That was when area residents Robert Hammond and Joshua David formed Friends of the High Line, a non-profit renewal group to save the structure. At the time, they didn't know what condition it was in, or what they would do with it if they could save it: they simply wanted it preserved. Once they climbed onto the tracks, however, and later looked down on them from one of the high-rise buildings between 10th and 11th avenues, they saw something extraordinary. In the 20 years since it had been abandoned, the High Line had become a literal urban jungle: 1.45 miles of natural grass, moss, trees and bush – even in one section a patch of temperate rainforest – that had turned it into one of the most unusual green spaces in Manhattan. In short: perfect for a park.