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A Decade of Service by Friends Academy Students
For ten years, the Land Alliance has had the pleasure of hosting Friends Academy seniors who spend the last three weeks of the school year volunteering for independent service projects. This year we benefited from the good works of five students: Aleaxa Moschetto, Livia Prestandra, Ines Roti, Gavin Sanders and Ryan Zouak. All participated in a variety of activities which we hope gave them a better understanding of the ins and outs of a non-profit organization. Gavin and Ryan worked primarily at Wawapek. They helped with weeding in our habitat restoration area, spreading woodchips in our native gardens, removing invasives and keeping our trails cleared. You may have also seen them at the Hole in One at the Golf and Tennis outing! Livia, Alexa and Ines have been working throughout our preserves. They help with invasive species removal, trail maintenance and planting. They have also been working with the Land Alliance’s volunteers to learn more about the work we do all year round in our preserves. We are grateful for and impressed by their good nature and willingness to learn – traits that will serve them well throughout their lives. Thank you Gavin, Ryan, Alexa, Livia and Ines! Congratulations on your graduation and best of luck in your upcoming years.
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Volunteers Help Enhance Habitat Quality at Our Preserves
This Spring volunteers have been busy at all of our preserves completing meaningful projects that improve habitat quality and visitor experience. For the past two years, the Land Alliance has been fortunate to work with the Planting Fields Foundation’s AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps. This group of nine young adults travels throughout the country while completing hands-on projects for local non-profits. This year’s crew demonstrated excellent teamwork and dedication. It helped to remove invasive shrubs from the woodland at the Hope Goddard Iselin Preserve, move debris out of the John P. Humes Japanese Stroll Garden, prepare the pollinator gardens at the Shore Road Sanctuary and clean up the Ralf Lange Garden at Wawapek. We are so grateful to this hardworking group of stewards that have truly made a difference in our preserves. We wish them luck in their travels! Jericho High School’s Environmental Club Jericho High School’s Environmental Club is a treasured partner of the Land Alliance. It returns year after year to volunteer their time and improve our preserves. This spring, Jericho students visited the Humes Preserve to remove invasive garlic mustard from the meadow and lesser celandine from the woodland garden. Students learned about invasive species issues while engaging hands-on in the management of these pesky weeds. They even had a few wildlife encounters, coming face to face with a vole and a wolf spider during their activities! Thanks so much to this curious and dedicated group of young environmentalists. Bethpage Girl Scout Troop 3535 joined us at the Shore Road Sanctuary Bethpage Girl Scout Troop 3535 joined us at the Shore Road Sanctuary this spring to learn about Cold Spring Harbor’s coastal habitats and wildlife while picking up trash and debris on the beach. This hearty group of 10-year-old girls showed their dedication to serving their environment and community by braving the elements to rid the beach of trash big and small, from used tires to the smallest microplastics. They made sure that no trash remained at the conclusion of their project. Thank you to Troop 3535 for keeping our beaches beautiful! The Grenville Baker Boys & Girls Club returned to the MacDonald Preserve in Matinecock this year to remove invasive vines from trees on the property and clean up litter throughout the preserve. With help from Spadefoot Design & Construction, these middle school students were able to pull loads of vines off trees while learning about the effects of invasive plants on tree health. Thanks to Stephanie Urio and our friends from Grenville Baker for their continued help to keep MacDonald healthy! Grenville Bakers Boys and Girls Club volunteers with the Land Alliance at MacDonald Preserve Care to join us as a volunteer? In the woods, meadows, beaches and gardens of the north shore, our volunteers are working hard to preserve open space and restore native habitats. If you are interested in connecting with like-minded people while learning about nature, please visit us online at www.northshorelandalliance.org or contact Charlotte Brennan at 516-922-1028 or [email protected].
