The Midwood Loop. Photos courtesy of the Prospect Park Alliance unless otherwise noted.

The Prospect Park Alliance this week unveiled the first formal nature trail system through the park’s bucolic waterways and woodlands. The five routes are marked by signage and blazes on trees, guiding visitors through 250 acres of the park’s most scenic natural areas while protecting its fragile wildlife habitats.

The natural environments found throughout Prospect Park are by design. When Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux designed the over 500-acre public park in the 1860s, they incorporated two areas of forest and a network of wetlands.

Olmsted believed a park should be a “tranquil, rural landscape” and an escape from fast-paced city life. With Prospect Park Alliance upholding Olmsted and

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