints, we did not have the time to address this region of the garden as closely as we would have liked. We will also continue to improve the pond margins with more plantings that we will order from Whole Earth Nurseries in New Jersey. We will also have students work on a garden map, and a brochure about the wetlands / pond of the garden that will be available at the kiosk.

It is my feeling that the pond project has been highly successful. While I felt that the five students who worked on the project had the perfect educational summer job, they had lots of fun in the process. They had lots of creative liberty to design and implement the pond, and they were thrilled to see their seemingly fantastical ideals become a reality. One student even commented that he was secretly skeptical that the pond would really get built. Beyond the five who worked on the project, many visitors have been drawn to the garden because of the pond, waterfall, and fish. Many have expressed surprise that a pond would ever be set up in such a location, but it has also drawn their attention to a wetlands resource that was already extant, but largely unnoticed. It is my hope that this pond will increase interest in the value in the cattail and swamp willow wetlands that exist “upstream”. As these areas will become habitats for our frogs and later perhaps turtles, along with numerous birds, the eyes of the visitors will be drawn into these neglected, but important pockets in our garden.

There is still much to be learned. We really don’t know what the long-term conditions will be like for our aquatic creatures, and that if the oxygenation provided by our waterfall will be enough. If indeed there are problems, we may have to explore other options of aerating the water, such as a solar powered pumping system, but I hope that won’t be necessary!
The report in sum.......so far......so good!

Supervisor: Anthony Thoman
Participants: Evagelis Bakoulis
Dominique Guadelupe
Jose Jimenez
Sara Kempton
Luis Lopez

Sponsor: Hudson River Foundation through a $13,400 grant to restore and
improve our wetlands environment in our garden
The project began July1, 1998, and reached closure in May of 1999

Basic Conditions of the Project:
1. We will show up promptly at appointed times, usually at 8:00 AM. We will
begin each day by punching the time clock on the fourth floor.
2. If anyone of us are going to be absent, we should contact Mr. Thoman by
7:30 AM
3. We will always dress appropriately for the work. This means we must wear
supportive sneakers or more, t-shirt, and gloves when necessary.
4. We will get a 15 minute break for every two hours of work.
5. We will make sure the garden is locked and all supplies are properly
secured if the last one on the job.
6. We will avoid extensive socializing with friends attending summer school.

Here is our final update of how we have implemented our wetlands restoration grant.

It is my hope that we have stayed within the spirit of our original grant proposal, which is to improve our wetlands environment, and to find new ways to educate the students as to the value of our unique habitat. When I originally wrote the grant, I never expected us to be where we are today, with our garden becoming a more widely used resource by not only our immediate Environmental Club, but by neighboring elementary schools, and by a newly established horticulture class at Kennedy. Much of the interest in the garden has been sparked by the pond which we built last summer. This spring, my Horticulture class will continue to modify the landscape around the pond and our wetlands with plants bought earlier in the spring at Sprain Brook Nursery, and at Frank’s. This weekend, I made a trip out to a special native plants nursery in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey, and bought a whole host of plants, shrubs, and trees which should flourish in our habitat, attracting more wildlife, and enhance our garden as an educational resource. We will work on planting many of our new specimens this week.

With the remainder of the grant, we want to focus on the educational component of the garden, creating a label system, and the publication of brochures and maps. We will have a special program in the garden this summer with the UPLINC program, a federally funded program that fosters connections between elementary, junior, and high schools, along with college campuses, creating “educational corridors”. We are linked with PS 86, MS 143, and Lehman College. This summer, seven Kennedy students will act as environmental educators to MS 143 students. I would like to use the remaining Hudson monies to pay for materials to provide for sturdy interpretive labels and brochures, that will be created by these youngsters.

As always, thanks for all you support.

Anthony Thoman,
Advisor, Environmental Club

May, 1999