The Proposal:
Our goal is to establish an open space garden area for elementary school age kids to have access to nature learning activities. We have identified a small street corner with an already fenced-in area approximately 400 sq.ft that our students are already familiar with through current nature learning programs and activities in Isham Park. They walk by this little patch every day. Over the years the children have been engaged in identifying the various plants and flowers of that small parcel, which is located precisely at https://maps.app.goo.gl/EqY2nj9fpqme5qz9A.
Our proposal is to get permission from NYC Parks Department for the students to actively care for this garden, which is intermittently maintained. We will proactively remove invasive weeds, cut back plants at appropriate times, add mulch and composted soil as needed, curate non-pollinator plants, care for existing perennial plants and plant the seeds of native annual pollinator species consistent with standards of NYC Parks Department, New York Botanical Garden, New York Restoration Project and Monarch Watch.
Yesterday:
Isham Park has a rich and significant history. Like other parks in northern Manhattan, the site of Isham Park played a crucial role in the battle of Fort Washington during the American Revolution. Located in the Inwood neighborhood, Isham Park spans 20 acres of natural habitat and has a fascinating history tied to environmental stewardship, gardening and student farming. Originally part of the William Bradley Isham estate, the land was donated to the city by the Isham family in the early 1900s. The park once featured orchards and substantial fruit trees, with Mr.Isham himself harvesting the last crop of wheat grown on Manhattan Island.
School Gardens:
Notably to this proposal, during the early 1900s Isham Park hosted a school farm garden, reflecting the Progressive Era's emphasis on educational gardening projects.This initiative provided children with hands-on agricultural experience and fostered community engagement.
The Isham Park school garden project transformed the park into a vibrant educational and community space, enriching children's education and strengthening community ties. By engaging in gardening, children learned about nature, responsibility, and cooperation, fostering a sense of ownership and pride. The project also involved local residents and organizations, enhancing social cohesion and environmental stewardship. This initiative integrated the park into the community's daily life. Our proposal to do student gardening in Isham Park is just a continuation of this history.
Since the founding of Good Shepherd School at 620 Isham in 1925, the park has served as the primary open green space and recreational area for the students and since 2017 for Dos Amigos elementary, a public charter school operated by School in the Square. Isham Park is located directly across the street from Dos Amigos Elementary, making the park an essential green space for these children, who are from mostly low-income and/or underserved communities, families of color, and mostly residents of environmental justice areas.
The beautiful Isham Street facing flower gardens of Isham Park also serve as the primary pollinator resources for the monarch butterflies raised by Inwood Butterfly Sanctuary at 630 Isham since 2017. Surrounded by schools, parks and playgrounds, the Inwood Butterfly Sanctuary fosters connections with the schools, children, their families and residents. It is a popular amenity and a growing community-driven, environmental conservation initiative, with educational stewardship and habitat restoration for the endangered monarch butterflies the primary focus of the group. Everybody loves butterflies, and it's our goal to help bring them back to the area.
Today:
Isham Park is the backyard for the DeCesare family, who live at 603 Isham with their three children (ages 5, 7, and 9), where their bedroom looks out on the Isham Park gardens below. The children have grown up in the park, where they have formed strong ties with the neighborhood, other families, community organizations, and their schools, Dos Amigos Elementary and Good Shepherd School. The parents teach nature learning classes at the school, which often takes place in the parks and gardens nearby. They created the Inwood Butterfly Sanctuary when the milkweed patch they used for studying monarch caterpillars was mowed over by a seasonal maintenance crew. They continue to engage not only their own children, but have provided the entire community with a unique nature learning opportunity, often gathering at the corner of Isham and Seaman, where a public monarch butterfly waystation and lifecycle viewing enclosure attracts visitors and residents of all ages.
The Inwood Butterfly Sanctuary has expanded into teaching roles at Dos Amigos Elementary School, which shares a building with Good Shepherd School on the southern border of Isham Park. The DeCesares conduct a pilot Science and Nature program for the school, with regular nature walks in Isham Park and Inwood Hill Park, educating children about the native flora and fauna of their surroundings. As the closest and most significant green space for these students, Isham Park is frequently used for this program. The proximity of the proposed student garden, literally across the street from the school has been essential to the program's success.
