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Fallkill Trail opens to public at Prospect Park after restoration
By
Catalina Gonella
Published Oct 25, 2023
Modified Oct 26, 2023
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Caroline Ourso
By
Catalina Gonella
Published Oct 25, 2023
Modified Oct 26, 2023
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Prospect Park is welcoming visitors to the new Fallkill Trail in an area of the park that has been closed to visitors for restoration since the ‘90s.
Well, most visitors…
Prospect Park Alliance President Morgan Monaco said the fence surrounding the Fallkill Falls area in the park did little to keep young people away from the section, especially during the pandemic. But now, it’s open to everyone.
“It’s been a destination for young people to hang out to do graffiti, other activities. And so we decided fairly recently, that if we can't be them, let's join them,” Monaco said at the ribbon cutting of the trail on Wednesday. “Let's actually decide to open up and create a curated trail and paths for people to actually access this area that felt sort of removed or people really were excited to engage in.”
The area was first fenced off to pedestrians in 1995. During the restoration process, invasive species were removed from the area and native ones were planted and then allowed to settle, Monaco said. But over the pandemic, the alliance realized more people were crossing the fence to explore the area, potentially disrupting the nature there.
So the Prospect Park Alliance, the nonprofit that cares for the park, decided to create an official trail. For the last year staff and volunteers graded the path and hauled logs to mark it. The fencing is now down and the area is open to the public. But the waterfall — which comes from New York City's tap water system — is currently shut off due to the recent heavy rains.
“We are constantly monitoring potential rainfall and we turn off the water where we feel as though there could be overflow,” Monaco said. “Right now it's turned off and we do that kind of around this time of year.”
The waterfall is expected to be turned back on sometime this winter.
Monaco said she’s excited for visitors to get to know this secluded area of the park, but urged visitors to stay on the trail.
“We ask everybody to be a park champion and stay on the path," Monaco said. "The path was designed with this particular route, we ask people with dogs to keep the dogs on leash so that they're not trampling over some of the new plantings we just did and to take out all the trash.”
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