New York

In a world of asphalt and brick, New York's more than 450 community gardens provide residents rare places to relax and connect with nature. They serve as front porches and backyards—places to meet with neighbors, play, grow produce, and gather for summer cookouts.

In December 2011, The Trust for Public Land added 261 acres to the Cranberry Mountain Wildlife Management Area, expanding the park by more than a third.

TPL worked with the New York town of Greenburg, Westchester County, and the Open Space Institute to protect Glenville Woods as a nature preserve that is part of a 580-acre strip of unbroken forest enhancing access to existing trails including the North County Trailway and the Tarrytown Lakes Trail.

The Trust for Public Land partnered with NYC Audubon on two conservation visions, The Harbor Herons Report (1990) and An Islanded Nature (2001), highlighting unprotected wetlands and other natural areas in northwest Staten Island. These reports helped catalyze the transfer of hundreds of acres of land to NYC Parks, as well as the acquisition of eight properties (totaling 131 acres) by The Trust for Public Land, for protection by the State’s Department of Environmental Conservation.

The Trust for Public Land, in partnership with the Port Authority and NYC Parks, helped turn Staten Island's former Blissenbach Marina into the City's first post-Hurricane Sandy resilient waterfront park.

The Trust for Public Land worked with partners including New York City Audubon to conserve an acre of Jamaica Bay Shoreline in Queens with funding authorized by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for their Hudson-Raritan Estuary Resources Program, creating public access to the waterfront and space that will serve more than 2,400 community members and provide opportunities for fishing, picnicking, and paddling.

The Trust for Public Land is working with Sisters of Our Lady of Christian Doctrine to protect 30 acres of their property in Upper Nyak adjacent to Hook Mountain State Park.

New York state asked TPL to help conserve a small patch of woods known as Butler Manor on Staten Island's southwestern shore and add the land to the Mount Loretto Unique Area, keeping intact over 600 acres of unbroken and ecologically diverse parkland near New York City's waterfront.

Our partnership with New York City has resulted in more than 150 acres of additional playground space serving nearly 4.5 million New Yorkers who live within a 10-minute walk of one of our sites.

In 2003, TPL joined
local groups, including the Greenpoint Waterfront Association for
Parks & Planning, to conduct open space planning, and produce a greenprint for New York's East River.

The Trust for Public Land worked with students of P.S./I.S. 111, located in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan, to design a new school and community playground on their schoolyard. The new facility now includes a turf field, running track, yoga circle, rain garden, forest walk, outdoor ping pong tables, play equipment, benches, trees, outdoor classroom, game tables, and a color seal designed by the students. 

Located in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, this playground includes artificial turf field, running track, rain garden, permeable pavers, trees, gazebo with rain barrels, outdoor classroom in council ring, planter boxes, storage shed with green roof, benches, basketball court, kickball area, color seal, painted games, stage, recycling center and water fountain. 

The QueensWay will transform a 3.5-mile stretch of long-abandoned rail line into an elevated pedestrian and bicycle pathway connecting the communities of Rego Park, Forest Hills, Richmond Hill, Glendale, Woodhaven, and Ozone Park.

TPL helped South Brother Island is a natural habitat for herons and other water birds between the South Bronx, Queens, and Riker's and Randall's Islands, which joined North Brother as a sanctuary run by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.

The Trust for Public Land led the effort to protect Sterling Forge, adding several acres to those already saved in New York's Sterling Forest State Park and helping to ensure clean drinking water, protect critical wetlands and wildlife habitat, and enhance access for recreation.

Over a period of 20 years, The Trust for Public Land has acquired four separate parcels in this preserve in northeast Queens. This land, now managed by the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, represents some of the last remaining forest and most intact tidal wetland in this section of New York City.