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Land Alliance Thanks our Active Volunteers
The North Shore Land Alliance would like to thank the many active volunteers who contribute their time and energy to help us accomplish our land conservation mission. These individuals spend time in our preserves and, assist with community outreach events and office needs. In this issue of Conservation News, we would like to highlight two volunteers who have provided extraordinary services this spring (and over time). Richard Weir trained at Cornell University, spent his career with the Cornell Cooperative Extension in Nassau County. He currently serves on the Land Alliance’s advisory board and stewardship committee. Richard was most generous to share his expertise and hard work ethic this past March when he offered the stewardship team sage counsel on how to prune the very large round of yew hedge at Wawapek in Cold Spring Harbor. Richard offered much more than pruning advice spending nine hours over the course of two days with chain saw in hand to cut the yew hedge to the appropriate height. He was also instrumental in removing decades of wisteria vine growth from the base of the yew hedge, making the job that much tougher! Richard worked non-stop the entire time and inspired Land Alliance staff with his dedication to preserving the central element of this historic garden. Thank you for all your hard work, Richard! Since joining our volunteer corps earlier this year, Peter Meleady has made a real difference. An expert horticulturist, Peter has been involved with many invasive plant removals and pruning projects at Shore Road Sanctuary and has reinvigorated the trumpet honeysuckle trellis and blueberry bushes at Wawapek. He is also involved with projects and educational programming at the Roosevelt Community Garden and our Humes Japanese Stroll Garden manager looks forward to his assistance there, too. Peter often going to preserves after work or early in the weekends before he leaves to spend time with his family, shows dedication and knowledge that have resulted in a much-improved landscape. Thank you for your commitment and many contributions to the Land Alliance, Peter!
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Volunteers Give a Hand at our Preserves
Hope Goddard Iselin Preserve (Iselin), Upper Brookville: 23 volunteers came out in sub-twenty-degree temperatures to remove invasive vines and shrubs close to the interpretive trail. This Martin Luther King (MLK) Day of Service event helped with not only clearing invasive vegetation but also creating brush pile habitat for wildlife. Special thanks to the many volunteers, including the Jericho High School Environmental Club, who joined us! The MLK Day of Service is a federally designated holiday to promote and encourage all Americans to improve their communities and to honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King. Students from Professor Michael Veracka’s HOR 340, The Sustainable Garden, at SUNY Farmingdale visited Iselin multiple times during the fall. The goal of the course was to learn about actual environmental management at local preserves. This unique class combined traditional classroom learning with field visits to the preserve. Students conducted hands-on assessments and developed management proposals for optimizing habitat at the meadow. Their last visit to the preserve incorporated a formal presentation of their plans in front of a review panel. The panel consisted of Land Alliance staff, Nassau County Soil and Water Conservation District’s Secretary Pat Aitken and District Manager David Ganim. The Land Alliance thanks Professor Veracka for including us in this worthwhile endeavor and applauds his class for their innovative and practical management suggestions. Shore Road Sanctuary, Cold Spring Harbor: 12 volunteers braved inclement weather to partake in a beach cleanup and habitat restoration project that resulted in the removal of over 500 pounds of trash from the shoreline of the Long Island Sound. Trash collected included fishing line, foam, plastics and metal pipes. Volunteers then helped install plastic tarp to discourage invasive crown vetch in an area of the Sanctuary’s grassland. Many thanks to this stalwart crew. Humes Preserve, Mill Neck: The Land Alliance partnered with REI for their annual #OptOutside Day, a nationwide cleanup event held on Black Friday to encourage consumers to give back to the environment and their community and spend the day outside instead of shopping. Volunteers helped remove trash from the Humes meadow (which is undergoing restoration). Volunteers also helped in the removal of invasive garlic mustard and Chinese silvergrass. Overall, the 50 volunteers collected over 1,000 pounds of trash from the meadow. We thank everyone for their hard work and enthusiasm! Humes Japanese Stroll Garden, Mill Neck: Under the expert guidance of Stroll Garden Manager Mary Schmutz, we hosted a four-part series of volunteer events to help manage bamboo. 12 volunteers, using loppers and hand saws, selectively pruned bamboo to create healthier groves. Thank you Stroll Garden volunteers for your help during the Stroll Garden off-season! If you are interested in volunteering, please contact us at 516-922-1028 or [email protected].
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