NYCDOE Minecraft Education Challenge 2022: Net Zero Challenge: Manhattan: Inwood Hill Park

Located at the northernmost tip of Manhattan, near where the Harlem and Hudson rivers meet, Inwood Hill Park's natural features include a salt marsh and the last remaining tract of forest in Manhattan. Home to a variety of wildlife, the park is also a popular place for human visitors. Yet Inwood Hill Park faces challenges, including making the park accessible for all visitors, and choosing plants that will help to restore the ecology of the salt marsh portion of the park. 

Below are descriptions of two design challenges that the New York City Parks Department could use your help with. You are encouraged to address one or both of these questions in your Minecraft design challenge! 

a) The Clove is a valley in the middle of Inwood Hill Park (see where it is on this map) that features large trees, glacial rock formations, and other interesting natural phenomena. Visitors can access The Clove on a footpath that travels through this area of the park, but the path is currently narrow and not accessible to people who use wheelchairs, walkers, or other aids to walk or move around. The Parks Department would like to make the path more accessible for everyone, including emergency services, but NOT at the expense of the rich plant and wildlife ecology in that area. How can you design a more accessible path in The Clove that also protects local ecology, including plants and wildlife?

b) Muscota March Restoration: Muscota Marsh is a salt marsh that borders the northern end of the Harlem River in Inwood Hill Park. The marsh provides a habitat for a variety of plants and animals, including wading birds like herons and egrets, and amphibians such as leopard frogs. While the biodiversity of the salt marsh is improving, there currently is no city funding for planting helpful plants to improve the salt marsh ecology.  What are some ways that we could expand the marsh or diversify the species of plants in the marsh to help improve the marsh's biodiversity?