Protecting The Ramble
The Central Park Ramble offers visitors an experience of the woods in the center of New York. Photo credit: Cornelis Verwaal
The Ramble is a 36-acre woodland area in Central Park designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux in the 19th century as a “wild garden” with winding paths and rustic structures. But more importantly, it is home to a rich diversity of trees. The Ramble is one of the only places in Central Park where you can see trees in all stages of life—from tiny seeds to dead logs!
Although the Ramble is a designed landscape, it is very much a functioning woodland ecosystem. Due to its unique habitat, the Ramble is an important resting stop for many nesting and migratory birds, with over 200 species using these woodlands throughout the year—including an extraordinary variety of songbirds during fall and spring.
The Ramble’s important woodland habitat could have been destroyed if not for the efforts of NYC Bird Alliance’s earliest members, who founded NYC Bird Alliance in 1979 to bolster their efforts to oppose a plan to remove trees in the Ramble, which would have fundamentally altered this beloved spot for birds and people.
The beautiful Hooded Warbler, though a fairly dependable visitor to the Ramble during migration, always brings birders running to get a good glimpse. Photo: Lloyd Spitalnik
A Scarlet Tanager feasts at a “termite hatch-out” in the Central Park Ramble. Photo: François Portmann
Prothonotary Warblers are among the species that “overshoot” in the spring, coming a bit too far north before returning further south to breed. Photo: Steve Nanz
The beautiful Hooded Warbler, though a fairly dependable visitor to the Ramble during migration, always brings birders running to get a good glimpse. Photo: Lloyd Spitalnik
A Scarlet Tanager feasts at a “termite hatch-out” in the Central Park Ramble. Photo: François Portmann
Prothonotary Warblers are among the species that “overshoot” in the spring, coming a bit too far north before returning further south to breed. Photo: Steve Nanz
How NYC Bird Alliance Saved Important Woodland Habitat in Central Park
One of NYC Bird Alliance’s first efforts was to protect this important forest habitat in the Central Park Ramble. From 1978 to 1982, a cadre of regular Central Park birders including founders Sheila and Lew Rosenberg successfully opposed a Central Park Conservancy plan to “restore” the Ramble through changes such as tree removal.
A report they prepared, “Birding Areas in the Ramble,” determined that implementation of the conservancy’s plan would diminish bird habitat. NYC Bird Alliance appeared before relevant community boards in opposition to the plan, and in the end, the plan was altered to be more bird-friendly. The young chapter’s actions were prominently covered in The New York Times. NYC Bird Alliance then participated in forming the Central Park Woodlands Advisory Board, which continues to provide naturalist input on park planning.