The Dos Amigos School has further strengthened the partnership with the Inwood Butterfly Sanctuary through an application to the New York Restoration Project Gardens for the City initiative. We have worked with the New York Restoration Project for several years. Additionally, the Dos Amigos Elementary School has submitted an application for funding this proposal to the NYC Partnership for Parks Green Fund for a project called: The Inwood Butterfly Sanctuary: A Model for Community-Driven Conservation and Environmental Advocacy with Dos Amigos Elementary (School in the Square) as fiscal sponsor. This grant proposal specifically seeks to support the maintenance of a monarch butterfly waystation pollinator garden in Isham Park if approved by the Parks Department, or Inwood Hill Park, which are already the de facto locations of these nature learning programs and activities.
The surrounding pollinator gardens also provide vital habitat for monarch butterflies and host plants monarch butterfly eggs and larva (caterpillars), which is a subject of study for the students. The flower gardens at Isham Park not only provide the nectar sources and essential host plants for the butterflies throughout their migration season, they also sustain the children with rich, vital learning opportunities.
Milkweed at Risk: A Threat to Monarch Butterflies:
The small corner plot we aim to maintain is home to a vulnerable patch of native common milkweed, comprising around a dozen stalks of Asclepias syriaca. This makes it an ideal location to establish a monarch butterfly waystation and educational opportunity. The surrounding flower gardens' biodiversity enhances the area's ecological value.
The Threat: Habitat Destruction
Unfortunately, the milkweed patch has been repeatedly threatened by park staff and seasonal crews, who have routinely weed-whacked or ripped it out. This destruction of milkweed habitat is a significant contributor to the endangered status of monarch butterflies in recent years, but more importantly has ruined the environmental nature lab for the students! When the milkweed is cut to the ground during the peak migration, the eggs and caterpillars on those plants will not survive.
Preservation and Restoration:
Our proposal seeks to address this critical issue through habitat preservation, protecting the existing milkweed patch from further destruction, and habitat restoration, implementing strategies to restore and expand the milkweed habitat, ensuring a safe haven for monarch butterflies.By taking action, we can help safeguard the future of these iconic pollinators and support the local ecosystem's health.
Maintenance:
The horticultural elements for this initiative are already in place! The native milkweed is already an important part of nature learning activities for the school's programs. It's crushing for it to be cut We are only seeking to formalize the pre-existing use of a Park so that these projects will be successful, in other words to get permission, and hopefully find additional funding. The students from the nearest schools will be the primary caretakers with the supervision of both teachers and parents of the gardens designated for this initiative.
Students, teachers, local residents and volunteers will help with garden work as needed to weed, mulch, prune, and complete any necessary work in the garden. Dos Amigos school will work in the garden several times per week, after school, watering and weeding the garden. Beyond the elementary school watering, we have a strong community of residents to rotate through a calendar to water the garden several times per week during the summer season, which will also have the participation as a featured program of the Dos Amigos Summer Camp programs.
The students will conduct citizen science in connection to butterfly waystation, a rich learning experience consisting of regular updates of species and butterfly sightings to iNaturalist serving the greater cause of environmental sciences and conservation. The garden will be watered through spigots already available at several locations in the park. Tools and supplies will be maintained by Inwood Butterfly Sanctuary at storage lockers at Dos Amigos Elementary and Good Shepherd School.
Some noteworthy accomplishments of the people and organizations involved have been featured on WNYC, NY1 (New Yorkers of the Week), PBS The Dynamic Planet, ABC and others (media links will be attached. The Inwood Butterfly Sanctuary was recently awarded a Partnership for Parks grant in 2021, for Tiny Miracles: Saving an Endangered Butterfly Species to Save Ourselves.
To ensure long term sustainability, there are many individuals, organizations and partnerships involved with the Inwood Butterfly Sanctuary. We already have a working relationship with the NYRP and have applied for the Gardens for the City program for 2025. We will continue to apply for funding for the project, and continue to recruit more leadership, organizational partners and volunteers, to sustain the project and coordinate activities.
