Blue Heron Park Preserve

Blue Heron Park Preserve is a nature refuge on Staten Island, New York which has various natural areas including meadows, kettle ponds, freshwater streams and marshes, and woodlands. The park, maintained by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, was acquired by the city in several parcels between 1974 and 2001, with the official dedication taking place on October 22, 1996.

The extensive wetlands in the park are part of the "Blue Belt" an area of Staten Island which utilizes existing and improved undeveloped areas for storm water drainage. There are six ponds located within the park including the 1.75-acre (7,100 m²) Spring Pond and the 1.4-acre (5,700 m²) Blue Heron Pond

The park provides habitat to various species of birds including the Blue heron (Ardea herodias) for which it was named as well as various species of mammals such as bats, raccoons, grey squirrels and chipmunks.

The visitors center for the park located off Poillon Ave, is the starting point for three trails which traverse different areas of the park.

Flora

American Sweet Gum (Liquidambar styraciflua), Tulip tree (liriodendron tulipifera), Red columbine (Aquilegia canadensis), Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) and Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum) white water lilies (Nymphaea odorata).

Fauna

Glossy ibis (Plegadis falcinellus), wood duck (Aix sponsa), osprey (Pandion haliaetus), black-crowned night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax), Spring peepers (Pseudacris crucifer), tree frogs (Hylidae), raccoon (Procyon lotor)^[1]

References

↑ Blue Heron Park : New York City Department of Parks & Recreation

External links

Blue Heron Park - official site
Friends of Blue Heron Park - operates the Blue Heron Park Nature Center

Coordinates: 40°31′53.21″N 74°10′28.64″W / 40.5314472°N 74.1746222°W / 40.5314472; -74.1746222

Protected Areas of New York City

Federal

National Historic Sites	Lower East Side Tenement Museum Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace

National Monuments and Memorials	African Burial Ground Castle Clinton Federal Hall General Grant Governors Island Hamilton Grange Statue of Liberty

Other Protected Areas	Gateway National Recreation Area Floyd Bennett Field Fort Tilden Fort Wadsworth Great Kills Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge Jacob Riis Miller Field

State

State Parks	Bayswater Point Clay Pit Ponds East River Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Gantry Plaza Riverbank Roberto Clemente

City Parks and
Preserves

Manhattan	79th Street Boat Basin Abingdon Square Albert Capsouto Asphalt Green Battery Bennett British Garden at Hanover Square Bowling Green Bryant Captain Patrick J. Brown Walk Carl Schurz Central Chelsea City Hall Collect Columbus Corlears Hook Dag Hammarskjold Plaza Damrosch Dante DeSalvio Playground DeWitt Clinton Drumgoole Plaza Duane East River Greenway East River Esplanade East River Park Stuyvesant Cove Finn Square Foley Square Fort Tryon Fort Washington Gorman Gramercy Hamilton Fish Hanover Square Harlem River Hell's Kitchen Herald Square High Line Highbridge Holcombe Rucker Hudson Hudson River Imagination Playground at Burling Slip Inwood Hill Isham J. Hood Wright Jackie Robinson Jackson Square John Jay Liberty Louis Cuvillier Madison Square Manhattan Waterfront Greenway Marcus Garvey Mill Rock Mitchell Square Morningside Murphy's Brother's Playground Muscota Marsh Paley Peretz Square Peter Cooper Queen Elizabeth II September 11th Garden Ralph Bunche Randalls Island Richard Tucker Square Riverside Robert Moses Playground Roosevelt Triangle Rucker Sakura Samuel N. Bennerson 2nd Playground Sara Delano Roosevelt Septuagesimo Uno Seward Sheridan Square Sherman Square St. John's St. Nicholas St. Vartan Straus Stuyvesant Square Swindler Cove Teardrop Theodore Roosevelt Thomas Jefferson Thomas Paine Tompkins Square Tribeca Union Square Verdi Square Vesuvio Playground Wards Island Washington Market Washington Square West Side Community Garden Winston Churchill Zuccotti

Brooklyn	American Veterans Memorial Pier Amersfort Asser Levy Bath Beach Betsy Head Bensonhurst Breukelen Ballfields Brooklyn Botanic Garden Brooklyn Bridge Brooklyn Heights Promenade Brooklyn–Queens Greenway Brower Bushwick Byrne Cadman Plaza Canarsie Carroll Calvert Vaux City Line Coffey Columbus Commodore Barry Coney Island Beach & Boardwalk Coney Island Creek Continental Army Plaza Cooper Dyker Beach Floyd Bennett Field Fort Greene Four Sparrow Marsh Frank M. Charles Fresh Creek Nature Preserve Friends Field Fulton Gravesend Green Central Knoll Herbert Von King Highland Irving Square JJ Byrne Jamaica Bay Park John J. Carty John Paul Jones Kaiser Kelly Leif Ericson Leon S. Kaiser Playground Lieutenant Joseph Petrosino Lincoln Terrace Linden Lindower Linton Manhattan Beach Maria Hernandez Marine McCarren McGolrick McKinley Mt. Prospect Owl's Head Paerdegat Basin Paerdegat Prospect Red Hook Robert E. Venable Saratoga Scarangella Seaside Seth Low Shore Spring Creek Steeplechase Sternberg St. Johns Sunset Tompkins Trinity Van Voorhees Walt Whitman Wingate WNYC Transmitter Zion Triangle

