Natural Areas Conservancy

Did you know that New York City has more ecological diversity than Yellowstone National Park? Take Central Park, for example, which is home to "more than 30 species of warbler, vireo, sparrow, thrush, and other songbirds" alone. Or Pelham Bay Park's eight species of owls. Then there's the 12 species of ferns at Queens' Cunningham Park. These tidbits come from a new interactive map by the Natural Areas Conservancy (h/t Untapped), who studied over 10,000 acres in 51 parklands across all five boroughs (an additional 10,800 acres are managed by the state and federal government and weren't included in the project). The organization created the map as a way to encourage people to explore the city's natural areas by showing them what they'll find -- "the types of plant and animal species, including those that are rare or threatened – and what activities are most commonly found."
Learn more