After 28 years, Prospect Park reopens Fallkill Trail

PROSPECT PARK — It’s been fenced off for 28 years, but now visitors can stroll along a newly-restored woodland hiking trail in Prospect Park, leading to the scenic Fallkill Waterfall.

On Wednesday, the Prospect Park Alliance, its landscape management team and volunteers cut the ribbon to reopen the Fallkill Trail, and visitors took a guided tour, taking in scenery not officially available since 1995. 

It took almost a year to get the area in shape. Nimble park visitors had been hopping the fence to the waterfall for decades, leaving graffiti, bottles and trash in their wake. Prospect Park Alliance staff and volunteers put in the grunt work, cleaning up litter, hauling logs, grading paths, removing invasive plants and planting native species to strengthen the ecosystem.

“We have monitored how people are engaging with the park and we adapt our uses to meet them where they are,” Morgan Monaco, president of Prospect Park Alliance, said at the ribbon cutting. “This new trail will invite visitors to explore a previously-fenced area of the park and enjoy the beautifully restored landscape. The park’s natural areas are a true respite for New Yorkers and the long-term health of our natural areas requires us to be champions and strong stewards of the park.”

Monaco asks that visitors and their pets stay on the designated path. “I urge all who come to experience the park’s woodlands to stay on the designated trails, carry out all trash that you bring in, and always keep dogs on-leash to protect these delicate habitats.”

The entrance to the new trail is just a stone’s throw from the Prospect Park Dog Beach (closest to Prospect Park West or Prospect Park Southwest).  

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