Brooklyn’s Backyard just got its first set of official breadcrumbs. Prospect Park Alliance and NYC Parks have launched a formal nature trail system : five marked routes winding through 250 acres of woodlands, meadows and waterways, inviting New Yorkers to roam while keeping fragile habitats safe from trampling feet and wagging tails.

For years, visitors carved their own paths through the park’s upland forest, sometimes creating charming shortcuts, other times cutting across sensitive ground. Now, after a comprehensive mapping project, those routes have been sorted into two camps: the keepers, which are now blazed and signed and the ones left to quietly rewild with the help of downed branches and newly planted native trees and shrubs.

Each of the five trails offers its own personality

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