This presentation was created by the New York City Soil and Water Conservation District (http://www.nycswcd.net) which hosts two green infrastructure bus tours each year. One to Philly and the other here in NYC. In 2013 Smiling Hogshead Ranch was feature on the tour along with many other great sites implementing stormwater mitigation tactics. I enjoyed speaking about how Hogshead addresses multiple levels of GI, not just water and soil. We are addressing food and waste issues, access to land and environmental justice issues as well.

1. New York City GI Tour 2013
A field trip to showcase innovative
Green infrastructure that incorporate
art, education and public notification
Photo courtesy of Edgar Freud, 2013

2. Shoelace Park
This rain garden, one of NYC DEP’s
investment in green infrastructure pilot
project which redirects stormwater from
the combined sewer system into a series
of rain gardens in the park ($1.1 million).
Before, stormwater from 224th St. and
Bronx Blvd flowed into drain inlets by the
curb and then into New York City’s sewer
system. Now, stormwater is re-directed
into the drain inlets and conveyed into a
series of green infrastructure practices in
Shoelace Park. These practices remove
pollutants and help reduce the burden on
the sewer system. Excess water in the
bioretention area can safely overflow into
the Bronx River through an outlet pipe.
This project helps to keep the Bronx River
clean for everyone’s enjoyment. In
addition, surface runoff from the path
flows into a vegetated swale and is
directed towards a central stone overflow
channel. A hydrodynamic separator traps
sediment and removes oils from the
water. Most flows are then directed to a
bioretention area; large flows go to the
sewer system.
Photo courtesy of Juan Zapata Jr., 2013

3. Photo courtesy of Juan Zapata Jr., 2013
Bioswale and central stone overflow channel

4. Photo courtesy of Juan Zapata Jr., 2013
The GI tour group standing on part of the subwatershed

5. Photo courtesy of Len Meniace., 2013
Curb influence to direct runoff to the bioswale

6. Photo courtesy of Len Meniace., 2013
The bioswale and stone channel

7. Photo courtesy of Juan Zapata Jr., 2013
The stone overflow channel and emergency overflow to
the sewer system

8. Photo courtesy of Juan Zapata Jr., 2013
Continuation of the stone channel directed treated
rainwater to the Bronx RIver

9. Photo courtesy of Juan Zapata Jr., 2013
Downspout diversion of roofwater to the planters with
water level and overflow calibration for the planters

10. Photo courtesy of Gil Lopez, 2013
Pipe inflow and overflow to and from the wetland
planters

11. Photo courtesy of Juan Zapata Jr., 2013
The GI tour group

12. Photo courtesy of Juan Zapata Jr., 2013
Fall view of the native wetland species in the planters

13. Photo courtesy of Juan Zapata Jr., 2013
Wetland planters and community space

14. Photo courtesy of Eric Thomann, 2013
View of the planters with the mural

15. WATERWASH at ABC
Carpet
WATERWASH ABC
is one of several permanent public
wetland parks by Lillian Ball, and is a
concept that can be adapted to coastal
situations worldwide. The Bronx River
project construction was completed in
2011 by a cooperative team of engineers,
scientists, and excavators with Ball as
visual and managerial coordinator. Job
skills trainees from Rocking the Boat, a
local nonprofit that teaches kids to build
wooden boats and do environmental
work on the river, planted over 10,000
indigenous plants to transform the
landfill site. As the native plantings
mature, WATERWASH offers extensive
educational outreach opportunities to
demonstrate the ways this wetland acts
as natural buffer for sea level rise, while
improving water quality, and creating
wildlife habitat. WATERWASH ABC filters
commercial parking lot stormwater runoff
before it enters the river, opens private
property to pubic use, and was funded by
the NY State Attorney General’s Office
with fines collected from polluters to the
river.www.waterwash.org
Photo courtesy of Juan Zapata Jr., 2013

16. Photo courtesy of Juan Zapata Jr., 2013
Recycled glass permeable walkway at ABC Carpet and
Home warehouse

17. Photo courtesy of Juan Zapata Jr., 2013
View of the planted native vegetation surrounding the
constructed wetland adjacent to the Bronx River

18. Photo courtesy of Juan Zapata Jr., 2013
Boaters enjoying the view of the native wetland park

19. Photo courtesy of Gil Lopez, 2013
Another view of the wetland park beside the Bronx
RIver

20. Photo courtesy of Gil Lopez, 2013
Photo courtesy of Gil Lopez, 2013
Wildlife habitat at WATERWASH ABC

21. Photo courtesy of Edgar Freud, 2013
Beautiful fall vegetation in the wetland park

22. Queens College Rain
Garden
Queens College, the recipient of a
$386,000 grant as part of DEP's Green
Infrastructure Grant Program, has
rebuilt three different areas of their
campus in order to direct stormwater
to permeable pavers and rain gardens.
The green infrastructure will capture
stormwater and allow it to be naturally
absorbed into the ground thereby
keeping nearly 900,000 gallons of
stormwater out of the combined
sewer system. Queens College
provided more than $150,000 in
matching funds for the project.
Photo courtesy of Juan Zapata Jr., 2013

23. Photo courtesy of Juan Zapata Jr., 2013
Permeable pavers

24. Photo courtesy of Juan Zapata Jr., 2013
Rain garden and permeable pavement walkway

25. Photo courtesy of Juan Zapata Jr., 2013
Permeable pavement demonstration

26. Photo courtesy of Juan Zapata Jr., 2013
Rain garden enhanced with a stone infiltration border

27. Photo courtesy of Gil Lopez, 2013

28. Photo courtesy of Len Meniace., 2013
Rain garden with a stone infiltration border

29. Smiling Hogshead Ranch
Smiling Hogshead Ranch is a volunteer
run, community farm in LIC, Queens.
Founded as a guerrilla garden in 2011, a
dozen co-conspirators have grown crops,
planted fruit & nut trees, begun an
informal mycoremediation project and
became an official Community
Composting Project in Queens. All this
has been done without the blessing of
the property owner. This Winter we will
solidify an agreement with the owner and
expand our operations in 2014 and
beyond.
http://smiling-hogsheadranch.tumblr.com/
Gil Lopez holds a degree in Landscape
Architecture and a Permaculture Design
Certificate. He teaches a Greenroof class
at CUNY City Tech, installs urban
landscapes with Future Green Studio, is
the Garden & Compost Assistant with
Queens Library and helped found Smiling
Hogshead Ranch.
Photo courtesy of Juan Zapata Jr., 2013

30. Photo courtesy of Juan Zapata Jr., 2013
The GI tour at Smiling Hogshead Ranch

31. Photo courtesy of Juan Zapata Jr., 2013
Milkweeds and other great natives

32. Photo courtesy of Juan Zapata Jr., 2013

33. Photo courtesy of Juan Zapata Jr., 2013
Rain barrel for irrigation

34. Photo courtesy of Juan Zapata Jr., 2013
Nature’s beauty expressed!

35. Photo courtesy of Juan Zapata Jr., 2013
The abandoned rail line that sparked the inspiration

36. Photo courtesy of Eric Thomann, 2013
A tour participant enjoying the compost tumbler

37. Photo courtesy of Gil Lopez, 2013
Our beautiful walk on the abandoned rail line