UDALLS COVE PRESERVATION COMMITTEE

Objective of the Proposed Restoration Project

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The proposed restoration area is coming to be dominated by invasive Norway maple trees, though a few large native oak trees remain towards the bottom of the slope near the pond and other species of trees are scattered around the area.  The objective of the Old Oak Pond Ecological Restoration Project is to restore sustainably, to the extent possible, the indigenous natural flora and fauna of the ecosystem.  The project will include removal of the Norway maples and other invasives, and replanting with appropriate native tree and shrub species; this will significantly enhance biodiversity, making the restoration site more biologically productive. 

 

According to the Cornell Cooperative Extension Service and Sea Grant organization:

 

“Norway maples have very shallow roots and produce a great deal of shade which makes it difficult for grass and other plants to grow in the understory below.  Additionally, they are prolific seed producers and are now invading forests and forest edges. … [F]orest diversity is starting to decline because the excess shade they create inhibits the regeneration of … native seedlings. The shallow root system makes growing difficult for other native shrubs and wildflowers in the understory. … Other species of flora and fauna, such as insects and birds, may indirectly be affected due to the change in resource diversity and availability. Norway maple is also susceptible to certain types of fungi, such as Verticillium wilt and anthracnose and may also serve as a host for aphids.”   https://nyis.info/invasive_species/norway-maple/

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PROJECT DESIGN:

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The project design must describe in detail how the restoration work should be implemented, and must include these elements:

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• Site Assessment and Data Collection, including a tree survey, wetlands delineation, and other information needed to inform the design (e.g., assessment of the soils, hydrogeological data, drainage patterns, etc.).

• Design Plans, including an Invasives Removal Plan, a Planting Plan, a Soil Management and Erosion Control Plan, and a Sustainability Plan.

• A report identifying the Ecosystem Benefits of the proposed restoration project.

• Metrics for evaluating the success of the restoration project in the years after implementation. 

• Proposed Sequence of Construction and estimated Project Implementation Schedule.

• Design Reports for review at the 30%, 60% and 90% completion stages.  The 100% Design Report will be finalized at the conclusion of the permitting process, so as to incorporate any changes or adjustments required by permitting agencies.

• Opinion of Probable Construction Cost.

• Design Schedule.

 

Public Outreach:  UCPC has met with nine local stakeholder organizations (including civic associations, park stewardship groups, and environmental education and conservation organizations) to share information about the proposed restoration project.  UCPC has scheduled an informational public meeting at 7 PM on Wednesday, November 20, 2024.  To join this Zoom meeting, copy the link at the to of this web page and paste it into your browser.  Note the Meeting ID and Password to join.  At the meeting the 60% Design Report will be discussed; the 90% Design Report will be informed by and will respond as appropriate to concerns of and suggestions from the public.

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Consultation:  UCPC and the design contractor are consulting with NYCDPR and other stakeholders on the review of the design itself.  The project will require construction and forestry permits from NYCDPR, and possibly also the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC). 

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PROJECT STATUS and TIMELINE

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UCPC will regularly update this section with the current project status.

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November 2023:  UCPC received a $40,000 grant from the Con Edison company to assist in paying for the design work, for which we are most grateful.

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11/30/2023: UCPC issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) from qualified environmental consulting firms to carry out a detailed, professional design for the restoration project. 

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January 2024:  In November 2023 UCPC contacted nine environmental consulting firms with the capability of designing the restoration project and inquired whether they were interested in receiving the RFP. Seven firms responded affirmatively, and they received the design RFP on November 30, 2023. Five of these firms responded that they were reviewing the RFP; subsequently two of those firms advised they would not be submitting a proposal. The three remaining firms attended site tours conducted by UCPC on December 15, 2023.  We hope to receive proposals from these three firms by the January 31, 2024 deadline.

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February 2024: Proposals for the design work were timely received from three well qualified firms.  Proposals were reviewed by four UCPC Board members, and by the NYC Parks Department's Natural Resources Group, and by Save the Sound (www.savethesound.org).

