Alley Pond Park
| Alley Pond Park | |
|---|---|
Alley Pond Environmental Center (APEC)
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| Type | public park |
| Location | Bordering Douglaston and Bayside in New York City |
| Coordinates | 40°45′30″N 73°44′50″W / 40.75833°N 73.74722°WCoordinates: 40°45′30″N 73°44′50″W / 40.75833°N 73.74722°W |
| Area | 655.294 acres (265.188 ha) |
| Operated by | New York City Department of Parks and Recreation |
| Status | Operating |
| Parking | 200 spaces |
Alley Pond Park is the second-largest public park in Queens, New York City. It occupies 655.294 acres (265.188 ha), most of it acquired and cleared by the city in 1929, as authorized by a resolution of the New York City Board of Estimate in 1927. The park is bordered to the east by Douglaston, to the west by Bayside, to the north by Little Neck Bay, and to the south by Union Turnpike. It is run and operated by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.
The park contains the Queens Giant, an old tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) that is the tallest carefully measured tree in New York City and probably the oldest living thing in the New York metropolitan area.
Cross Island Parkway transects the park from north to south, while the Long Island Expressway and Grand Central Parkway transect the park from east to west. South of the Long Island Expressway, there are woodlands, and north of it, there are meadowlands.
The Alley Pond Environmental Center, with a library, museum and animal exhibits, is located in the northern part of the park, on the south side of Northern Boulevard.
The park occupies part of a terminal moraine, a ridge of sand and rock, that was formed by a glacier 15,000 years ago, at the southern terminus of the Laurentide ice sheet. Boulders dropped by the glaciers on the hillsides of the southern end of the park still remain, as do scattered kettle ponds formed by melting ice. The valley features both fresh water, draining into the valley from the hills and bubbling up from natural springs, and salt water from Little Neck Bay; this promotes ecodiversity, with freshwater and saltwater wetlands, tidal flats, meadows, and forests accommodating abundant bird life.
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Wikipedia