By John Tozzi
The concrete fill was dumped more than 30 years ago as the first part of a city plan to extend 44th Avenue through the wild area to connect with 247th Street and build homes where the ravine is now, according to Walter Mugdan, president of the Udalls Cove Preservation Committee. Resistance from the group stopped the plan, but the concrete rubble remained for decades, even as the land became a protected city park.”It leaches out its chemicals that it's made from and you can never have a natural area if it's still there,” said Bruce Stuart, first vice president of the committee.Mugdan and Stuart were on hand Saturday as two backhoes scooped up the concrete, shook the loose soil from it and piled it by the road to be carted away for recycling. The Udalls Cove Preservation Committee estimated the job would take between two and five days and cost $19,000, which the group raised through donations and a $4,000 grant from New York City Partnership for Parks.The committee already cleared about 430,000 pounds of concrete from the area by hand in November 2003. That area is now replanted with young trees among the handful of towering giants that once dominated the ravine.But the steep slope overlooking Gabler's Creek required a contractor to clear it, Mugdan said, and the city will join the group in planting trees on the hillside in March or April. Removing the rubble will reduce erosion of the ravine and help native trees grow, according to the committee.”This was a forested hillside naturally and that's our goal – to bring it back,” Stuart said.Mugdan said the excavation was the biggest job the Udalls Cove Preservation Committee has funded on its own. The concrete removed will be broken up and recycled for future use, which is both greener and cheaper than dumping it, he said. The group estimated that 400 cubic yards, or about 20 truckloads, would be removed.For Mugdan, it was just the latest achievement in a long struggle his predecessors at the committee began in the early 1970s to keep the natural area from being paved over.”The organization fought very hard to get this whole ravine area protected,” Mugdan said.Reach reporter John Tozzi by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300 Ext. 188.
