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UNDER THE GREEN IN CENTRAL PARK Rich Kruzansky sat with his left arm leaning against the steering wheel of a golf cart painted with the green parks department logo. He protected himself from the morning chill by wearing a dark blue turtleneck, plaid flannel shirt and faded green sweatshirt. But being the green thumb of Central Park means that Kruzansky spends his days digging soil and collecting samples from the lakes and ponds, no matter how cold it is. Officially, Kruzansky is the director of soil and water conservation at the Central Park Conservancy. Although Kruzansky, a native of New Paltz, N.Y., considers himself to be just another scientist, he was trained as a soil conservationist and received a master's degree from Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. This means that Kruzansky is the only soil scientist working for the city making sure the park stays green and the water stays fresh. Throughout the year, Kruzansky tests all of the lawns for levels of clay, nutrients, sand and silt. From the results, he determines whether to put down fertilizer of lime or whether to add other micronutrients. In the summertime, Kruzansky collects water samples from the five major ponds each day. Because the best time to collect samples is right before sunrise he goes to work around 5 a.m. During the winter months, Kruzansky, who lives walking distance from Central Park, keeps his early morning schedule. "In the winter I go to work that early because it is habit," said Kruzansky, who used to commute four hours every day from Poughkeepsie before moving to Manhattan in 1987. On any given day during the year, there is little going on in the park that does not involve Kruzansky in some way or another. Over the past few weeks, Kruzansky has been involved in testing the soil that has settled at the bottom of the 110th Street pool. What he does will determine how much of the pool can be dredged and how it should be done. "Some of the dirt will be used around the pool for plants," said Kruzansky. "Some of it will have to be removed from the park entirely because it will have no value." |
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