• North Mount Loretto Woods on Staten Island. In November, the New York Archdiocese sold the woods, a 75 acres of woods, wetlands and wildlife on Staten Island’s south shore, to the State Department of Environmental Conservation, by way of the Trust for Public Land. The new parcel, north of Hyland Boulevard, is in addition to 194 acres south of the boulevard that have already been conserved for protection. “In addition to public recreation and other uses, the new acquisition will serve as a preserve for osprey, migrant birds, raccoons and possums,” the defense council wrote. “And it apparently represents the single largest land protection measure in New York City over the past year.”
  • Public School 154 in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn. In the spring, it became the city’s first public school to abandon polystyrene lunch trays, the result of voluntary action by parents and help from donors. Starting in the fall, the school will use trays made from bagasse, an organic byproduct of sugar cane stalks that quickly decomposes in landfills.
  • The Queens Botanical Garden visitor center in Flushing. The buildling, which opened in September, gets 17 percent of its energy from rooftop solar panels, heats its water using geothermal power and has an 8,000-square-foot “green” roof. The building also captures and reuses stormwater.
  • Street trees, in the Bronx and elsewhere. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has set the goal of planting one million new trees in New York City by 2017. Almost 55,000 trees have been planted in the past year, many of them in low-income neighborhoods like Morrisania and Hunts Point.
  • West Harlem Riverfront Park, in Manhattan. The creation of the Hudson River Park in 1998 began the transformation of the waterfront from the Battery to Midtown. Environmentalists hope a similar transformation will start this summer, with the opening of a four-block-long esplanade between St. Clair Place and West 133rd Street. An asphalt parking lot is being replaced with lawns and play areas. Two new piers will be used for kayaking, fishing and water taxi service. The Science Barge — a children’s museum — will be docked at the new park.