For Anna Shaheen, a formerly abandoned park in the city of Binghamton is much more than it seems. Along with fellow Binghamton University graduate Cam Winzinger, she’s leading a charge to create Binghamton’s first educational nature trail at the 16-acre Sandy Beach Park.
Featuring modern technology like QR readers to identify species, these graduates are proving that anything can be educational.
“Even if it’s just walking your dog, we want to just show that green space can be put in for low cost and be something useful,” said Anna Shaheen, Binghamton University graduate.
This flood-prone park once featured softball fields and a basketball court that were often washed away anytime we received heavy rain. Now, with a few unique planting techniques, it’ll serve the community in a new way.
“One of the biggest problems in science is people just not knowing what’s going on, and trails like this are just an awesome opportunity to educate the community and also just get people outside, because we all know people aren’t getting outside as much as they used to,” said Winzinger.
“This is a flood plane, so all this vegetation growing in will help us,” said Shaheen.
While it’s still in its early stages, the trail will feature three pollinator gardens, bird and bat boxes, bee hives and much more. Signage will also provide mini lessons along the way.
“Cam and I had the chance to work for the summer fun program for the city of Binghamton this summer and it was so awesome to just see kids getting outside they wouldn’t normally get the chance to and we’re hoping once this grows in and in the years to come, students and kids from anywhere can come and use this space to have it sort of be their own backyard, because in an urban place like this, a lot of people don’t have backyards,” said Shaheen.
The trail will also attract rare birds and pollinators known to live in this part of the country.
“We have some bird feeding stations here as well. We have a hummingbird feeder. We’ve already seen, along with our new flowers, hummingbirds coming into the gardens, so we hope to attract more in the future with this feeder,” said Shaheen.
Future projects include an expanded wooded trail and new access to the Susquehanna River.
