Stewardship

The Friends of the Old Croton Aqueduct work to maintain the beauty of the undeveloped trail and the integrity of the entire length of the tunnel from Croton into New York City. We are always looking for volunteers interested in getting involved with adopting a part of the trail for invasive management and native plant restoration. We also have an annual cleanup of the trail in Yonkers.

TENDING THE TRAIL: INVASIVE PLANT MANAGEMENT & RESTORING WITH NATIVE PLANTS HISTORIC WALL RESTORATION

Related Blog Entries

Managing Garlic mustard on the Aqueduct Trail during the Pandemic

Author:

DAlden

Post date:

05/18/2020 - 9:29am

Now that gardening and individual volunteer work is permitted, five of us decided to continue the work we have done in past years in May for I Love My Park Day to control Garlic mustard on the northern section of the Old Croton Aqueduct Trail. We had to forgo I Love My Park Day but we did not want to give up on our beloved trail.

We donned our masks, spread apart on the trail and proceeded to collect 10 large bags of invasive Garlic mustard for disposal. It had rained, so it was easy to pull.

I Love My Park Day 2019 Video

Author:

FOCAAdmin

Post date:

04/15/2020 - 12:50pm

Inspired by the eighth annual "I Love My Park Day," this video/montage documents the joyful and energetic work that took place on the Old Croton Aqueduct State Historic Park south of the Croton Dam on May 4th 2019.

Over 100 community members volunteered to remove harmful invasive species and replace them with native plants. They also began the restoration of a historic stone retaining wall, cleaned the banks of the Croton River, and improved drainage on the trail.

Saving trees from the strangling vines

Author:

DAlden

Post date:

04/15/2020 - 9:26am

This winter and spring the Friends of the Old Croton Aqueduct decided to move forward with vine removal by engaging a professional arborist since we determined that we could not rely on volunteers alone to make enough of a difference up and down the trail. Successful fundraising efforts have fully supported this first initiative! We obtained permission from the State Parks for Guy Pardee from Suburban Native, LLC to begin removing vines along the trail. This is a report of what we hope will be the first of many contracts with Guy.

Thank Nature Day in Irvington

Author:

FOCAAdmin

Post date:

01/11/2020 - 3:17pm

The new Invasives Removal Squad of the Irvington Green Policy Task Force (GPTF) held an event called Thank Nature Day on December 1, 2019. In collaboration with the Hastings Vine Removal Squad, the Friends of the Old Croton Aqueduct (Friends), and the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, two dozen volunteers came out on a chilly day to help remove and prune invasive plants and clean up litter along the Old Croton Aqueduct Trail (OCA), between Main Street and Matthiessen Road.

A Call to Action: Protecting Earth's Biodiversity Event Video

Author:

FOCAAdmin

Post date:

12/12/2019 - 9:23am

Our very own Diane Alden did a presentation at November 15's event at the New York Botanical Garden.

You can view the video here:

Group Earns 26-mile Patches

Author:

FOCAAdmin

Post date:

10/09/2019 - 6:18pm

Going for the 26 Westchester miles of the Old Croton Aqueduct Trail in five separate walks over a period of 12 months was the goal of the Walk the Hudson Valley Meetup group, members of which can be seen on the Trail in Hastings in front of Ventilator 18. We are happy to be awarding them the 26 mile certificates and patches they have earned.