Guest Column: Loving Our Lawn At Monument Greene For Years To Come

BY DAVID BARKER

At the summit of Fort Greene Park, four rectangular lawns catch the visitor’s eye. Surrounding the grand column of the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument, the lawns are striking in their lushness and deep green hues. And unlike every other grassy area in the park, they are surrounded by fencing. As of this past weekend (July 25-26), however, the fencing partially opened to make way for Monument Greene, the park’s only passive recreation lawn.

As the director of Fort Greene Park, entering my seventh month, I have heard from many park patrons about the need for a grassy area, free from some of the foot and paw traffic that other areas of the park see on a daily basis. Some want a protected retreat to let a toddler run around without concern about broken glass or dog waste.

Others crave a place where they can picnic or take a nap. Monument Greene aims to fill that gap in an area of the park – the Martyrs Monument – that’s a natural place for quiet activity and reflection.

Lush lawns do not happen by accident. Thanks to a partnership between NYC Parks and the Central Park Conservancy’s (CPC) Five Borough crew, the lawns around the monument have received care and maintenance since the fall. Some of the most valuable contribution has come in the form of tools and training in turf management for NYC Parks staff and the public. Teams of workers from NYC Parks and Central Park (designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux – the same guys who laid out Fort Greene Park!) have nurtured the monument lawns on a regular basis by adding extra grass seed, aerating the soil, mowing, and applying fertilizer.

A quick summary: Grass is thirsty and doesn’t respond well to being trampled. There are few water sources within Fort Greene Park, and water helps grass establish deep roots and bounce back from myriad park activities.

Visit on a Saturday this time of year, and you’ll see these activities playing out in literally every corner of the park. Much of the soil in the park is compacted by all those feet and paws, leaving little breathing room for grass’s fragile root structure.

In some parts of the park, what might look like grass from afar is probably just a cluster of weeds that can handle compacted soil. And in some places of intense use, not even weeds can survive, leaving bare earth stripped of topsoil. The demand for a country-in-the-city escape is only growing with surrounding residential development. To protect the amount of time and money that has gone into the four lawns making up Monument Greene, we are restricting the types of activities that happen there.

We are not allowing dogs (leashed or unleashed) on the lawns, active sports, glass bottles or barbecues. Luckily, there are other places in the park and in surrounding parks for these activities.

As for the fences, they will remain, but doorways have been created so that park workers will open the park at 9am and close just before dusk. Of the four restored parcels, two will open as part of Monument Greene and the other will rest and potentially be rotated in later this summer. After a heavy rain and come late fall, the lawns will be closed.

I love nothing more than hearing from patrons about ideas for making the park better. Monument Greene is a response to these suggestions, and it’s a first pass at experimenting with a restricted-use lawn. We try to run a nimble operation, so please, continue to give us feedback and let us know what you think.

E-mail me at david.barker@parks.nyc.gov and consider helping us care for Fort Greene Park.