The Bronx	Baretto Point Bicentennial Veterans Bronx Castle Hill City Island Wetlands Claremont Concrete Plant Crotona Devoe Ewen Ferry Point Givans Creek Woods Grant Haffen Harding Harris Henry Hudson Hunts Point Jerome Joseph Rodman Drake Joyce Kilmer Julius Richman Macombs Dam Mill Pond Mullaly New York Botanical Garden North and South Brother Islands Orchard Beach Pelham Bay Rodman's Neck Playground 52 Poe Pugsley Creek Rainey Raoul Wallenberg Forest Richman Riverdale St. Mary's Seton Falls Seton Soundview Spuyten Duyvil Shorefront St. James St. Mary's Starlight Tremont University Woods Van Cortlandt Vidalia Vinmont Veteran Washington's Walk

Queens	Admiral Alley Alley Pond Andrews Grove Astoria Baisley Pond Bayside Fields Bayswater Beach Channel Big Bush Bowne Brant Point Wildlife Sanctuary Breininger Broad Channel American Park Broad Channel Park Broad Channel Wetlands Brooklyn–Queens Greenway Brookville Bulova Captain Tilly Crocheron Cunningham Det. Keith L. Williams Det. William T. Gunn Dr. Charles R. Drew Dubos Point Wildlife Sanctuary Doughboy Douglaston Elmhurst Evergreen Flushing Fields Flushing Meadows-Corona Forest Fort Tilden Fort Totten Francis Lewis Frank Golden Frank Principe Haggerty Harvey Highland Hinton Hoffman Hook Creek Hunter's Point Idlewild Jamaica Bay John Golden Juniper Valley Kissena Kohlreiter Square Libra Triangle Linnaeus Little Bay Louis Pasteur Mafera Macneil Marconi Marie Curie Montbellier O'Donohue Overlook Park of the Americas Phil "Scooter" Rizzuto Ofc. Edward Byrne Powell's Cove Queens County Farm Museum Queensbridge Rachel Carson Railroad Ralph Demarco Rochdale Rockaway Community Rufus King Seagirt Avenue Wetlands Socrates Sculpture Spring Creek Springfield St. Albans Travers Tudor Udall's Park Preserve Wayanda

Staten Island	Aesop Allison Pond Amundsen Circle Annadale Arbutus Woods Arden Woods Austen House Barrett Bayview Terrace Blood Root Valley Bloomingdale Blue Heron Park Preserve Blueberry Bradys Bunker Ponds Buono Beach Carlton Clove Lakes Clove's Tail Conference House Corporal Thompson Crescent Beach Deere Eibs Pond Faber Fairview Father Macris Forest Grove Fort Hill Fort Wadsworth FDR Boardwalk and Beach Freshkills Gaeta Great Kills Graniteville Quarry Graniteville Swamp Hero High Rock\| Hoffman Island Huguenot Ponds Hybrid Oak Woods Ingram Woods Isle of Meadows Jones Woods Joseph Manna King Fisher Kingdom Pond Last Chance LaTourette Lemon Creek Long Pond Gen. MacArthur Maple Woods Mariners Marsh Meredith Woods Midland Beach Midland Field Miller Field Mount Loretto Unique Area New Dorp Beach New York Chinese Scholar's Garden Northerleigh Park Ocean Breeze Old Place Creek Olmstead-Beil House Prall's Island Reed's Basket WIllow Swamp Richmond Terrace Wetlands Saw Mill Creek Marsh Schmul Seaside Wildlife Nature Shooters Island Siedenburg Silver Lake Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden Sobel Court South Beach Wetlands St. George Staten Island Greenbelt Staten Island Industrial Swinburne Island Tappen Tompkinsville Tottenville Shore Von Briesen Walker Wegener Westerleigh Westwood William T. Davis Wildlife Refuge Willowbrook Wolfe's Pond

Other

Nature centers	Alley Pond Belvedere Castle Blue Heron Crotona Dana Discovery Center Forest Fort Greene Fort Totten Greenbelt High Rock Inwood Hill Orchard Beach Prospect Salt Marsh Van Cortlandt

Zoos	Bronx Central Park Prospect Queens Staten Island

Botanical Gardens	Brooklyn Botanic Conservatory New York Botanical Queens Botanical Staten Island Botanical New York Chinese Scholar's Wave Hill

Roosevelt Island	Lighthouse Southpoint

New York City Department of Parks and Recreation

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