William T. Davis Wildlife Refuge

A northeastern salt marsh similar to the WTDWR, Spartina alterniflora growing along creeks,Phragmites australis visible in foreground.

The William T. Davis Wildlife Refuge (WTDWR) is an 814-acre (3.29 km²) wildlife refuge straddling the New Springville and Travis sections of Staten Island. The park was named in honor of Staten Island native William T. Davis, a renowned naturalist and entomologist who along with the Audubon Society started the refuge with an original acquisition of 52 acres (210,000 m²). Additional acreage was acquired in increments and the park is today 814 acres (3.29 km²). Beginning in 2010, the adjacent 223 acre North Park section of Freshkills Park (what the Freshkills landfill will become) has undergone preparation to serve as an expansion of the wildlife refuge.

This refuge is the sixth largest park in New York City out of a total of 1,700 parks; it is only 30 acres (120,000 m²) smaller than Central Park.

Fiddler crabs, endemic species in a salt marsh

The United for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Center is located at the William T. Davis Wildlife Refuge near the intersection of Travis and Richmond Avenues. The center seeks “to care for sick, injured and orphaned wildlife and return them to the wild.” The center is sponsored by the New York City Parks Department and serves as a holding facility for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Injured animals convalesce at the facility and are eventually returned to the wild.

The refuge is at the confluence of Main and Springville Creeks, two tributaries of Freshkill Creek, a tidal creek which is connected to the Arthur Kill.

Within the refuge there are expansive salt marshes with low marsh bordering the creeks and flooding twice daily with the high tide and a more expansive area of high marsh which floods occasionally during exceptionally high tide. In the low marsh, saltmarsh cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora) is the dominant species while saltmeadow cordgrass (Spartina patens) is found in the high marsh. There are degraded areas of the marsh in which the common reed (Phragmites australis), an invasive species, has supplanted the native cordgrass; this generally occurs in the high marsh zone where the soil is saturated but infrequently inundated.

In addition to the salt marshes there are forested uplands and a swamp forest and small spring-fed ponds.

Marine life: The marine life present in the refuge includes the fiddler crab (Uca pugnax), ribbed mussel (Geukensia demissa), clam and oyster.

Wood duck (Aix sponsa),waterfowl species frequents the refuge.

Bird species: Over 117 bird species have been recorded at the William T. Davis Wildlife Refuge, including sharp-tailed sparrow (Ammodramus caudacutus), and wood duck (Aix sponsa). Among the species of raptors which frequent the park are red-tailed hawks (Buteo jamaicensis) red-shouldered (Buteo lineatus), and rough-legged (Buteo lagopus) hawks and osprey. There are also various species of owl such as Barn (Tyto alba), great horned (Bubo virginianus), and short-eared (Asio flammeus). The Great blue heron hunts fish along the tidal marshes.
Mammals: Muskrats (Ondatra zibethica) live along the marshes; there are also raccoons, eastern grey squirrel, chipmunk, and a few species of field mouse.

^[1]

In addition to the invasive common reed, some sections of the refuge especially along Travis Ave. are overrun by Japanese knotweed.

The fresh-water New Springville Creek, which originates in the Greenbelt, flows into the park. The creek is subterranean for most of its length, having been enclosed in pipe.^[2]

In the east of the refuge was the burial site for six people murdered and dismembered by the Bonnano crime family associate Thomas "Tommy Karate" Pitera, who was sentenced to life in prison in 1992.^[3]

Geology

The Palisades Sill extending from upstate New York along the Hudson River in New Jersey, is exposed until Jersey City, New Jersey. The formation then becomes entirely subterranean until it reaches the refuge where a small section breaks the surface in a swamp off Travis Ave.

References

↑ William T. Davis Wildlife Refuge- NYC Parks
↑ Morris's memorial history of Staten Island, New York, Volume 1 By Ira K. Morris p. 364
↑ Rashbaum, William K. (6 October 2004). "Sometimes, Mob Victims Have Plenty of Company". New York Times.

External links

Wetlands of Staten Island, New York: Valuable Vanishing Urban Wildlands.

Coordinates: 40°35′42″N 74°10′28″W / 40.59500°N 74.17444°W / 40.59500; -74.17444

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 Park 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 Plaza Lafayette 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

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, May 02, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.