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February 26, 2024:  UCPC selected GEI Consultants (https://www.geiconsultants.com/) to perform the design work, and initiated contract discussions. 

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March 31, 2024: UCPC and GEI finalized the contract for the design work.  Under the contract schedule, the 90% design is expected to be completed by the end of 2024.  (The 100% design will be completed once the permitting agencies have reviewed it and specified any further adjustments; we expect this to take place in 2025.)  Including two additional design tasks subsequently approved by UCPC, the design work is expected to cost about $72,500.

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April 15, 2024: GEI team members visited the site to conduct the Tree Survey, required by NYCDPR.  GEI & UCPC also delineated the southern boundary of  the restoration site.

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July 1, 2024:  A professional land survey was conducted at the site, to delineate the exact property boundaries and to provide important information about elevations so that accurate contour lines can be included in the mapping of the site.

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July 26, 2024: GEI provided the 30% Design Report for review.  UCPC shared the report with the NYC Parks Department Natural Resources Group and with Save the Sound. 

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August 2024: On August 14 UCPC hosted a meeting with GEI, NYCDPR and Save the Sound to discuss the 30% Design Report.  On August 31 UCPC provided to GEI consolidated comments from the meeting participants.

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September 2024:  UCPC received a further grant of $75,000 from the Con Edison Company to assist UCPC -- possibly in partnership with another environmental organization -- to apply for and manage the grants and permits that will be necessary to implement the proposed restoration project, once the design is largely completed.

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October 2024:  In mid-October UCPC sent letters to the managers or owners of seven apartment buildings located within two blocks of the proposed restoration site (including one currently under construction).  In those letters, UCPC provided information about the proposed restoration project, and about the public informational meeting scheduled for November 20 (see below).  In the letters, UCPC asked for assistance in sharing the information with the residents of the apartment buildings. 

 

October 27, 2024:  UCPC received from GEI the draft narrative for the 60% Design Report, and shared it with NYCDPR and Save the Sound.​ 

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November 3, 2024: UCPC hand-delivered to residences near the proposed restoration site flyers announcing the November 20 public meeting (see below), and providing information about how to find the Zoom link to join the meeting.  Flyers were delivered to residences located between Northern Boulevard, Douglaston Parkway, the Long Island Railroad, and 244th Street.  UCPC also shared electronic versions of the flyer with other stakeholder organizations including the Douglas Manor Environmental Association, the Douglaston Civic Association, the Douglas Manor Association, the Douglaston and Little Neck Historical Society, the Douglaston Garden Club, the Alley Pond Environmental Center, the Friends of Alley Pond Park, and the Parks Committee of Community Board 11.

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November 4, 2024:  UCPC provided GEI with comments on the 60% Design Report.  When received from GEI, the final version of the 60% Design Report will be posted here.

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November 20, 2024:  UCPC hosted a two-hour public meeting over Zoom.  At the meeting we provided details about the planned restoration project, and responded to a number of questions and comments from the public.  These comments will also help inform the final project design.  Scroll down to see a video recording of the public meeting.

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March 31, 2025:  We have encountered a serious roadblock that threatens the viability of the restoration project.  in January 2025 the NYC Parks Department brought to our attention a requirement enacted by the NYC City Council in 2010 that makes it nearly impossible for us to do this project.  Local Law 3 of 2010 requires that for every tree of 6” diameter or greater that we remove, we have to replace it with new trees that total up to the same diameter as the tree we’ve removed.  For example:

• If we remove a 6” diameter tree, we would have to replace it with three 2” diameter trees or two 3” diameter trees;

• if we remove a 12” diameter tree, we would have to replace it with four 3” trees or six 2” tree;

• if we remove an 18” tree, we would have to replace it with six 3” trees or nine 2” trees; and so on.

