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Staten Island is often called the Forgotten Borough of New York City since it stands apart in both its location and demographics. That isolation isn’t always a bad thing, though. In a city short on space, the least-populated borough has been able to leave nearly 3,000 acres undeveloped. Some of them have been protected as North Mount Loretto State Forest, where you’ll find animals and trails among its forests and wetlands.
If Staten Island is considered a distant part of New York City, then Richmond Valley feels utterly remote. The neighborhood, in the southwest corner of the borough, is wedged in between Tottenville and Charleston, which is home to the Tides, New York City’s retirement haven. It’s also bordered by the Arthur Kill to the west and Raritan Bay to the south. So it’s not surprising that this waterfront area is full of creeks and streams, marshes, and wetlands. To protect this region from further development, the Trust for Public Land (a nonprofit that conserves public land) purchased 600 acres. In 2008, 74 of those acres were designated as North Mount Loretto State Forest by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation…