Inwood, Manhattan

There are not many wild places left in Manhattan, especially south of 96 St.  Little by little they're being cleaned up, landscaped and made family-friendly.

Don't get me wrong, who can't love the High Line and Brooklyn Bridge Park?  After all, these new parks are beautiful and packed with amenities for everyone.  I especially like how the mostly-native plants are the main architectural element (or seem to be) and how their sensitive and "natural" placement creates a sense of awe and reverence in the visitor. The good people designing (and funding) these parks are brilliant and I applaud their work.

But.....Why are we gushing over them?  I submit it's because they mimic the wild, unruly and often stunningly beautiful places that were there before; places that created themselves, or if you prefer, created by God.  They came to be despite our neglect and abuse.  This is nothing new.  Vaux and Olmstead did the same thing with Central Park 150 years ago.

Strange how we humans grow to love what we once tried to destroy.  We cut down whole forests, we depleted the soil growing corn and tobacco and we built factories on some of the most beautiful, productive and biologically rich land on earth.  We parked cars on the meadows, piped toxic chemicals into the marshes and filled the valleys with waste and rubble.

After these activities were no longer profitable, we put up a fence and walked away.

Eventually the buildings crumbled, the pavement cracked and the waste piles grew rounder and softer with the passing seasons.

The lowly weeds came first: dandelion, purslane, plantago, common burdock (Arctium minus, pictured above), Queen Anne's lace, thistles and many others.

Along with the rain from above, came a rain from next door-- a seed rain. Robins, starlings and sparrows deposited black cherry and sassafras seeds; the latter, like aspens, waiting for a fire to clear the way for their massed ascent.  Grasses grew up in the openings, especially where the soil was too thin or too polluted.

An apple tree grew where a worker ate his lunch.

Nearby aspen sent their airborne progeny by the millions in the off chance one would land in a suitably wet patch of calcareous gravel.  These plant pioneers helped hold and cleanse the soil and they provided food and shelter for pollution eating bacteria, fungi, spiders, mice, squirrels and eventually deer, turkeys and eagles.

Yes, the High Line is beautiful and it is popular.  But it's not wild.  Not anymore.

Can't we just leave some places as they are?  Why haul the old boat away and replace it with some store-bought, playground version meant to stimulate children's creativity and imagination?  Keep the real thing!!  Please!