Udalls Cove Preservation Committee

Here's a short video tour of the western end of the Old Oak Pond trail -- with fresh woodchips spread over 450 linear feet of that trail. Old Oak Pond lies between Douglaston Parkway and the Douglaston Golf Driving Range.

Today we planted an 18-foot tall Princeton American Elm tree in the Aurora Pond section of Udalls Cove Park, near the western entry at the foot of Little Neck Road. THANKS to Jim Cella, Jayden Rodriguez and Daniel Savage for helping out! The Princeton American Elm is a true native variety that is naturally resistant to Dutch Elm Disease (which during the 20th century killed most of America's elms).

We've started placing fresh wood chips at the west end of the Old Oak Pond trail, which connects to the parking lot of the Douglaston Golf Driving Range. The trail leads to the pond, and then continues to the Joe Hellmann Overlook on Douglaston Parkway. We've covered about 170 linear feet of trail so far (with more coming once the rain stops).

The past couple of weekends we've been trimming back the overgrowth along our trails. So far we've cleared the trails at Aurora Pond, Virginia Point, and Old Oak Pond. There are lots of wildflowers blooming -- worth a look next time you're out for a walk!

It's remarkable how much effort some people will invest in doing something aggressively stupid. Today we extracted FOUR shopping carts and an orange traffic cone from Aurora Pond. We're reasonably sure all these items were dumped into the pond within the past few weeks. The carts are heavy, and it would not have been easy to lift them over the railing to dump them into the pond. Getting them out wasn't easy either, but we were successful. Three of the carts are from Stop-...and-Shop, and are in perfectly good condition (just a bit dirty); we've called the store and will try to arrange for them to be removed from the area (so the idiots aren't tempted to do it again). The fourth cart is an archaeological relic -- it's from Grand Union, which has been gone for 20 years or more. We're not sure what to do with that one ... maybe we'll put it on Antiques Road Show. See more

THANKS TO ALL THE VOLUNTEERS who came out today to participate in our 52nd Annual Wetlands & Woodlands Cleanup! We filled a 30-cubic yard dumpster to the very top. Thanks to the NYC Parks Department for providing the dumpster, and the trash bags and work gloves. And special thanks to Ron Saar and Craig Brock for helping to gather all the trash and bring it back to the dumpster, and to the DMA for the use of their pickup truck. It was particularly nice to see all the young people -- from little children to high school students -- who helped out today!

Dear friends of Udalls Cove Park -- I recently became aware of the "Queens Memory Project," which has a wonderful, short history of the founding of the Udalls Cove Preservation Committee by Aurora Gareiss in 1969. You can find it here: https://www.urbanarchive.org/stories/dcCi5JmaW65. The narrative is accompanied by some extraordinary photographs of the earliest cleanups (when the wetlands were filled with rubbish including junked cars and huge truck tires); as well as photos of sections of our wetlands being filled in for development. I encourage you to take a quick look!

More trail maintenance today -- cleared this large log that had fallen across the trail on the west side of Aurora Pond. (One piece now makes a handy pulpit or observation post. )

Today we reinforced the Osprey nesting platform located near the shoreline at the head of Udalls Cove. The long vertical support of the platform, which was installed in 2004, is made up of multiple shorter pieces of wood sandwiched together. Years ago it had started to lean to the east (to the left, as viewed from the water), with the wood warping at the joint between two of the shorter pieces. We were only able to straighten it a little, but the new pieces we installed should prevent it from getting worse. Thanks to Elana Mugdan for invaluable support on this project!

A number of people have asked about what exactly the work barge is doing in connection with the project to replace the Belgrave Sewage Treatment Plan discharge pipe (see our previous post on 12/29). The barge carries a drill rig that is being used to taking a series of borings along the route of the new, underground pipeline. This is to ensure that the geological conditions through which the new pipe will be placed are fully understood and incorporated into the project desi...gn before the drilling starts. The actual directional drilling to install the new pipeline will all be done from the property of the Belgrave Treatment plant. This aerial photo (by Jon McGillick) shows the current discharge pipe running across the Udalls Cove marsh, and extending about 140 feet out from the shoreline to the concrete structure with the daisies (or sunflowers?) painted on it. As mentioned in our previous post, the concrete structure and the last 140 feet of pipeline from the shoreline will be removed as part of the replacement project, but the rest of the pipeline across the marsh will be left in place. (A number of you have expressed disappointment about the removal of the structure. Yes, it was fun to climb around in and we've all gotten sort of used to it being there ... but it really is pretty ugly, and it's also gotten to be quite dangerous, with exposed rebar sticking out in all directions. And then there was the sad event in 2015 when three young vandals burned the nest -- with eggs in it! -- that the local pair of osprey had foolishly built on a corner of the structure.) See more

Some visitors to a backyard patio adjacent to the Ravine section of Udalls Cove Park. A Red-Bellied Woodpecker (yes, that's what it's called, even though it has a red head) and a Bluejay are enjoying a few peanuts. (Photos by Stew Jensen.)

