On April 20th, 2024, AYLUS Oakland Gardens held its 65th event, an Earth Day celebration at Cunningham Park. During this event, our volunteers cleaned up trash and hiked along Cunningham Park’s white trail in order to learn about the local wildlife. Despite the rain and cold weather, 50 volunteers showed up to the event in order to help improve our community.
The Urban Park Rangers: Asaro, Mena, Herd, Aguilar, and Robey provided us with trash pickers and trash bags. They also guided us on our hikes and taught us about the park and the plants and animals that live there. Our volunteers were separated into 4 groups: A, B, C, and D. Groups A and B started off hiking, while groups C and D cleaned up trash. Ranger Asaro helped us set up but had to leave in order to help other people in the park. Group A was led by Ranger Aguilar, Group B was led by Ranger Mena, and Groups C and D were led by Rangers Robey and Herd. We would like to thank the Urban Park Rangers for their help. After half an hour, we rotated, with groups C and D hiking and groups A and B cleaning up trash.
Our volunteers used trash pickers to clean up the trash in the park. We began by cleaning an area near some tables, but this area was already relatively clean due to the diligent effort from the Park Rangers. After cleaning up that area, we discovered an area covered by sweet gum trees that had a lot of trash. Our volunteers worked hard to remove the glass bottles, bags, and other types of trash from the environment.
The Urban Park Rangers taught us about the park and the wildlife that lived there while we hiked along Cunningham Park’s White Trail. They told us that Cunningham Park was a “forever wild” park, which meant that people could not build in this area. This helps preserve the wildlife that lives in the park. Cunningham Park is inhabited by a variety of species, such as foxes, coyotes, snakes, frogs, ducks, hawks, and bald eagles. Most of the trees at Cunningham Park are sweet gum trees, which have spiky seeds in order to better disperse them. We also learned that the ecosystem is made of various niches, which is why it is better for there to be a diverse ecosystem.
We learned about the invasive species that live in the park and how they can cause ecological harm. One example of this is rabbits, who exceeded the carrying capacity of the region, resulting in the population crashing. The rabbits present in Cunningham Park are cottontail rabbits. The pigeon is another example of an invasive species. Messenger pigeons were used to carry messages over long distances. Some other examples of invasive species include the European starling and house sparrows.
The Urban Park Rangers also taught us about poison ivy. Poison ivy changes colors based on the season, making it difficult to identify. Poison ivy has three leaves (leaves of three, leave them be). Poison ivy also has vines that look like hairy ropes. The oil from poison ivy can cause rashes, and if you touch poison ivy, you should separate your clothes that have been exposed to poison ivy from those that have not, and wash the rash with cold water and dish soap.
While we were hiking, we saw some cat houses. We learned that cat houses were there in order to prevent cats from killing the local wildlife in the park, although they sometimes still kill wildlife for sport even with cat houses. Our volunteers also saw some dead trees. We learned that the trees likely died from invasive beetles that ate the xylem of the tree. These dead trees are still important for the environment because they serve as a home for bats, of which six species are in Queens. Woodpeckers and mockingbirds are also present in this park. Woodpeckers have their beak above their brain.
We also learned about the Eastern gray squirrels who live in Cunningham Park. Flying squirrels are also present in the park. Squirrels have a symbiotic relationship with the oak tree. Squirrels get food from the oak tree, but they also help the oak tree by burying acorns, giving any acorns that haven’t been dug up an opportunity to grow into more oak trees. Because the teeth of squirrels never stop growing, acorns also help to wear down the teeth of squirrels. Squirrels live in nests called dreys, which have more leaves than twigs.
At the end of the event, Ranger Harry Aguilar was kind enough to spare some time to answer some of our questions. He told us that Cunningham Park runs programs on Saturday and Sunday in order to connect New Yorkers with wildlife. He also told us that Earth Month is important because it allows us to appreciate the Earth. Finally, he told us that people can help improve the Earth by being more mindful of how they use things.
We would like to thank all of our volunteers who showed up to this event despite the weather. We would also like to thank the Urban Park Rangers at Cunningham Park: Asaro, Mena, Herd, Aguilar, and Robey for all of their help. We really appreciate that you allowed us to cooperate with you, and we hope to cooperate with you again in the future.
Our volunteers:
Patrick Guan: 1.5 hours
Hong Hao Liu(Alfred):1.5 hours
Jia Qi Liu(Angela): 1.5 hours
Sophia ShiHan You: 1.5 hours
Ricky Song: 1.5 hours
Anthony Lin: 1.5 hours
Songen Yang: 1.5 hours
Jiaheng Yu: 1.5 hours
Zhengyilan Fang: 1.5 hours
Ioklee Lin: 1.5 hours
Ivey Lam: 1.5 hours
Shiqi Zheng: 1.5 hours
Xitong Zheng: 1.5 hours
Ioknor Lin: 1.5 hours
Iokseng Lin: 1.5 hours
Tian Xiang Ding: 1.5 hours
Kaisa Wu: 1.5 hours
Kingsley Chen: 1.5 hours
Blake Han: 1.5 hours
Stephanie ShiRan You: 1.5 hours
Hannah Liu: 1.5 hours
Matthew Lin: 1.5 hours
Vicki Lin: 1.5 hours
Kylie Siu: 1.5 hours
Brandon Lin: 1.5 hours
Aiden Lin: 1.5 hours
Hannah Zheng: 1.5 hours
Ethan Lin: 1.5 hours
Darren Li: 1.5 hours
Austin Li: 1.5 hours
William Liang: 1.5 hours
Thomas Liang: 1.5 hours
Eric Yu: 1.5 hours
Siqi Chen: 1.5 hours
Chong Chen: 1.5 hours
Nina Yang: 1.5 hours
Xiang Xi Yu: 1.5 hours
Mo Yu: 1.5 hours
Hangxu Yu: 1.5 hours
Benny Zou: 1.5 hours
Ryan Wu: 1.5 hours
Evaline Yuel: 1.5 hours
Austin Yuel: 1.5 hours
Ziheng Jiao: 1.5 hours
Grace Lin: 1.5 hours
Paxton Xu: 1.5 hours
Nerissa Xu: 1.5 hours
Queena Li: 1.5 hours
Patricia Dai: 1.5 hours
Angel Li: 1.5 hours
Parent Adviser Team:
Cui Li (Fannie)
Teng Fei Liu (Faye)
Report Written by: Anthony Lin
Reviewed by: Jia Qi (Angela) Li
