Attendees of the Newtown Historical Society’s August 11th tour of Ridgewood Reservoir were pleasantly surprised to not only witness the natural beauty of Highland Park, but also get a glimpse of the path between Basins 1 & 2, which is currently closed to the public. The environmental group, NYCH2O, and its volunteers have been clearing the overgrowth for about a month and have made so much progress that the path may soon be open for guided tours. It was nice to see so much of the original historic reservoir fence still in place. (It has been replaced with a replica along the basin paths that were already restored.) As there were many members of the Long Island Botancial Society on the tour, it was concentrated on the flora of the park, but there were many different dragonfly and butterfly species to behold, like Blue Dasher and Red-Spotted Purple, and some surprising birds as well, including an Osprey, a juvenile Hooded Merganser and Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher.