The perch, carp, and catfish that lived in the pond died off in 1963 as the parkway was widened in conjunction with the world's fair taking place in Flushing Meadows the following year.

[1] Public awareness of the pond can be credited to the public-school science teacher Thomas F. Schweitzer and the Queens College ecology professor Andrew C. Greller, who led tours of the pond site and founded organizations that advocated for its restoration.

[2] Schweitzer's Hollis Hills Civic Association teamed up with Greller's Queens College Ecology Club to lobby the city, which by 1970 determined that "the area known as Pea Pond ... no longer receives sufficient water to maintain a pond".

Undeterred, advocates for the pond enlisted the support of the Boy Scouts, the Queens Village Centennial Association, and local high school nature clubs.

Entrances to the Potamogeton Pond Trail can be found on Grand Central Parkway at 217th Street and at 82nd Avenue.