“Parking spots in big cities such as Washington DC, Seattle and Los Angeles are being transformed into miniature parks. Based on a concept started in San Francisco nine years ago to improve public space, these temporary parks, commonly referred to as parklets, beautify small spaces until they are disassembled at the end of the day. Proponents see the short-lived green spaces as a way to promote active streets, friendly neighborhoods, and to support local businesses.” Read more on Voice of America here.

I ran across one of these in Seattle last February. Philadelphia also has an active program to develop parklets. But there’s no reason the idea couldn’t work in smaller towns as well, such as those here in the meadowlands.

Want to try it your community?

Read about Park(ing) Day, an international event held in September.
See San Francisco’s program guide here.
See more projects from around the country on Inhabit, here.

We started with a walk through the woods at the Ridgefield Nature Center, where we saw native plants like Persimmon and Bottlebrush Buckeye, as well as a Carolina Wren and a Red-bellied Woodpecker, among the more common Robins, Catbirds, and Blue Jays.

We stopped to see the Monk Parakeets under the Hendrick’s Causeway bridge, and boy, are they noisy. We learned that the primary reason that these tropical birds have been able to naturalize in the northeast is their ability to build large well-insulated nests from sticks.

We continued to Skeetkill Marsh where the tide was super-low. We saw Robins hopping busily on the mossy mud and quite a few Tree Swallows swooping and posing. The Ridgefield Environmental Commission brought Douglas Fir seedlings which they distributed to participants. Thanks!

Don Torino added a bonus at the end by taking us to see the famous Ridgefield Bald Eagles, Alice and Al, who have three large chicks in the nest they’ve maintained for the past five years. The chicks won’t begin to leave the nest for another four to six weeks. I was happy to see Yellow Flag Iris growing at the side of the creek.

Thanks to Don and the BCAS, as well as the Ridgefield Environmental folks.