Context
Fresh Kills is centrally located on Staten Island and within the New York City metropolitan region. It is bounded on the west by the Arthur Kill, separating New York and New Jersey, and on the east by Richmond Avenue. The Staten Island Mall and the Staten Island Greenbelt lie just beyond the site, as do many neighborhoods, including Travis and Arden Heights. The West Shore Expressway bisects the site.
45% of the 2,200-acre site is composed of four landfill mounds, which range in height from 90 feet to 225 feet.
The remaining 55% of the site is made up of creeks, wetlands and dry lowland. These flatter areas and open waterways host many things from precisely engineered landfill monitoring infrastructure to intact wetland and wildlife habitats. The land types will affect the programming of the park.
Site Composition of Fresh Kills
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Before it became a landfill in 1948, Fresh Kills was much like the rest of northwest Staten Island; that is, most of the land was low lying with creeks and marsh. Fresh Kills has since developed its own unique ecology. Today, freshwater and tidal wetlands, fields, birch thickets and a coastal oak maritime forest, as well as areas dominated by non-native plant species, are all within the boundaries of Fresh Kills. Already, many of the landscapes of Fresh Kills possess a stark beauty, with 360 degree, wide horizon views from the hills, over 300 acres of salt marsh and a winding network of creeks. Its creeks and wetlands have been designated a Significant Coastal Fish and Wildlife Habitat by the New York State Dept of Environmental Conservation (DEC). Fresh Kills and its tributaries are part of the largest tidal wetland ecosystem in the region.
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The Fresh Kills site and its surroundings include four major habitat groupings: breeding sites, foraging areas, freshwater marshes and wooded swamps and upland forests. In addition to acting as a stop on the Atlantic flyway, birds, as well as other wildlife, utilize Fresh Kills as habitat.
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 See and hear the site as it is now (part of "PENETRATION AND TRANSPARENCY: MORPHED" © 2001-2002, by Mierle Laderman Ukeles, commissioned by the Percent for Art Program, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs and the NYC Department of Sanitation.)
See and hear landfill systems at work (part of "PENETRATION AND TRANSPARENCY: MORPHED" © 2001-2002, by Mierle Laderman Ukeles, commissioned by the Percent for Art Program, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs and the NYC Department of Sanitation.)
Follow the creek system on the blue tour
Listen to the birdsong ("IMAGING THE LANDFILL / SCALING THE CITY: '45 Species of birds found at the Fresh Kills Landfill'" © 1995, by Mierle Laderman Ukeles, commissioned by the Percent for Art Program, NYC Dept of Cultural Affairs, and the NYC Dept of Sanitation.)
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