Barry Park is a small recreational
neighborhood park in Syracuse, New York that was built over a city land fill
several decades ago. The park is 15.13 acres and is located between Westcott,
Broad, and Westmoreland Street with Meadowbrook Drive bisecting the northern
section. The recreational focus of the park is a playground, one basketball
court, two tennis courts, four soccer fields, and several walking trails. Also
the park has Meadow Brook stream flowing through it from the southwest to the
northeast along with several other types of habitat. These include a large
wetland area, a floodwater retention basin, two constructed pools in the
wetlands, deciduous forest, and early successional fields. These habitats are
home to numerous species of animals that have to coexist with people utilizing
the park since many of these habitats are used for recreation as well.
Consequently, this has resulted in several negative effects on the ecological
communities in Barry Park.
The organisms facing
the brunt of these negative effects are the herpetofauna and from an ecological
viewpoint, Barry Park’s condition is not very optimistic. The frequent use of
Barry Park’s recreational services has also resulted in several issues that
typically pose problems for herpetofauna communities. The primary issues being
(1) the introduction of Phragmites
australis (common reed), (2) the introduction of Carassius auratus (goldfish), (3) domestic dogs being let of their
leashes, and (4) the presence of feral/pet cats from the surrounding
neighborhood. These issues have caused the condition of the herpetofauna
community to decline in the last several years, which is a problem that needs
to be addressed. The goal of our conservation management plan is to increase
habitat quality and herpetofauna abundance, while maintaining the recreational
accessibility of Barry Park.
See Management Goals and Map of Barry Park
If
our management strategies are successful and we reach our overall goal, then
the condition of Barry Park’s herpetofauna community should improve and we
should see an increase in awareness of herpetofauna conservation. By 2025, the
abundance of herpetofauna and the quality of their corresponding habitats in
Barry Park should increase significantly. More specifically, we anticipate
increases in the abundance of Eastern red-backed salamanders, American
bullfrogs and green frogs, painted turtles, common garter snakes, and Dekay’s
brown snakes. Our management strategies should decrease the negative effects
introduced by the recreational users of the park thereby increasing the
aforementioned species ability to function in their natural habitat.
Based
on this scenario, Barry Park’s habitats should look far more pristine and
become more aesthetically pleasing to the recreational users of the park. The
pristine quality of the habitat would be due to the increased health of the
herpetofauna community and the increased diversity of native plant species. If
our outreach actions are successful as well, the visitors of Barry Park should
have a better understanding of the ecosystem and conservation thereby
potentially increasing their appreciation for the changes. Consequently, Barry
Park should become an area in which the herpetofauna community is healthy and
respected, while still preserving the recreational qualities of the park. It
will represent an area where wildlife and humans can both act in concert with
each other.
