A Diamond In The Brush

While it may be hard to imagine now, there was a time when wasn't quite the beacon of conservation and education it has become.

In fact, it's really not that long ago—relatively speaking—that this now plush patch of wetlands was like a ruins of some distant ecological past.

That was until the 1970s when a group of concerned teachers from the area made establishing APEC the focal point of a citywide interest in rejuvenating the natural preserve located out in Northeast Queens.

"The Founders of APEC—Joan and Hy Rosner—strongly believed that learning about the Earth’s ecology was vital to a child’s education,” said Irene Scheid, executive director of Alley Pond Environmental Center.

But when the Rosners attempts to persuade school authorities to implement a curriculum that looked at environmental education as a viable discipline for elementary schools, they and a cohort of forward-thinking teachers took their case to the city’s parks department.

“The Rosners often visited the wetlands in Alley Pond on field trips with their students and became increasingly dismayed by what was happening to the natural beauty of the area,” Scheid said.

So in 1976, New York City Parks Department gave the Rosners and company permission to establish an education center in a building formerly occupied by a Brook’s Patio Furniture store, and the Alley Pond Environmental Center was born.

“They [the Rosners] saw what huge potential the Wetlands around Brooks [Furniture Store] had in terms of raising environmental awareness and went to work restoring them,” Scheid said.

It would take a considerable amount of volunteers, time, donations and effort to restore the acres of precious green space, which had been routed by years of neglect and discarded debris. Then in November 14, 1976, Alley Pond Environmental Center invited the surrounding community in to celebrate a special ribbon cutting ceremony.

Though according to Scheid, it wouldn’t be until 1979 when the Committee, which worked on the restoration project, would truly see all the hard work and planning pay off, when the Center was designated an area of ‘Environmental Study.’

“Today, we’re a learning institution, offering educational programs for children as young as 18 months old,” Scheid said.

Still for centuries, people have been drawn to ‘the Alley’ for its rich bed of resources, from the Native American Matinecock tribe, which flourished by harvesting its bounty of food sources, to the colonial pioneers of Europe who carved farms out of the wilderness.

“We're also a stop off point for many migratory birds just passing through the area,” she said.

For more information on the Alley Pond Environmental Center log on to www.alleypond.org.