Joe Stout is Executive Director of the Westchester Parks Foundation www.thewpf.org
“Open spaces and wild places are important to quality of life—especially where population is dense, and work and home life schedules are hectic.”
— Martin K., Park Foundation Volunteer
Parks have been referred to as the “lungs of the community,” and this is certainly true of the nationally accredited Westchester County Parks System consisting of 18,000 acres of parks, trails, and open spaces. It is the reason so many people choose to live, work, and visit our County.
The Westchester Parks Foundation (WPF) invests in, advocates for, and enhances over fifty county parks. With passion and commitment, we bring together public and private partners for fundraising, infrastructure and investments, programs, and community events to ensure the sustainability of our cherished parks for generations to come. Over the years, we have invested more than 23 million dollars to enhance, restore, and preserve county parks and make them accessible for all to enjoy.
Yonkers is home to several of these special spaces: Tibbetts Brook Park, Sprain Ridge Park, Lenoir Preserve, Malcolm Wilson Park, South County Trailway, Bronx River Reservation/Pathway, Sprain Lake, and the Dunwoodie Golf Courses, two of the county’s six public courses.
Each year, the WPF’s robust volunteer program, made up of individuals, corporate sponsors, and community organizations, makes a significant impact in our parks. You can volunteer too! See link here: https://www.thewpf.org/volunteer
In 2024, 899 WPF volunteers worked in Yonkers’ parks. Some highlights of their ongoing work include:
Tibbetts Brook Park
The Green Squad, including individuals from The Arc Westchester, has collected thousands of pounds of trash from the pathways and picnic areas. 616 lbs. were removed in 2024.
As a Trees For Tribs site, the statewide effort to reforest New York’s tributaries, volunteers have planted over 700 trees since 2020.
Since 2021, Summer Green-terns have removed thousands of pounds of invasive water chestnut from the lake, and WPF secured funding for a mechanical harvester to reduce new seedlings each year. Read more about this great park in Yonkers here.
Lenoir Preserve
Annual management of invasive plants promotes a healthy meadow for birds migrating along the Hudson River.
South County Trailway/Bronx River Reservation
Two Green Squad Leaders are designated to clean, free trees from invasive plants, and maintain native gardens to keep the pollinators happy.
Sprain Ridge Park
Since 2022, several large trees have been planted in response to Beech Leaf Disease, restoring the canopy and protecting against invasive plants.
Dunwoodie Golf Course Practice Range
The WPF also operates practice ranges at Mohansic Golf Course in Yorktown Heights and Dunwoodie Golf Course in Yonkers. All proceeds from the practice ranges go back into WPF’s support of the County park system including the volunteer program’s impactful work.
The Dunwoodie Golf Range, fully upgraded in 2024, employs eight seasonal full- and part-time employees and has twenty-two hitting bays—fourteen of which are covered to allow for all weather enjoyment. Last season, 22,927 buckets were sold at Dunwoodie. https://www.thewpf.org/driving-ranges
How many Westchester County parks in Yonkers have you visited? Comment below.
