Applied Ecological Services, Inc.
Wisconsin Office
17921 Smith Road,
P. O. Box 256
Brodhead, WI 53520
Phone: 608.897.8641
Voicemail: 608.897.4898
AES Fax: 608.897.8486
TCRN Fax: 608.897.2044
Info@AppliedEco.com

Illinois Office
120 West Main St
W. Dundee, IL 60118
Phone: 847.844.9385
Fax: 847.844.8759

Kansas City Office
1904 Elm Street
Eudora, KS 66025
Phone 785.542.3090
Fax 785.542.3570

Minnesota Office
21938 Mushtown Rd
Prior Lake, MN 55372
Phone: 952.447.1919
Fax: 952.447.1920

East Coast Office
1100 E. Hector Street Suite #398
Conshohocken, PA 19428
Phone: 610.238.9088

Redeveloping the world's largest landfill

It's been said that only two human structures on earth can be seen from the moon. One is the Great Wall of China. The other may surprise you it's four, 200-foot high mounds of trash at Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island in New York City. Fresh Kills (whose name is derived from the Dutch term "kill" meaning "water inlet") has been in operation since 1948 and is the largest landfill in the world, covering 2,200 acres. It was closed in 2001, only to be partially re-opened last September to receive debris from the World Trade Center. During its 53 years of use, Fresh Kills received garbage from 90 barges a day, each 120 x 60-foot barge loaded with trash to a depth of 10 to 12 feet. This infamous resting-place for tons of trash is destined to be transformed, thankfully, as plans are now in the works to reclaim and restore the huge landfill. And Applied Ecological Service (AES) is the ecological consultant on a multi-disciplinary team that is a top contender for the job. New York City announced the Fresh Kills redevelopment design competition last June, and in August, the city chose six multi-firm teams (out of 54 national and international teams that submitted qualifications). Each received a $50,000 stipend to produce a conceptual design in the juried contest. AES provided specialized ecological consulting and design services on the nine-firm team led by Field Operations, Inc., a nationally known landscape architecture, urban design and architecture firm in Philadelphia, PA. In late December, NYC announced the Field Operations team was selected as the competition winner. The winning plan: A playground for NYC AES Ecologist and Project Manager Bill Stoll explained that his team's winning plan called for restoring the majority of the open space at the 2,200-acre site to native vegetation communities _ woodlands, prairies and wetlands, including some rare ecological communities _ for passive recreation and public open spaces. Vital elements in the conceptual design also included an ecologically sensitive golf course; soccer, lacrosse and other sports fields; a Wimbledon-style tennis stadium; horse trails and stables; miles of hiking trails; canoeing facilities; commercial greenhouses; and, importantly, a memorial to the victims of September 11. "The city doesn't want the public thinking, `this is a mound of trash.' They want people to see this is a great place for recreation," Stoll said. Dr. James Ludwig, an AES senior ecologist who specializes in ecotoxicology, also served on the consulting team as a technical expert in landfill reclamation and ecological restoration. "This is an enormously complex project," he said. "It was one of the largest juried international competitions that has ever taken place, and it is estimated the total cost of the reclamation and redevelopment will range between $100 and $250 million.	Dr. James Ludwig served on the team as the technical expert in landfill reclamation and ecological restoration.
"This is the biggest piece of open space in the whole region. It's essentially an island of open space with great ecological potential, surrounded by a sea of urban development. Our design team expressed that what we wanted was `nature sprawl' rather than urban sprawl." A mosaic of ecological communities Ecologically, Ludwig explained, the landfill will serve as the heart of a large greenway complex that roughly follows the glacial terminal moraine that forms a "spine" running northeast-to-southwest through Staten Island. "Fresh Kills is the keystone to complete a greenway linkage along the Atlantic coast that serves as an extremely important migratory corridor for 50 percent of the warblers and other neotropical migrants that come through this area," he said. The vast majority of the site is planned for restoration of a mosaic of ecological communities, including rare communities such as the globally endangered swamp magnolia ecosystem that exists only in small patches of remnants on Staten Island. The magnolia bog will be located adjacent to the active recreation or "event" area, and will be dissected by a boardwalk to provide public access and educational programming about threatened and endangered ecosystems. New ecological areas will provide valuable wildlife habitat _ especially important because the surrounding area is so highly urbanized. In particular, a reconstructed heron rookery is proposed to be built on an isolated bird nesting island. Herons have had a rough time in this area because they have lost most of the shrub cover next to shore, the protective habitat they need. Plans also call for the establishment of 120 acres of maritime oak forest, 75 acres of birch thickets, 350 acres of morainal oak/beach woodlands, expanses of pine oak barrens, salt-water marshes, fresh-water and brackish wetlands, eastern dry prairie, and eastern wet prairie. Ludwig laid to rest one concern about the potential for tree roots to penetrate the impermeable liner that has been placed as a cap over the internal contents of the landfill: "Scientists have been experimenting with trees on landfills for years," he said. "Essentially, the tree roots will grow down to the impermeable layer and will then spread out, or become palmate, and will not penetrate it due to its density and acidity."	Field Operations: An aerial photograph of the Fresh Kills Landfill provides an idea of the extent of this project
Ludwig also pointed out that a several-foot layer of topsoil has already been brought to the site, to cap all the filled areas. The enormity of the project area is stunning in and of itself, he said. To illustrate, methane gas generated by deteriorating trash in the interior of the landfill will be processed in a gas recovery plant and is expected to heat 40,000 homes for over 20 years. Hallowed ground As New York City ponders the next steps in its landfill redevelopment plans, the two 110-story towers of the World Trade Center are being brought to one isolated section of the site, known now as Memorial Hill. The construction materials will raise the elevation of the landfill section by approximately 80 feet. To honor the deceased of September 11, the labors of the recovery workers, and especially the firefighters and police officers of New York City, a processional earthwork on mound 1/9 is proposed. In the conceptual plan, this immense monument sits alone in an expansive wildflower prairie. Its two earthforms mirror the exact width and height of the towers, with the seond ramp on axis with the skyline vista where the towers once stood. As visitors ascend, they will pass small inset markers commemorating the victims at each floor. "In a very real sense, this is not a waste site," Ludwig concluded. "It is hallowed ground. I feel very privileged to have been a part of the planning for this property, and it was a great honor for AES to be involved."	*The winning team:* Field Operations, Inc., Philadelphia, PA - landscape architecture, urban design and architecture Applied Ecological Services, Brodhead, WI - ecological consulting and design Geogyntec, Columbia, MD - landfill engineering Arup, New York, NY - transportation engineering Hamilton, Rabinovitz & Alschuler, New York, NY - economic analysis Tomato, London, England -- media/communications art L'Observatoire International, New York, NY - lighting design Richard Lynch, Staten Island, NY - plant and wetland ecology Curry & Kerlinger, Cape May Point, NJ - wildlife and avian ecology

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