Udalls Cove Preservation Committee

05/01/2026

You may be interested in this opportunity on May 30! For more information and to register for an event, visit
nyc.gov/parks/stewardship or email [email protected].

04/26/2026

THANK YOU TO ALL OUR INTREPID VOLUNTEERS! Despite the gloomy, dreary, damp weather, we had a very successful 57th Annual Cleanup! We had an amazing 80 supporters attend the pre-Cleanup meeting near Aurora Pond, and at least 30 more from Scout Troop 10 who didn't come to the meeting but reported early to the Udalls Cove shoreline to start cleaning up there.
THE RAIN HELD OFF (mostly). The meeting was dry, and the drizzle didn't really begin until around 11:30 +/-.
THE "PICNIC" LUNCH WAS GREAT! Thank you to the Community Church of Douglaston for allowing us to use Fellowship Hall. It allowed folks to dry off, warm up, enjoy the good food, and spend some time chatting with friends old and new.
WE COLLECTED LOTS OF TRASH! We filled the dumpster about half way ... that's about 15 cubic yards of trash that is no longer on our shoreline and in our park lands. By the way -- this is a continuation of a good news trend: we used to fill the dumpster almost all the way, but for the past few years there has been less trash out there for our volunteers to collect.

04/23/2026

The CLEANUP is ON, the free picnic lunch is INDOORS (details below). The forecast is for drizzle much of the day on Saturday, but we hope you'll participate anyhow!

04/20/2026

On April 18 Eagle Scout candidate Marc Tsang and his team of helpers from Troop 255, completed work on nearly 600 linear feet of trail in the Old Oka Pond section of Alley Pond Park. (This is the area between Douglaston Parkway and the Douglaston Golf Driving Range.) This is the final trail segment in that section of the park -- an additional loop in the southeastern quadrant. GREAT WORK!

04/16/2026

Here's an amazing video from Junko Savage showing what appear to be two large (15"-20") snapping turtles mating in Aurora Pond this morning! (Perhaps we should give this video an R rating!😆)

04/13/2026

04/01/2026

Over the winter there was some damage to several sections of the split rail fencing that marks the boundaries between the park and adjacent roadways. We've been doing our annual repair work, installing a few new posts and rails where needed.

03/11/2026

Friends, you may be interested in this Town Hall meeting on the evening of Monday, March 23.

Date: March 23, 2026 Time: 6:00 - 8:00 PM Location: Redeemer Lutheran Church Gymnasium Join us for an engaging community conversation on flooding in Northeast Queens and potential solutions to keep our neighborhoods dry. Light refreshments will be served. Hosted by Queens Borough President, Donovan....

02/24/2026

The Groundhog was right on February 2 -- 6 more weeks of winter seems very likely now. For the first time in decades, we in the NYC area are actually having a winter. Yes, the snow was wet and heavy to shovel . . . but it really is exceptionally beautiful. Thanks to Kevin Gaffney for this lovely photo of the entrance to the Aurora Pond trail. And consider this: the cold temperatures we've been having should significantly reduce the population of ticks and spotted lanternflies, both of which are vulnerable to extended periods below 32° F.

02/11/2026

Dear Friends of Udalls Cove Park, I encourage you to "save the date" and attend APEC's 50th Anniversary (!) Green Gala on May 7!

02/02/2026

It's GROUNDHOG DAY, and any of the local weather forecasting groundhogs in our area would definitely have seen their shadows in this morning's bright sunshine ... so, six more weeks of winter. The photo below by Kevin Gaffney is very wintery: Little Neck Bay, iced over from Fort Totten in the west to Kings Point in the east. As Kevin points out, that hasn't happened since 2015.
BUT DID YOU KNOW THAT IT'S ALSO WORLD WETLANDS DAY?!
(https://www.worldwetlandsday.org/) While the wetlands in our area aren't "wet" right now -- they are frozen solid -- people around the world are celebrating the vital ecological, economic, cultural and aesthetic importance of wetlands. So today, enjoy the sunshine (no need to be afraid of your shadow), enjoy the slightly warmer temperature (going up to 31 degrees this afternoon), and take a moment to be thankful for the many acres of wetlands that surround our community!

01/28/2026

It was a beautiful morning in Alley Pond Park, south of the Alley Pond Environmental Center. Coyote tracks were EVERYWHERE, even 20 feet from the Cross Island Parkway. Lots of other tracks, too -- squirrels, raccoons, mice, maybe fox, various birds....