By Kathianne Boniello
With tall reeds growing everywhere and little water in its meager depths, Douglas Manor’s Aurora Pond has not looked much like a pond in recent years.
The pond, named for the late Little Neck-Douglaston environmentalist Aurora Gareiss, sits in a tiny pocket of Udalls Cove Wetlands Preserve on Sandhill Road, a narrow back street which connects Little Neck and Douglas Manor near the Little Neck stop of the Long Island Rail Road. The section of Udalls Cove that includes Aurora Pond is separated from the rest of the cove by Sandhill Road, which curves around the southeastern corner of Douglas Manor.
Community activists and environmentalists have urged the city to take action to repair Aurora’s Pond for several years, and it appeared this month that plans to renovate the area were reaching their final stage.
In a letter to the Udalls Cove Preservation Committee, City Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe said the project to restore Aurora Pond and the wetlands surrounding it was well under way.
“Trying to make natural areas function properly is a combination of art and science, and these plans must be carefully drawn up,” Benepe said in the letter. “The plans will be completed this fall, and the project should go into construction in 2003.”
For the last several years the area of the pond has looked more like a mudhole than a body of water, and the only thing marking the weedy, dark area next to Sandhill Road is a city Parks Department sign that reads “Aurora Pond.”
Benepe said the new design for Aurora Pond includes new pathways and plantings, restoration of the natural areas and a formal entrance to the park. Extensive work also will be done to improve the pond basin to retain water levels, he said.
Udalls Cove is a wetland preserve that sits on the eastern side of Little Neck Bay between Douglaston, Little Neck and Great Neck.
The cove and its wetlands act as an important breeding and feeding ground for several different types of birds and sits directly in the North Atlantic Flyway, which is the name of the migratory path of birds on their way to Canada.
Local activists, especially Gareiss and her friend, Virginia Dent, fought for more than 30 years to save Udalls Cove from private development, encouraging the city to purchase lots within the cove for preservation.
Walter Mugdan, a Little Neck resident and current president of the Udalls Cove Preservation Committee, said his group was excited about the Parks Department’s planned renovation of Aurora’s Pond and had made several suggestions for refining the project.
“We’re delighted they are now moving forward,” he said. “We are pleased with the direction the Parks Department is moving in.”
Gareiss, a longtime Douglaston resident who fought diligently to preserve and protect Udalls Cove from development, died in February 2000. An artist whose work focused in part on the environment surrounding her Udalls Cove home, Gareiss was known for helping create the Udalls Cove Preservation Committee and her efforts to create political awareness about the need to protect the environment.
Mugdan said thoughts of first renovating the area began in the early 1990s, when it was clear that silt and sand washing into the pond from surrounding roads was filling the tiny body of water.
When the city went to dredge the sediment filling the bottom of the pond, Mugdan said, they accidentally broke a clay-like layer of organic material that once held water above the ground and created the pond.
“It was as if you pulled the plug on the bathtub,” said Mugdan, who attributed the breaching of the layer to a lack of awareness about the structure of the pond.
Money for the restoration, between $700,000 and $800,000 was obtained by former City Councilman Mike Abel (R-Bayside) before he left office last fall.
“It’s extremely important that the pond is there, because without it, it leaves a gap in the wetlands,” said Abel, who said protecting the environment as well as Gareiss’ memory were motivating factors in obtaining the renovation. “That’s why we fought so hard to get the funds.”
Reach reporter Kathianne Boniello by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 146.
