Audio

Getting Wild in the City

1) Great Kills  2) Miller Field  3) Fort Wadsworth  4) Canarsie Pier
5) Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge  6) Floyd Bennett Field  7) Jacob Riis Park  8) Fort Tilden  9) Breezy Point  10) Sandy Hook  11) Fort Hancock

It doesn't require a cross-country trip to get to one of the crown jewels of America's national park system. Let National Park Service Ranger Dave Taft introduce you to New York Harbor's answer to Yellowstone.

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Visit our Gateway National Recreation Area page for information on its 11 parks in Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and Monmouth County, New Jersey.

Dave Taft grew up in Canarsie where he learned to collect, trap, and study insects, fish, crabs, spiders, turtles, snakes, ferns, orchids, and other unfortunates not quick enough to escape. Thirty years later, he is still collecting, trapping and studying -- but for the National Park Service. Currently, he serves as District Ranger at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Gateway National Recreation Area.

A trained artist, Mr. Taft frequently paints or draws from familiar landscapes and objects found near the park. Says Taft: "There is always something unexpected about nature in New York City. Even a simple find (such as a dead bee on a visitor center windowsill) can lead to important personal discoveries."

  
© 2007 Dave Taft. The landscapes depict West Pond at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. The third painting shows fifteen dead bees found on the windowsills of the old visitor center at the refuge. Click to see enlargements.