If you've passed by the Douglaston Point recently you've probably seen the large work barge moored in Little Neck Bay near the mouth of Udalls Cove. This is part of the long-awaited project to replace the discharge pipe from the Belgrave Sewage Treatment Plant. The existing pipe runs from the plant located east of Virginia Point across the Udalls Cove marsh and out to that ugly concrete structure with the daisies (or sunflowers?) painted on it, visible from Douglas Mano...r's Memorial Field. From there the pipe continues just under the muddy cove bottom until it is about 850 feet north of the Point, where the cleaned wastewater is discharged. The 90-year old pipe is leaking and needs to be replaced. The replacement pipe will be installed underground, using directional drilling. It will take off from the plant property, then dip down to a depth of about 40-50 feet. It will continue north about a half mile, and then curve back up to about the same discharge location as the current pipe. The diffusers through which the water is discharged will be wider and more efficient. Under the construction permit issued by New York State, the current pipe will be left in place so as not to disturb the marsh; BUT the ugly concrete structure, and the final 140 feet of pipe extending from the Udalls Cove shoreline to the structure, will be removed, as the Udalls Cove Preservation Committee had requested. The work is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2021. See more

We recently received photos of these two paintings of Little Neck Bay. They are by Frank Moratz and date to about 1960. The paintings are owned by an Oregon resident who grew up in Douglaston. The views are from what was then called Parsons Point in Douglaston, near what is now Regatta Place off Bay Street. In the 19th century the Parsons family lived in Flushing and became prominent there. The family owned an estate at this location in Douglaston, and kept a yacht moored in Little Neck Bay. Parsons Boulevard in Flushing is named for the family. In 1960 the Parsons' Douglaston mansion was still standing near the location depicted in these paintings. There was -- and still is -- a sandy beach here, called Parsons Beach, which was formerly used by local residents for swimming.

Last week's snowstorm was very beautiful (though it came a week too early -- a White Christmas would have been nice). Here are some photos of past snowstorms in Udalls Cove Park. We wish you all a wonderful holiday season, and a happy and healthy new year.

Today we mounted a bat box near Aurora Pond. We hope it will attract bats to roost there in the coming years. The location certainly provides plenty of mosquitos and other insects for them to eat. And thanks to the friend who donated the bat box!

Today Daniel Cataldo finished Part 3 of his Eagle Scout project, re-covering 150 linear feet of trail with fresh wood chips. The section of trail he worked on is on the east side of Aurora Pond, between Sandhill Road and the footbridge over Gabler's Creek. Thank you Daniel, and congratulations on completing your project! And by the way, evidently you've got some great weather karma -- perfect weather for each of the three parts of your project!

Today Eagle Scout candidate Daniel Cataldo finished Part 2 of his 3-part project. With a small crew of four, Daniel installed 25 steps down a steeply sloping section of trail west of Aurora Pond; and he installed a 16-foot wooden walkway at the bottom of the steps, spanning an often muddy part of the trail. For Part 1 of his project, in October Daniel cut and pre-drilled the lumber and assembled the frame for the walkway. Part 3 will follow soon when he and his team cover some of the trails around Aurora Pond with fresh wood chips.

Thank you Zion Church for organizing a fabulous Trick-or-Treat-Through-the-Cemetery Event today! It never stopped for three straight hours. The costumes were great, the candy flowed freely, and everyone -- by no means just the kids! -- had lots of fun.

In May we were proud to install a "SLOW - NO WAKE" buoy at the mouth of Udalls Cove. We are very sad to report that sometime during the week of October 19 it went missing. It disappeared before it was scheduled to be removed for the winter. We can think of only two possibilities: (1) The buoy came loose from its anchor chain by itself; this is highly unlikely, because the shackle connecting the buoy to the chain, and the chain and anchor, were all new and strong, and withstood big wind storms like Hurricane Isaias. (2) Somebody removed the buoy from the anchor chain; this is also unlikely, because it's very difficult to do while the buoy is in the water. Bottom line: we are mystified, and very disappointed.