The project will also aim to study the impacts of global warming on pollinators.
From the article:
The project aims to plant 50,000 native violets over the next two years, with support from a grant awarded this year by the National Environmental Education Foundation to Freshkills Park Alliance. “Planting these violets is incredibly important to the ecosystem within Freshkills and also the region,” Mark Murphy, President of the Freshkills Park Alliance, said. “Our 2,200 acres of native grassland is not just a place of beauty, but a place of highly efficient carbon capture, of resilience, regrowth and environmental sustainability.” The violet project process began by removing invasive mugwort and Chinese bushclover from the grassland. The Greenbelt Native Plant Center team then tilled the soil and laid landscape fabric to prevent new invasive growth. [...] Over the next two years, the Freshkills Alliance science team will study the impacts of large-scale native violet planting. They will also reintroduce native pollinators to assess the success of the planting project and the challenges posed by global warming and the reduction of air safety regulations, Murphy shared.
Freshkills Park is built on the sight of an infamous decommissioned landfill that was causing harm to surrounding communities. The conversion from landfill to park takes time and the first parts of the new park opened in 2023. By the time it is fully complete, Freshkills Park will be almost three times the size of Central Park.
