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Once just a swamp with rocky outcoppings and indigent shanty towns, Frederick Law Olmsted’s Central Park is a natural treasure shared by all New Yorkers.
Bob visits the Bethesda Terrace, where he is joined by Doug Blonsky of the Central Park Conservancy. Bethesda Terrace is the formal center of the Park, Blonsky explains, where formal meets natural. Blonsky goes on to talk about the history of the Conservancy, which was founded in 1980 and has since raised more than $300 million and restored more than 70 percent of Central Park.
Bob and Blonsky walk down the Mall, or Literary Walk, the only straight path in all of Central Park, and discuss the great stand of American Elms that provides the canopy. Blonsky explains that there are 26,000 trees in Central Park, many of which are third generation American Elms.