Prospect Park Gets $10 Million Boost

By Y.M. Lowy

Prospect Park, home to Brooklyn’s only forest and lake, is getting a big boost. A lifelong Brooklynite just donated a $10 million endowment to the Prospect Park Alliance.

The money will help the park hire four new ecological zone gardeners. Prospect Park has several distinct natural areas and currently employs seven gardeners who specialize in caring for each section.

The new team members will work in the Ravine, which was damaged by a brush fire last year, and in Lakeside, at the park’s southeast corner. The Ravine has been stabilized and partially reseeded. Volunteers will soon plant more than 3,000 native plants and shrubs to help it recover.

The park’s yearly operating budget is about $17 million, not including $5 million from the city’s parks department.