Here's our problem: On the 2.2 acre restoration site, there is simply not enough space to plant anywhere near the number of replacement trees that the City formula requires. In that case, for the shortfall -- that is, the difference between the number of trees we have room to plant, and the number that the City formula requires -- we would have to pay $2,900 per tree into the City’s tree replacement fund. Because our project is intended to replace all the invasive trees throughout the site, and because there are so many large invasive trees present, the payment we would have to make to the City’s tree replacement fund is a staggering $1.8 Million!  Obviously, there is no way we can afford that, nor would the grant-making entities to which we would be applying be likely to give us that much “extra” money.  We'll be consulting with the NYC Parks Department and our local elected officials to see if there is any way for the planned restoration project to proceed without requiring such a large payment to the tree replacement fund.  The law that imposes the obligation was originally intended to address very different kinds of projects.  For instance, if construction of a new apartment building requires the removal of, say, three or four large street trees, the builder can pay the required amount into the fund to pay for the requisite number of replacement trees. That payment might total $50,000 or $60,000, a tiny fraction of the total cost of the building.  But for our planned project, because there are so many large invasive trees that would be removed, the payment to the fund would be more than the cost of the entire restoration project.

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June 2025:  Over the past months we evaluated four alternative plans for the project site.  It does not appear that any of the plans are viable, for the reasons summarized below:

• "Plan A" was our original plan, involving removal of all the invasive trees from the 2.2 acre site and replanting with appropriate indigenous species.  Under the NYC tree replacement law we would have to pay $1.87 million into the tree replacement fund.  This would be in addition to the cost of the project itself -- estimated at $1.0 to $1.25 million.  We do not foresee that a grant-making entity would provide funding for this required payment.

• "Plan B" was the same, but without removing some 30 Black Locust trees with a diameter greater than 6".  These are invasive to our area, and we would prefer they be removed; but in December 2024 the NYC Parks Dep’t. advised that they should not be removed.  Plan B would require payment of $1.3 million into the tree replacement fund.

• "Plan C" involved removing the invasives (but not the Black Locusts) from only half the site -- the half that is directly downhill from the Joseph Hellmann Overlook on Douglaston Parkway.  Invasives larger than 6" (which trigger the Local Law 3 formula) would NOT be removed from the other half of the site, adjacent to the apartment building parking lot.  This would require payment into the tree replacement fund of $432,000.  Though significantly less than the payment required for Plans A or B, this would still be unlikely to receive grant funding, and the ecological benefit of the project would be significantly diminished.

• "Plan D" was proposed to us on May 15 by the Parks Department.   This plan contemplates removal of a much lower number of invasive trees than Plans A, B or C  -- about 90% fewer than Plan B (and even fewer when compared with Plan A).  Plan D  contemplates planting enough replacement trees to avoid any payments into the tree replacement fund.  After review, our design contractor (GEI Consultants) concluded that Plan D contemplates planting many more replacement trees than would be viable in the space available at the restoration site.  Plan D calls for a total of 668 replacement trees to be planted – more than twice as many trees as are called for in Plan B, even though Plan B provides for removal of nearly ten times as many invasive trees than does Plan D, and would thus open up considerably more space for planting new trees. 

On June 11 we send an email to the Parks Dep’t. saying that we consider Plan D would have a low likelihood of attracting the grant funding that would be necessary; and because it does not fulfill our own project objectives we are not prepared to invest the considerable further effort and resources that would be necessary to try to move ahead with Plan D. On June 20 Parks sent a reply expressing a more fundamental concern with our proposed restoration project:  "Given the recently established goal of reaching 30% tree canopy cover across NYC … we are not able to support a plan that would clear such a densely-canopied area without a clear plan for full tree replacement adhering to Local Law 3."

