-
Meet Richard Weir – Advancing Education and Conservation at the Land Alliance
North Shore Land Alliance Thanks Richard Weir for Leading Educational Programs and Sharing His Expertise on Tree Pruning and Stewardship 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! Inspired by Richard’s Impact? Join us in protecting and preserving our local natural spaces. Whether you bring a special skill or simply a passion for helping, there’s a meaningful place for you on our volunteer team Visit www.northshorelandalliance.org/volunteer to learn how you can get involved today!
Continue reading -
Land Alliance Volunteers Are Making a Difference at Our Preserves
Land Alliance Volunteers Are Making a Difference at Our Preserves Hope Goddard Iselin Preserve, 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 with North Shore Land Alliance, please contact our Volunteer Coordinator at 516-922-1028 or info@northshorelandalliance.org.
Continue reading -
Friends Academy (FA) Students Raise Funds to purchase a Bench at the Humes Preserve
Help Us Make an Impact! We have been interning for the North Shore Land Alliance this month through our school’s ISP Program, an independent service project offered to seniors in their final semester at Friends Academy. The North Shore Land Alliance, a local nonprofit that has preserved over 1,200 acres of land on the North Shore, is opening the historic 33-acre Humes Preserve in Mill Neck to the public this summer. As a part of our project, we would like to raise $2,000 for a bench the Land Alliance will install for public enjoyment at the Humes preserve. We want to help make an impact and give this property something for everyone to enjoy – like a place to sit and enjoy nature with friends after the pandemic is over. Please help us reach our goal! The Humes Preserve is at the heart of a corridor of 150 contiguous protected acres in the Beaver Brook watershed. They form one of Long Island’s most treasured and ecologically valuable natural areas and boast an array of ecological communities like wetlands, streams and forests. Click here to read more about the Acquisition of the Humes Property in 2015. We chose to intern at the North Shore Land Alliance because we both love the outdoors and wanted to be outside every day helping in the Land Alliance preserves. We are also passionate about the environment and want to help protect land and make an impact in land conservation in our community. Our responsibilities at the Land Alliance have included trail maintenance, preserve cleanups and more. We have been in school together at Friends Academy for four years and have played football together for the past two years. Our experience at Friends has definitely been one to remember especially with doing our ISP internship at the North Shore Land Alliance.
Continue reading -
Meet Karina Smith – Supporting Events, Outreach and Operations at the Land Alliance
North Shore Land Alliance Thanks Karina Smith for Her Summer of Service and Support. Karina volunteered full-time with the Land Alliance during the summer of 2019 to learn about non-profit management.  She was essential in contacting vendors and donors for our Annual Wine Auction & Dinner as well as assisting with database management. Karina also participated in community outreach activities. She staffed a table at Stop & Shop in Oyster Bay, encouraging community members to purchase reusable bags through the Stop & Shop Community Bag Program, which honored the Land Alliance in July. Karina was a sophomore at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, with a double major in English and Russian. We would like to thank Karina for her help and wish her the best of luck in her future endeavors. Inspired by Karina’s Dedication? Join us in protecting and preserving our local natural spaces. Whether you bring a special skill or simply a passion for helping, there’s a meaningful place for you on our volunteer team Visit www.northshorelandalliance.org/volunteer to learn how you can get involved today!
Continue reading -
Meet Jill DeGroff – Bringing Art and Inspiration to the Land Alliance Community Garden
North Shore Land Alliance Thanks Jill DeGroff for Sharing Her Creativity and Community Spirit Jill DeGroff began volunteering at Land Alliance Community Garden in Roosevelt in 2018. She began working with Keno Williams, the onsite manager, conducting weekly garden maintenance and distributing food in the evenings for the community food share. This season, Jill could be found at the garden on weekend mornings, before the summer heat kicked in, prepping the sheds for a mural painting. In collaboration with Caryn Allen, another mural volunteer, Jill worked with elementary school students to design and paint beautiful murals of flowers and butterflies on the garden sheds. Jill is a professional graphic designer with Dale DeGroff Co. Inc. and a published author. Her work is currently on view at Stage Left in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Many thanks to Jill for sharing her time and talent to bring such life to the Roosevelt Community Garden. Thank you, Jill, for all that you’ve accomplished for the Land Alliance. Inspired by Jill’s Artistic Work? Join us in protecting and preserving our local natural spaces. Whether you bring a special skill or simply a passion for helping, there’s a meaningful place for you on our volunteer team Visit www.northshorelandalliance.org/volunteer to learn how you can get involved today!
Continue reading