Protect Our Woods
A Community Effort to Support Ecosystem Restoration Projects in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY
News
Dog waste and trash are detrimental to Hillside Woods. Using funding from the HoH Youth Climate Action Fund, Hastings High School student Christian Pinero sourced, designed, and organized the installation of three new dog waste stations and five new critter-proof trash receptacles. These have been placed at various entrances to Hillside Woods, and the old ones removed.
For details on this project, click here.
Using funding from the HoH Youth Climate Action Fund, Erik Ghalib sourced, designed, and organized the installation of 3 mini kiosks for 3 entrances to the woods that complement the main kiosk at the entrance @Chemka Pool parking lot.
The mini kiosk locations are at the entrances of Edgewood and Taft, the Vernal Pond trail from Hillside Elementary School parking lot, and soon the northeast entrance at the end of Judson Avenue.
For more on this project, click here.
Come on down and check out the news signs in the Burke Estate Restoration Project area. Courtesy of HHS student Erik Ghalib, with funding from the Bloomberg Philanthropies' Youth Climate Action Fund. For more on this project, click here.
With funding from the Bloomberg Philanthropies' Youth Climate Action Fund, HHS students set up SLF traps in Hillside Woods to study the number and habits of the invasive spotted lanternfly. For more on this project, click here.
Thanks to funding and inspiration from the HoH Youth Climate Action Fund 2024 (HoH-YCAF), Kai Ghalib, Joe Drake, Greg Weiss and Kareem Ghalib planted 8 red maples and two swamp white oaks adjacent to the source of Boutillier's Brook, which is @Ravensdale Road on the site of the former Ice Pond. The team selected trees species specifically suited to wet areas, which is expected to help mitigate flooding downstream. Learn more about the project here.
With funding from the HoH Youth Climate Action Fund, Hastings High School students Reuben Belasco and Nickola Horozov have created a map of invasive plants in Hastings, using crowdsourced data, and hosted an invasives removal session on October 5th on the Old Croton Aqueduct. For more on their project, click here, where you can find their list of common invasives plus info on the website they built to educate residents about the problems with invasive plants.
To get involved with the Hastings Vine Squad, which lops invasive vines off public trees November-March, email vinesquad@hohny.gov. When you join a lop, you will get instruction on how to manage invasive vines on your own property. Not all vines are invasive! Some are native and need to be respected. It's a lot of fun and a great wintertime activity.
Hillside Woods
On March 16th 2024, over 100 volunteers helped usher out deer from Hillside Woods' new 30-acre exclosure. The exit was subsequently closed, and the area is now protected from deer browsing. This was a pivotal moment for the Hillside Woods Restoration Project.
Read more about the drive, see pics, and review the Community Zoom slide deck or its recording.
If you see deer in the exclosure, damage to the fence, trees down on the trail or other hazards anywhere in HW, please email hillsidewoods@hohny.gov.
Hillside Woods Deer Fencing
The Village deer exclosure in Hillside Woods is complete, and will protect 30 acres of the woods from deer. "S" gates allow people and dogs to walk through at trail intersections. Bartlett Tree Company has been hired to manage the large invasive plant communities. Over the next several years, we will be able to watch ecosystem diversity return to this section of the woods through tree regeneration and replantings. New to the project? Read the founding study here.
Many people expressed concerns that exclosing the deer will impact their properties. The exclosure is actually only 10% of the contiguously forested area - 100 acres of Hillside Woods and Park and 200 acres owned by Children's Village (calculated excluding open areas and buildings).
FENCE MAP
Get Involved
Despite its ragged condition, Hillside Woods still supports a variety of native birds, mammals, insects and plants. Learn more about our northeast woodland ecosystem and share what you learn with others. You can add your own observations using iNaturalist and eBird to contribute to our crowd-sourced collective understanding.
Plus! See the nearly 30 adopted Spots around the Village installed by volunteers. These Spots, which are roadsides, parts of parks or medians, all feature native plants and add to the ecosystem health of our Village and region.
The Hastings volunteer Vine Squad removes invasive vines from public trees throughout Hastings, including in Hillside Woods, from November to March. Visit the Hastings Conservation Commission's Vine Squad page for more info and schedule. The Vine Squad supplies equipment and training and can award students community service hours. Questions? Email: vinesquad@hastingsgov.org.
Protects Our Woods supports the Hastings-on-Hudson:
Questions? Email hillsidewoods@hohny.gov or protectourwoods@gmail.com