Over the past months we had discussed with the Parks Dep't. staff and with local elected officials a possible narrow, targeted legislative amendment to the tree replacement law that would allow an ecological restoration project such as the one we proposed to proceed.  The Parks Dep’t. staff also made it clear they could not support any amendment to Local Law 3, and without such support we do not foresee it would gain any traction.  In any case, we had always understood that the project would require two permits from the City Parks Department itself -- a Construction permit and a Forestry permit.  These permits would presumably NOT be issued, given the Department's concerns.  Finally, without the City's support for the proposed project, there is no reason to believe that a grant-making entity would provide funding.  We have therefore reluctantly decided to abandon this project. 

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Ecological Importance of the Old Oak Pond Site, and Relationship to Other Ecological Restoration Projects in the Little Neck Bay Area

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The proposed restoration site has added ecological importance because Old Oak Pond, immediately west of the site, is a freshwater pond with a direct year-round surface water connection to Little Neck Bay, itself part of Long Island Sound.  In 1988 Long Island Sound was identified as an Estuary of National Significance (see: https://www.epa.gov/nep/overview-national-estuary-program). The Long Island Sound Study organization manages this National Estuary Program public/private partnership; among its priority objectives are promoting thriving habitats and abundant wildlife; achieving clean water and healthy watersheds; and addressing invasive species (see: https://longislandsoundstudy.net/).

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The Old Oak Pond Ecological Restoration Project is intended to complement other significant ecological improvement and restoration projects that have been carried out in Little Neck Bay (including Udalls Cove) and its watershed over the past 25 years or are currently in the planning stages.  These include:

 

• Three large wetlands restoration projects carried out adjacent to Alley Creek to the northeast, southeast and southwest of the Long Island Railroad (LIRR).  One of these was carried out by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey; the other two were carried out by New York City.

• Restoration by NYC of Aurora Pond, a freshwater pond in the center of Udalls Cove Park, and an associated erosion and sedimentation control project.

• Installation by New York City of a 5-million gallon combined sewer overflow retention tank west of Alley Creek, between Northern Boulevard and the LIRR.

• The “Big Rock Project” on the northwestern shore of Udalls Cove. a living shoreline and coastal resilience project envisioned and sponsored by the Douglas Manor Environmental Association (DMEA), with construction expected to begin in 

• Removal by UCPC of over a million pounds of concrete rubble dumped decades earlier in the South Ravine section of Udalls Cove Park, and associated erosion control and reforestation work.

• An ecological restoration project in the Virginia Point section of Udalls Cove Park carried out by UCPC in 2009; and another larger Virginia Point restoration project to be carried out by NYC, now in the planning and permitting stage.

• Installation of four osprey nesting platforms around Little Neck Bay and Udalls Cove, with an additional four nests built by ospreys on trees and utility poles (seven of these eight nesting sites were occupied during the 2023 nesting season). The first two platforms were installed by UCPC in 1997 and 2004, respectively; both have been occupied ever since with chicks from both fledging nearly every year.  The other nests in the Little Neck Bay area are likely occupied by descendants of the pairs nesting on these original two platforms. 

• Green infrastructure" project near the mouth of Gabler's Creek in the Virginia Point section of Udalls Cove Park.​​

 

 

The proposed Old Oak Pond Ecological Restoration Project is intended to further ecological improvements and habitat restoration in the area.  Incremental work undertaken through several smaller projects can, cumulatively, make a significant difference for the ecosystem and for people's quality of life.  Funding entities and permitting agencies often wish to understand how a smaller project such as the proposed Old Oak Pond Ecological Restoration Project fits into a larger context of additional restoration work in an area such as the Little Neck Bay watershed.

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As an indication of ecosystem improvements in the Little Neck Bay watershed and surrounding areas, and in the bay itself, wildlife documented within the past several years include bald eagle, coyote, fox, whitetail deer, muskrat, snapping turtle, dolphin, and many others.  UCPC anticipates that replanting with native species in the proposed Old Oak Pond Ecological Restoration site may attract more native pollinators and other invertebrates, and in turn more songbirds, thus contributing to further enhancement of wildlife in the area.

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