Bay Park, including white, red, and black oak, as well as black cherry, white poplar, white pines, Norway spruce, and black locust trees. One can also find grape hyacinth, periwinkle, daylily, and Tartarian honeysuckle, which were part of the Hunter Mansion's garden. Member species of the islands' salt marsh ecosystem include egrets, cormorants, fiddler crabs, horseshoe crabs, marine worms, barnacles, and oysters. Kazimiroff Nature Trail In 1983, the Theodore Kazimiroff Environmental Center was proposed for the park, alongside a nature trail that would wind through the park's terrain. It would be named out of respect to the late Kazimiroff, who had died in 1980. The Kazimiroff Nature Trail, as well as the Pelham Bay Park Environmental Center at Orchard Beach, opened in June 1986. The Kazimiroff Nature Trail traverses of Hunter Island. Much of the island's natural features are found along the trail. The trail comprises two overlapping lasso-shaped paths, the "red" and "blue" trails. The blue trail is slightly longer than the red trail. Along the shared "lasso spur" is a canal for mosquito control as well as an intersection with the old Hunter Island causeway's cobblestone approach path. Going counterclockwise from the intersection with the two "loops", the trail passes through a grove of 100 Norway spruces planted in 1918; a black locust forest from the 1970s; and a thicket of shrubs and vines. At this point, the longer blue trail diverges to the northwest and then northeast, passing the former Hunter Mansion's knoll; a forest of white pines; some mugwort and invasive Ailanthus; the Hunter Mansion's main driveway; a less dense patch of trees and burnt tree stumps, part of a forest burned by the Siwanoy; white oaks and black locusts; and lichen-covered boulders, a rare occurrence in New York City parks. The shorter red trail goes directly north through a white poplar forest; a grove scorched by an uncontrolled fire; and remnants of the former estates' stone walls. Both trails merge and loop back to the east and south, passing through glacial-erratic boulders, New England bedrock, and the island's salt marsh. The Gray Mare glacial erratic can also be seen along this stretch. References Sources External links Geography of the Bronx Islands of New York City Long Island Sound Nature centers in New York City Pelham Bay Park Protected areas of the Bronx Former islands of New York City