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Kew Gardens Volunteer Works to Preserve Forest Park for Future Generations

By Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska | February 28, 2017 8:22am
 Left to right: Michael Palermo, Forest Park Administrator Debby Kuha, NYC Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver, Council Member Elizabeth Crowley, Mk Moore and Queens Parks Commissioner Dorothy Lewandowski.
Left to right: Michael Palermo, Forest Park Administrator Debby Kuha, NYC Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver, Council Member Elizabeth Crowley, Mk Moore and Queens Parks Commissioner Dorothy Lewandowski.
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Courtesy of Mk Moore

QUEENS — Mk Moore has one goal: to protect Forest Park so that future generations can also benefit from this vast 500-acre green space in the heart of Queens.

The Air Force veteran, who moved to Kew Gardens 25 years ago, began picking up trash in the park years ago to try to make it cleaner.

But Moore, 57, who walks at least 2 miles in the park every day with his two dogs, quickly realized that there were dozens of like-minded parkgoers who were willing to help.

In 2015, as the informal group of volunteers kept growing, he started the Friends of Forest Park Facebook page, which currently has more than 220 members.

“Our volunteers range from the age of 2 to 80,” said Moore, who earlier this month was presented with with plaques from the City Council and the Parks Department in appreciation of his service.

Moore said that the group has often been working with boy and girl scouts as well as students from local schools and kids from the neighborhood on keeping the park clean.

“I’m just really concerned about the park for future generations,” he said. “That’s why we like to get so many kids involved. When these kids are working in the park, they develop a new appreciation for what’s going on in the park and they won’t damage it. They learn to respect it.”

The group has been meeting on a regular basis to pick up trash, but also to work with Parks employees on maintaining trails, painting overpasses, and removing invasive plants.

(Courtesy of Friends of Forest Park)

They get the necessary supplies and support from the agency as well as from the Forest Park Trust, a nonprofit organization collecting funds to renovate the park, whose president, Michael Palermo, was recognized along with Moore by the City Council and the Parks Department.

Moore, who was recently named a “Parks Super Steward,” “works weekly in the park removing trash, clearing invasive plants, helping us maintain trails and keeping an eye out for park vandalism," the agency said in an email.

Last year, according to the Parks Department, the group “filled 338 bags of trash, cleared 119 acres of invasive plants, maintained trails and planted 1,100 daffodils.”

Moore said the group usually focuses on the woodland area, where most of the park's nature trails are located.

"We've cleared almost 20 percent of the park last year,” he said. “It’s a labor of love.”

Those who would like to volunteer in Forest Park can contact Mk Moore by emailing FriendsOfForestPark@yahoo.com.