Quote:

There are plenty of secluded, wooded areas in JC where nothing much of any consequence goes on. LSP isn't exactly convenient to anybody looking for a quick hideaway to shoot up or smoke something.

I've been longing for as long as I've lived in JC for this section of the park to open. My dream would be that it would be left relatively untouched, with open running and biking trails with maybe a few benches and picnic tables. However, because of the dense vegetation, I also imagine that is would become a great spot for people to conduct less-than-legal activities.

probably a funding issue. I always thought it would be great to allow the western half of LSP to be used as a passive campground much like the one in Floyd Bennet Field in Brooklyn which as far as I know is the only legal place one can camp in NYC. It would utilize what is now unusable park space to the general public and create some revenue for the park with reservations. Since Floyd Bennet is always booked in the summer, Im sure this could easily absorb some extra campers through the warm seasons.

What ever happened with this?

Park's renewal and rebirth

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Geography and history blended to create one of the most unique parks in the world - Liberty State Park on the Jersey City waterfront.

And it's only going to get better.

Federal and state officials said last month that 234 acres in the heart of the 1,211-acre park will be reclaimed and transformed into an urban wildlife refuge, combining freshwater wetlands, grasslands, hardwood forest, a salt water marsh, hiking trails, picnic areas and a 30-foot sledding slope.

The project is expected to be completed in three years using $20 million in federal and $10 million in state funds.

U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez explained that $20 million is authorized under the Federal Water Resources Act, signed in December.

Despite the pollution caused by chromium and other industrial waste, poplar and birch trees have risen and red-tail hawks have been seen flying overhead.

The proposed rebirth would complete the modest beginning of the park - which opened with 737 acres on Flag Day, June 14, 1976.

The late Morris Pesin, a Jersey City councilman, inspired the development of the park with his eight-minute canoe ride in 1958 to Liberty Island.

His son, Sam Pesin, president of the Friends of Liberty State Park, said of the long-awaited restoration: "This is very exciting. This will make the park one of the greatest urban parks in the world."

251 acres of Liberty State Park to reopen
Will be restored after decades-old contamination

Ricardo Kaulessar
Hudson Reporter
04/27/2008

THE $20 MILLION MAN ? U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) at a Monday morning press conference at Liberty Science Center announced that he will secure $20 million in federal funds for the restoration project in Liberty State Park.
Adding more park space to Liberty State Park? Is that possible for one of the largest state parks in New Jersey?

But that's what will happen some time within the next four years, as an extensive $32 million restoration project will develop 251 acres of the park's interior.

Those acres have been fenced off due to contamination since before the park opened in 1976.

The work is part of the Hudson-Raritan Estuary Ecosystem Restoration Project, a restoration of 13 sites located within the New York-New Jersey Harbor.

The project was the subject of a press conference Monday morning and then a public hearing later that evening, both held nearby at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City.

When completed, the newly opened area will include trails, a salt marsh created by cutting a channel from the Hudson River, freshwater wetlands, a 110-acre forest, and an area of 30 ft. high rolling hills known as Liberty Hills.

It covers 234 acres in the center of the park and 17 additional acres located next to the Liberty Science Center.

The project is expected start sometime between late this fall and spring of next year.

The restoration project

The land has long been contaminated with oil and metals from the days that the railroads used to run through the area, and a cleanup will be carried out before the restoration.

Then, the restoration project will come in three phases.

The first phase will be to construct the freshwater wetlands.

Phase two will see the digging out of soil of an old area. The soil will be moved to a warm-weather grassy area and covered with clean fill. The dug-out area will then get connected to the NY-NJ Harbor and become 30 to 40 acres of salt marsh and upland wetland habitat.

Phase three will look at the 110 acres of continuous forest in the middle of 234-acre area to see how it can be maintained.

Also, rainwater runoff from parking lots and the roof of the Liberty Science Center will run through 17 acres next to the center and be filtered to create freshwater wetlands.

At the press conference, Col. Aniello Tortora, commander of the New York District of the Army Corps of Engineers, which is carrying out the project in conjunction with the New Jersey DEP and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said those parties involved in the project are shooting for a groundbreaking this fall.

But other officials mentioned it may take longer to get started due to getting permits and having all the funding in place before the project starts.

Changing the land

At the press conference, U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), was joined by a number of officials and some members of the public, where he announced he was working to have $20 million in federal funding earmarked specifically for the project.

Approximately $12 million is currently available for the project, which comes from various sources including $10 million from the state's Department of Environmental Protection provided as the result of fines paid by companies dumping toxic waste in Hudson County.

"This is good news for our economy, for Liberty State Park, and most of all, for the environment in which we live," Menendez said.

At the public hearing, Dr. Frank Gallagher, the administrator of the park spoke about the importance of the restoration project.

"This is a phenomenal project for a phenomenal place," Gallagher said.

Those attending the press conference on the third floor of the Tower in Liberty Science Center were able to view plans and renderings for the project as well as look out at the contaminated acreage below that is to be developed.

Public hearing

And then, at the public hearing on Monday night in the Liberty Science Center Auditorium, over 100 people heard presentations on the project by Gallagher and by renowned landscape architect Margie Ruddick.

Gallagher, a Bayonne native, reminisced about roaming through the undeveloped land in question as a young teen in the 1960s, and marveled at the transformation the park has been undergoing for the past 40 years, from rail yards to a nature preserve.

Ruddick presented a slideshow with renderings of the various sections being restored in the project.

The project was commended by a variety of local environmentalists and supporters of the park, such as Sam Pesin of the Friends of Liberty State Park.

Some in the audience had questions on how and when the project will be developed.

Comments on this article can be sent to rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com