Douglaston Golf Course natural areas

61 Ave. bet. Marathon Pkwy., Commonwealth Blvd. and 242 St.

Although the majority of this park's land area is a managed golf course (tees, greens, fairways, cart paths, and facilities), it does contain 21 acres of forest and freshwater wetland natural areas. The most significant forests are in the northwest and southwest corners of the course, as well as several large interior patches. The larger forest parcels contain mature native trees, and in many areas a healthy understory. The course also has three significant wetland areas, including one of the City's finest freshwater wetlands. The wetland is of extremely high habitat value, especially for amphibians. The other two valuable wetland areas are the pond at hole 5 and the wet area between holes 4 and 8 described above. In the summer, bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus) calls can frequently be heard near these wetlands.

Douglaston Golf Course owes its beautiful rolling terrain and spectacular views (it is one of the highest points in Queens) to its glacial history. Like Alley Pond, Cunningham, and Forest Parks, Douglaston Golf Course lies on the glacier-formed terminal moraine, a ridge of sand and rock that formed during the last ice age. When the Wisconsin ice sheet retreated 15,000 years ago, the glacier dropped boulders and left buried chunks of ice that melted and formed kettle ponds. Perched above the water table, these clay-coated ponds fill with rainwater draining from their watershed and drain almost entirely by evaporation. Highly variable water levels led to diverse ecosystems, supporting abundant plant and animal life. The remnant woods at Douglaston Golf Course are also typical of the terminal moraine landscape - dry oak-hickory forests on the hills, rich forests in and near depressions, and red maple hardwood swamps in and around kettle ponds.