Big Lake restoration, NOLA City Park

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Credit: Andy Isaacson

When Hurricane Katrina swept across New Orleans' historic City Park, it toppled trees and temporarily submerged an area nearly twice the size of New York City's Central Park. City Park's renovation began almost immediately. Among the many rehabilitation efforts, The Trust for Public Land and the City Park Improvement Association joined forces to restore and enhance the fifty-acre Big Lake area near the park's entrance. On October 25, 2009, the first and largest phase of the renovation was completed; an opening ceremony capped two years of hard work at Big Lake. The effort to fully restore the largest public recreation area in metropolitan New Orleans is funded by generous individuals, companies, and foundations.

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Home of the New Orleans Museum of Art and the largest collection of mature live oaks in the world, City Park has a special place in the hearts of generations of New Orleanians and is a must visit for visitors to the city. TPL and the City Park Improvement Association joined forces to restore and enhance the fifty-acre Big Lake area near the park's entrance. The new trail is open for walking, jogging, and bicyling and connects to open space used for recreation and festivals/concerts, a water plaza, and a boat rental dock. The lake topography was sculpted for the introduction of native marsh, Louisiana iris, and upland freshwater habitat.

Map of City Park

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