Contractor Clearing the Way for Osprey Landing

A contractor hired by the Udalls Cove Preservation Committee is currently removing fallen trees and limbs from a site that will .

Walter Mugdan, the committee’s president, said the group would hold a formal dedication for the site in conjunction with its annual meeting and cleanup of the cove on April 28.

The dedication ceremony will begin at 1 p.m.

The committee received a permit from the city last week and met with contractor Tielis Landscaping, which began removing trees from the park on Monday.

The Osprey Landing project is a joint effort between the committee and the .

The landing is located in the northwest corner of the park and immediately south of Memorial Field.

The two-acre parcel extends east from Douglas Road – between the intersections of Warwick Avenue and Richmond Road – to the tidal channel at the head of the cove.

Mugdan said the locale, which lies between Douglaston and Little Neck, is also a and fishing when the tide is high.

Just several decades ago, the site was a wasteland. Until the 1970s, the property was a low-lying marsh overrun by phragmites, which are tall, slender reeds with fuzzy fronds on top.

A June 2010 and to the five boroughs last August wreaked havoc in Udalls Cove.

Numerous trees and limbs came crashing down, blocking access to the park’s trails, Mugdan said.

Earlier this year, Tom Oliva, of the Douglas Manor Association, proposed that the preservation committee and the Douglas Manor Environmental Association join forces to fix up the trails and reopen the site as Osprey Landing.

The new name pays homage to the osprey-nesting platform across from the tidal channel where the birds live each year from March to October.