Before we hikers can see the salt marsh's baby birds and sea life in action, urban park ranger Bonnie, the leader of the excursion, lays down the rules. This involves gently breaking the news to a seven-year-old nature-lover that his friend (not present) who throws snaps and paintballs on parkland is a criminal. "Don't hang around with that kid," she advises, as the sea-scented air wafts toward us over the black mussel beds and across the sand. "When I used to cut Marine Park Junior High School," a glammed-up woman on the hike tells me, "I came here. It was all overgrown." Now, the Salt Marsh Nature Center maintains slightly less than a mile of scenic, well-kept trail and holds Brooklyn's only rangers' station. My new friend, who asks that her name not be used, has lived in Marine Park on and off for 49 years, and now works for the school system she once defied. Although Russian, Latino, and African American families have moved into this former Irish American and Italian American stronghold, she says that little has changed. "It's still very conservative." Flush with diners, slightly dilapidated houses, and gas stations, Marine Park boasts a solidly middle-class and lower-middle-class community that won't win prizes for bohemianism. Still, the ungentrified prices seem unbeatable when you take into account salty winds, endless acres of pristine nature, and proximity to Jacob Riis Park, New... More >>>