In October 2006, a surprise snow storm did considerable damage to the trees in the Olmsted Park System. (Photo by Joyce Kryszak)
At one time, cities were little more than stone and brick. But in the mid-1800’s
Frederick Law Olmsted began changing all that. The landscape architect
designed some of the most important park systems in the country. But decades
of neglect and nature’s wrath are threatening Olmsted’s largest park system.
Joyce Kryszak has the story of plans to restore it:
Transcript
At one time, cities were little more than stone and brick. But in the mid-1800’s
Frederick Law Olmsted began changing all that. The landscape architect
designed some of the most important park systems in the country. But decades
of neglect and nature’s wrath are threatening Olmsted’s largest park system.
Joyce Kryszak has the story of plans to restore it:
You’ve no doubt heard of, and maybe even taken a stroll through New York’s
Central Park. It was Olmsted who created that 800 plus acres of sprawling urban
backyard. But Olmsted didn’t just carve out a magnificent green space. He also
carved out a reputation for himself, and a demand for his designs for parks all
over the country. Olmsted’s green thumb-print can be found all the way from
Boston’s Emerald Necklace to Yosemite National Park. Brian Dold is a
landscape architect from Buffalo, New York. He says even his profession is an Olmsted
creation.
“[He] came up with the term landscape architecture and really brought it to a
scale where he could do these major projects. So, he sort of grew
from getting work and the profession sort of took off from there.”
And Dold has plenty of work to do in Buffalo, New York. There, he is
maintaining Olmsted’s first, and one of his largest, integrated park systems.
Last October, a surprise snow storm dumped two feet of heavy snow on the still
leaf-covered boughs of Olmsted’s majestic trees. Many of them splintered under the
weight, leaving an amputated landscape. Ninety percent of the trees were
damaged and hundreds were lost. But devoted park lovers are volunteering to help
the non-profit conservancy plant new trees throughout the six parks and
parkway.
“Woo, that’s a lot of work. All right, you got it.”
John Penfold even climbs up on top of the shoulders of other volunteers to unlash the
branches of a newly planted maple. Penfold says they’re willing to do whatever it
takes to save the parks.
“When the storm hit, kind of saw all the trees fall, so, I think it brought the
community together to realize, we have these trees and we need ’em.”
Before the storm hit, the park system was already in crisis. American Elm
disease swept through, killing the stately trees. Then the city cut money for
maintenance. But now, the non-profit conservancy has come up with a twenty-
year master plan to restore the Olmsted park system. Executive Director
Johnathon Holifield says they have their work cut out for them:
“This system, at one time, was home to about 40,000 trees – 40,000. We’re
down to about 12,000,” said Holifield. “So, we have a long way to go to
truly recapture the Olmstedian glory.”
The sense of urgency is helping the conservancy raise the money and muscle
needs to fully restore Olmsted’s vision. The vision part is where landscape
architect Brian Dold comes in. Dold poured over Olmsted’s plans and he consulted
with other conservancies. It’s his job to make sure that the system returns to the
naturalistic setting Olmsted intended.
“He really tried to make it look like it had naturally occurred. He used like
large open meadows, and dense woodland and pathways through there,
sort of meandering through, sort of creating that Olmstedian landscape
that looks like it could have been there from the beginning of time.”
But Olmsted’s plan will get tweaked a bit. Dold says had some experiments that
didn’t work out so well. Over time, the Norway maples and the Common Buckthorn
trees pretty much took over. Dold says they won’t repeat the mistake:
“We’re not planting any of those trees that aren’t zone hardy and trees that
are put on invasive species lists. Those are pretty much eliminated from
anything we would ever do in these parks. And we are actually
physically removing many of them.”
Instead, Dold says they’ll plant native species. Lots of sugar and red maples,
service berries, eastern redbud and others. 28,000 trees over the next 20 years.
Executive Director Johnathan Holifield believes the new plan would meet
Olmsted’s approval:
“He would be pretty happy and particularly when you look out there and
you see the diversity of use in the park, the volunteer element that we
have. That’s what Olmsted was about – democratic,
egalitarian use and that certainly is represented today.”
So, if you happen to be in a Buffalo Olmsted park this summer, be sure to bring a
picnic basket and blanket, or maybe a shovel and some tree stakes.
For the Environment Report, I’m Joyce Kryszak.