Scope of Work:
We have identified an approximately 25’ x 25’ section of the park at the SE corner of Isham and Park Terrace West to launch this initiative. The existing plantings will be rejuvenated with soil amendments, new plantings, and ongoing care by the students and staff of Dos Amigos School and Inwood Butterfly Sanctuary. There are several enormous rat burrows that must be eliminated. We have already consulted with urban gardening professionals at NYRP on how to proactively maintain a garden to deter rodent activities without use of poison or bait traps. The rodent burrows first need to be removed and the entire planting area layered with galvanized steel hardware cloth and covered with soil for growing. We have used this technique successfully at the Inwood Butterfly Sanctuary at 630 Isham with zero issues for several years. The zinc coated galvanized steel mesh can last 30 years underground.
We may modify the plant palette to emphasize more nectar rich pollinator species while ensuring the continuity and coherency with the original design. These are plants that are proven suited for local conditions over the years of experience and observation through our dedicated surveys. The monarch waystation requirements are set forth by Monarch Watch, a nationally recognized monarch butterfly conservation foundation out of the University of Kansas. We will maintain a combination of native perennial and annual flowers identified by their requirements, with an emphasis on mid summer and early fall blooming flowers to accommodate the monarch butterfly migration that lasts through mid October.
The quantity of new plantings will depend on funding, which has been applied for NYC Partnership for Parks Green Fund and NYRP Gardens for the City.
In addition to blooming shrubs and perennials we will make sure to have plentiful spring flowering plants to extend the bloom period. Many bulbs are already in the ground, and our organizational partners will provide all we could fit into the compact space. As part of this proposal we seek permission to extend the boundaries by 48” (inches) on all sides to create a walkway that will be kept mulched, where students can access the plantings from all sides.
Plants:
Below is a list of plants intended for the garden as recommended by Monarch Watch, to be selected for native and seasonal value.
Host Plants For Monarchs - Milkweeds
• Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa)
• Showy Milkweed (Asclepias speciosa)
• Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)
• Sullivant's Milkweed (Asclepias sullivantii)
• Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata)
• Purple Milkweed (Asclepias purpurascens)
Nectar Plants - Annuals or Biennials
• Blanket Flower (Gaillardia spp.)
• Pentas (Pentas spp.)
• Cleome (Cleome spp.)
• Porterweed (Stachytarpheta spp.)
• Cosmos (Cosmos spp.)
• Sweet William (Dianthus spp.)
• Floss Flower (Ageratum spp.)
• Thistle (Centaurea and Cirsium sp.)
• French Marigold (Tagetes patula)
• Verbena/Vervain (Verbena spp.)
• Lantana (Lantana spp.)
• Zinnia (Zinnia spp.)
• Mexican Sunflower (Tithonia rotundifolia)
Nectar Plants - Perennials
• Bee Balm (Monarda spp.)
• Joe-Pye Weed (Eupatorium purpureum)
• Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)
• Mallow (Malva spp.)
• Blazingstar/Gayfeather (Liatris spp.)
• New England Aster (Aster novae-angliae)
• Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum)
• Phlox (Phlox spp.)
• Caryopteris (Caryopteris spp.)
• Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)
• Catmint, Catnip (Nepeta spp.)
• Sedum (Sedum spectabile)
• Coreopsis (Coreopsis spp.)
• Senna, Cassia (Senna spp.)
• Goldenrod (Solidago spp.)
• Violet (Viola spp.)
• Hollyhock (Alcea spp.)
• Vitex (Vitex spp.)
• Ironweed (Vernonia spp.)
Sustainable Management Practices
• Amend the soil (add nutrients or other materials) to achieve proper conditions before planting
• Eliminate the use of insecticides
• Manage the density of the plot by thinning (removing plants to minimize crowding)
• Mulch around the base of plants to reduce the growth of weeds and retain water
• Remove invasive species from the site
• Use natural compost for fertilization
• Water the plot as needed to maintain growth
• Add other features (e.g., fruit feeders, bee nesting boxes, other host plants, etc.)
