The area of the park affected by the fire is viewed by some as a “no man’s land.” Nearby trees have been spray painted with symbols that denote the presence of the MS 13 gang, a group with roots in El Salvador that has been dubbed by Newsweek as “the most dangerous gang in America.”
   As of yet there is no official cause of the fire, but members of the Kissena Park Civic Association believe it was not accidental.
   Carsten Glaeser, a member of the Executive Board and its Tree and Landscape Committee, feels that “the reckless and illegal burning of 13 acres of parkland is serious and should be treated as an arson case.” He worries that the fire will not be “treated with any major concern,” and that it will be viewed as nothing more than an inconsequential brush fire.
   Glaeser would like to see more maintenance in the meadow area of the park, which was acquired by the city in the early part of the 20th century. The area is for passive recreational activities and a vital habitat for wildlife.
   Kissena Park is home to many forms of wildlife, including rabbits, ducks, herons and egrets. The tall grasses that were burned served as a source of food and shelter for these animals.
   The civic association, headed by President Beverly McDermott, who also serves as director of Friends of Kissena Park, would like to see the city take a more proactive role in the park’s maintenance and to take steps to ensure its safety. McDermott stressed that the civic association “will work with the Parks Department to organize that (the meadows) area.”
   The meadows, she said, are viewed as “an area that lends itself to activities that are less than the straight and narrow.” Traps have been discovered with animals still alive in them and there have been several documented cases of assault in the area.
   A Parks Enforcement Patrol works to keep Kissena Park safe. Although they work in close conjunction with the Police Department, the patrol workers are not officers themselves. They are not armed and cannot make arrests, although they can assist in them.
   For security purposes, “I think there should be at least one officer stationed in the park at all times,” McDermott said. Currently, there is no full time patrol for Kissena Park.
   A push is being made to develop a full park management program that can be included within the city’s plan for the Queens Corridor park system that links Kissena Park with Flushing Meadows Corona Park and Cunningham Park. Other large urban parks, such as Crotona Park in the south Bronx, have written management plans.
   A park management plan specifies in writing what can and cannot be done in a park and outlines a maintenance program.
   Glaeser wants to see management in the park that would include “restoration of the meadows and the tagging of tree species.” He added that both Alley Pond Park and Cunningham Park underwent recent restoration. “We want to see it in Kissena Park,” he added.
   William Nieter, director of environmental studies at St. John’s University and past prseident of the Alley Pond Environmental Center in Douglaston, says that brush fires do cause damage to the ecosystems of parks but that there is little to no longterm damage. He says, “It doesn’t really matter how the fire started. Those plants are mostly dormant during the winter. The living parts of the plants are underground. There will probably be a strong regrowth and they will probably grow back on their own.”
   He stated that a wildfire occurred in Alley Pond Park in April 2001, and that the park suffered no longterm effects.
   A Parks Department spokeswoman concurred with Nieter’s assessment. In addition, she said that Kissena Park should be getting additional staff this spring, although what they will be doing has not been determined yet.