Sunset Cove natural area

The 6.2 acres of natural areas surrounding the ballfields of Broad Channel American Park consist of sandy beaches and salt marsh. The salt marsh includes scrub shrub, high marsh, and low marsh habitat with plant species including Iva frutescens, Sporobolus pumilus, Distichlis spicata, Juncus gerardii, and Sporobolus alterniflorus. This natural area is also habitat for wildlife including black-crowned night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax), brant (Branta bernicla), Canada geese (Branta canadensis), great egrets (Ardea alba), horseshoe crabs (Limulus polyphemus), mud snails (Tritia obsoleta), mummichogs (Fundulus heteroclitus), osprey (Pandion haliaetus), ribbed mussels (Geukensia demissa), snowy egrets (Egretta thula), and yellow-crowned night heron (Nyctanassa violacea). The site is adjacent to Gateway National Park in Jamaica Bay and to Sunset Cove Park, where there was a natural area restoration project that was completed in 2019 that converted an abandonded marina and acres of fill material into a salt marsh, grassland, and scrub-shrub dune.