Q&A
Council member inquires about forest fire damage in Prospect Park
1:47:49
ยท
95 sec
Council Member Shekar Krishnan asks Leila Mougoui Bakhtiari from the Prospect Park Alliance about the extent of damage caused by a recent forest fire in Prospect Park. Bakhtiari explains the ongoing assessment and restoration efforts.
- The fire affected 2 acres of protected 'forever wild' area, damaging all three layers of the forest.
- Full damage assessment is still ongoing, with some impacts only visible in spring.
- Restoration work, including erosion control, has begun but will take years to complete.
Shekar Krishnan
1:47:49
Thanks, Lita, for the testimony, and to all the work at Prospect Park Alliance.
1:47:52
I just have a couple of questions.
1:47:53
How can you quantify how much damage was caused by the forest fire?
Leila Mougoui Bakhtiari
1:47:59
We're still assessing that, because of the time of the, fire.
1:48:05
The trees go into dormancy, so we need to wait for the spring to kind of see, especially for the larger trees, how much the damage was.
1:48:14
But the area, the 2 acre area, had damage to all three layers of the forest.
1:48:20
So it was not just the, you know, herbaceous or the brush layer.
1:48:23
It was the mid story, which is the shrubs and the younger trees and also some of the large trees.
1:48:30
This was a protected area, part of the forever wild sites of the park, behind a fence.
1:48:37
And we are lucky enough to have started some of the restoration work, specifically the erosion control, to make sure that when, you know, we get significant rain, all of this area doesn't get, washed off and eroded.
Shekar Krishnan
1:48:53
But the damage is still there's still recovery work happening?
Leila Mougoui Bakhtiari
1:48:56
There's recovery work work happening and, you know, long term restoration and maintenance takes years.
1:49:03
This area was actually one of the first areas that Prospect Park Alliance, when we were started in the, late eighties early nineties, Syria was restored, with capital funds.
1:49:13
It was one of the first, capital forest restoration sites in the city, that was done with only with native plants.
1:49:20
And, you know, it takes a long time for for trees to grow.