Sketch:
Links to online resources:
Participant Websites
School in the Square
https://www.schoolinthesquare.org/
Dos Amigos Elementary School
https://www.schoolinthesquare.org/dosamigos
Inwood Butterfly Sanctuary
www.inwoodbutterflysanctuary.org
Wings Without Borders
www.savemonarchbutterflies.org
NYC Department of Parks & Recreation Isham Park
https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/isham-park
Good Shepherd School
https://gsschoolnyc.org/
Mainstream Media and Press
WNYC
https://www.wnyc.org/story/nyc-gardeners-push-year-milkweed-save-monarch-butterflies-extinction/
Butterfly Experience at Dos Amigos Elementary School featured on X NY1 https://fb.watch/os_SCMpUxx/?mibextid=Nif5oz
New Yorkers of the Week.
Spectrum NY1
https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2021/08/02/new-yorker-of-the-week--keith-de-cesare
https://youtu.be/sY8WNln6HN4?si=jOQYxF6axckrfGV0 (Direct link to video file)
PBS documentary Dynamic Planet
https://www.pbs.org/video/earth-off9cl/
https://photos.app.goo.gl/asVHYV4Z7HMkAyzu9 (Direct link to video file)
Riverdale Press
https://www.riverdalepress.com/stories/inwood-butterfly-sanctuary-urban-oasis-protects-monarchs-and-inspires-conservation,152319
Manhattan Times
https://www.manhattantimesnews.com/the-butterfly-bbel-bb-para-mariposas/
NHK News team in Tokyo.
Japanese Public Broadcasting
https://youtu.be/_AiEL_hjhUs?si=nx3huR8x2awGJ2XS
Go Fund Me
Please Help Us Save ENDANGERED Monarch Butterflies
https://www.gofundme.com/f/inwood-butterfly-sanctuary-2023-fundraiser
Help SAVE The Eastern Monarch Butterfly From Extinction
https://www.gofundme.com/f/SaveTheMonarchButterflies
Petition with 25,000 signatures to preserve monarch habitat in Northern Manhattan www.change.org/SaveMonarchButterflies
Vivarium in Great Barrington
https://youtu.be/HBUFdF2QfRM?feature=shared
EarthDay 2024
https://tinyurl.com/3nvp4f5a
Saving the Monarch Butterflies Tiny Miracles
https://youtu.be/wzDgUlQPf8k
My Inwood
https://myinwood.net/history-of-inwoods-isham-park/
Monarch Watch
https://www.monarchwatch.org/
Tiny Miracles
https://youtu.be/wzDgUlQPf8k?si=F32mAfVWrB48dDDW
Partnership for Parks
https://cityparksfoundation.org/nycgreenfund/
New York Restoration Project
https://www.nyrp.org/en/
Gardens for the City
https://www.nyrp.org/en/get-involved/gardens-for-the-city/
Social Media
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0NhGPRMBqJVCbDR2rL3YncRbueJ6WKXmYW8Jc2FduYzTB9z7p3M2TptqTtQWh4qK8l&id=107779658602211&mibextid=Nif5oz
https://www.facebook.com/107779658602211/posts/pfbid0NrGC26yt4wfhV9cSGGLY5BZ4pYwhpkCdL1fDV3u1uyvd5mBriG3h6Dqb4zN2KtYHl/?app=fbl
https://youtu.be/wzDgUlQPf8k?si=F32mAfVWrB48dDDW
https://youtu.be/_AiEL_hjhUs?si=nx3huR8x2awGJ2XS
https://youtu.be/_AiEL_hjhUs?si=nx3huR8x2awGJ2XS
https://youtu.be/wzDgUlQPf8k?si=F32mAfVWrB48dDDW
Pop-up Butterfly Vivarium at Dos Amigos
https://tinyurl.com/nhbmc2c5
https://youtu.be/SRujWZnihI0?si=YuU3Yls6bDx6sQ71
https://youtu.be/GWYC0h_fw18?si=sS9rgmdPkmG8hu88
Link to this document as PDF:
https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:VA6C2:88a18a1e-088d-4f4b-989c-a6ae4217fc74?comment_id=4ae2a882-0537-4c20-b82e-05d474f6dd34
