Paving Over the Putnam Trail by Debbi Dolan
Channel: Will Sanchez
Date: 2013-05-04

Please help Debbi preserve the Putnam Nature Trail - an oasis to the underserved local community in the Bronx. The Trail has been there for nearly forty years but soon will be history as NYCParks rams a 10-foot wide bicycle speedway down the throat of its users.

Demand an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) which NYCParks skillfully avoided because they don't care about animal rights nor reveal the true number of trees to be destroyed. 
 
Use this ID reference number:  2-6001-00014/00008, about paving over the Putnam Trail in Van Cortlandt Park.  Write an email and if you can a letter to:
Harold J Dickey
NYSDEC Region 2 Headquarters
47-40 21st St
Long Island City, NY 11101
(718)482-4997
r2dep@gw.dec.state.ny.us
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Paving Over the Putnam Trail

In the heartlands of Van Cortlandt Park
Between marsh and pond
Lies a path named the Putnam Trail.

One can still see remnants of its history,
Railroad tracks and switching station stanchions
One is transported back to a moment in time.

Birds nesting in the tree canopy, the Orchard Oriole's melodious chirping,
The dappled light ribbons rippling across the good earthen trail.
Birders pause, and walkers take respite from
Pounding the pavement of city streets.

One feels renewed.
The joggers' footfalls and bikers pass through.
Wildflowers embedded in the rail tracks
The sweet scents of the shrubs

Soak in its beauty! 
Lock it in memory!

For plans are underfoot to transform it forever
To fell the trees and shrubs to widen the trail, to
Remove the history of the tracks, to
Pave the earthen trail with asphalt.

Where will the songbirds go as we pave over the earth?
Will they ever return?

The shade canopy over the earthen trail
Between marsh and pond, 
To be ripped out, paved for a mile and one half
In the heartlands of Van Cortlandt Park.

Debbi Dolan