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Volunteers Improve Habitat Quality at Land Alliance 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 cbrennan@northshorelandalliance.org.
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Williams Preserve Progress
Our first order of business at the charming Williams Preserve in Lattingtown, donated by Mary and Tim Williams, was to mow the areas along the driveway to facilitate access for maintenance. We then conducted an initial clearing of what will become a tiny parking area, to be installed once we have secured local approval. Since our last newsletter we began the long process of tackling extensive growth of undesirable vegetation throughout the property. A large volume of vines and invasive shrubs has been cleared mechanically, rescuing a number of native trees and shrubs (including a statuesque oak leaf hydrangea) in the process. In addition, a wall that was part of a formal garden designed by Ferruccio Vitale was uncovered. Much of the remaining clearing needs to be done by hand to protect the native vegetation that remains and access hard to reach areas along sensitive slopes and pond and stream edges. Coincidentally, Ferrucio Vitale also designed the formal garden at the Rumpus House at the Humes property. Umberto Innocenti began his work as a landscape architect at the firm of Ferruccio Vitale and Alfred Geiffert, Jr. He left it in 1931 to start the firm of Innocenti & Webel which, over the following decades, became the preferred landscape architects for the Humes Estate. Since the initial clearing was completed, our dedicated volunteers have removed vines by hand from the countless mature, majestic trees that are found throughout the property. They are beginning to remove invasive shrubs and vines from along the creek that goes from the property boundary and under the driveway into the pond. The spring ephemeral trout lily was observed on the bank of the creek in the spring; we hope to find more of this and perhaps other spring ephemeral’s as the property’s restoration continues. The creek is also lined with native jewel weed, which supports hummingbirds, so we are excited to learn more about the wildlife here. A highlight of the work our workers and volunteers has done was the uncovering of a stone staircase installed decades ago to connect the future meadow at the top of the property to the pond below. While it will require a little “engineering” to fully make the connection and become safely navigable, it is a discovery we are very happy about! We are working to develop a phased habitat restoration plan that will map out several natural communities – meadow, grassland, freshwater pond, stream and woodland – with implementation to begin next spring. We welcome volunteers and look forward to the time when St. John’s Church parishioners and summer camp attendees can take a quiet stroll or eat a sandwich by the pond. With many thanks to the Williams family for their generous gift.
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Happenings at Humes – From Gardens to the Garage
We were kept busy with mowing the phase two area of the meadow this year but unfortunately that was more due to controlling weed growth than keeping winter rye from going to seed, (as had been the case with phase one). Last fall’s seeding of the phase two area was less productive than phase one’s. For this reason, the area will be overseeded shortly. We will follow with adding wildflowers generously provided through a Garden Club of America Partners for Plants grant secured by the North Country Garden Club of Long Island. The phase one area of the meadow is thriving. It benefited from the addition of bluebird boxes, which yielded chicks in the spring. Much of this activity was monitored by Barbara Garriel and Jan Guga. We were also graced with daily visits by Judy Rasin, whose photographs document the meadow’s use by butterflies and other pollinators throughout the 2021 growing season. The fall was planting time for the native woodland demonstration area next to the nature play area. Designed and installed by Spadefoot Design and Construction, the project occupies a 4,000 sq. ft. area that not long ago was a dumping ground for Humes Estate weeds and rubbish. Now a short path will enable visitors to explore a suite of native trees, shrubs, ferns and wildflowers typical of the understory of a local woodland. This past summer, new Land Alliance Board Member Oliver Grace launched a $100 Thousand matching grant challenge for improvements at Land Alliance properties. Excitingly, the grant was quickly matched and seeded multiple projects in need of funding. With the Humes Preserve fitness area heavily trafficked, the Land Alliance felt the adjacent garage needed an overhaul to beautify the visitor experience and provide us with much needed storage for tools and equipment. We hired Tim Lyons of LMW Group to do the work and his generosity exceeded our expectations. Unfortunately, no treasure was found during the demolition, only empty wine bottles in the rafters dating back to the 1960’s. The restoration included a new roof, updated electrical, new garage doors, paint, shelving and rotted wood replacement among other things. The refurbishment not only looks great but promises to keep people and things dry for years to come. We would like to thank Oliver Grace and those who took part in his matching grant challenge for their generous support and Tim Lyons for his craftsmanship. Thanks to the generosity of the the Annunziato, Driscoll, Hoyt, Kalenderian and McGlone families a beautiful new flagpole has been installed next to the meadow. These families thought of everything! The new pole has a solar light so the Stars and Stripes can fly over Humes 24 hours a day. Excitement grows as construction of the new Land Alliance headquarters begins. In mid-November, the retaining wall behind the Tavern House was raised and a sturdy new one was installed. This process required several months of engineering, bidding and permitting. The new retaining wall will solve slope and drainage issues as we get one step closer to the actual restoration of the Tavern House. Simultaneously, the nearby swimming pool was removed to make room for public access to the new Tavern House headquarters. This process began with the removal of all the bluestone around the pool (which will later be used for pathways). Next, the pool had to be pumped of roughly 30,000 gallons of murky pool water. While monitoring the pumping, volunteers noticed the frogs that had called the pool home for so long, were chasing the retreating water. Volunteers sprang into action and grabbed buckets to dutifully rescue the frogs and relocate them to the a nearby pond. Later that week the heavy machinery moved in for demolition and removal of the pool. One thing is certain, there is never a dull moment at the Humes Preserve! We have more exciting things to come in 2022 as we begin the work to restore the Tavern House and surrounds as the Land Alliance’s first ever HQ! Click here if you would like to help us maintain this preserve.
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Adelphi CALIBER Students Volunteer with the Land Alliance
North Shore Land Alliance and Adelphi University’s largest community service organization, C.A.L.I.B.E.R. (Cause to Achieve Leadership Intelligence Brotherhood Excellence and Respect), are teaming up to raise $1,000 for tools for the Land Alliance’s Volunteers for Open Space Program. The Volunteers Program was established in 2008 to help advance our local conservation work and educational activities. Since then, we have engaged more than 2000 individuals to help protect and preserve our environment and steward hundreds of acres of land while providing meaningful, hands-on educational experiences. C.A.L.I.B.E.R.’s donation will enhance our volunteers’ stewardship efforts, community outreach and education programs. C.A.L.I.B.E.R. has participated in several community service opportunities throughout Long Island, with partners as diverse as the Ronald McDonald House, Holly Patterson Nursing Home and Relay for Life. Established at Adelphi in 1985, C.A.L.I.B.E.R. provides its members with opportunities to grow as individuals and leaders, working with communities as a unified group, unlocking the full potential of both members and those they serve. North Shore Land Alliance volunteers participate in a diverse array of opportunities to match their varied interests. We welcome volunteers of all ages, skill levels and backgrounds and offer a wide range of conservation-focused activities at our nature preserves, in the office and at events. Volunteering with North Shore Land Alliance allows you to connect to your environment and community, making it a better place. Partnerships with organizations like C.A.L.I.B.E.R. continue to advance our mission, while connecting volunteers to nature.
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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!
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