Date: 8/29/26 10:51 am From: <russ...> Subject: [nysbirds-l] Some Long Island and NYC Conservation Actions and Coalitions Update
Here are some of the irreplaceable habitats and projects om Long Island and in NYC where birds and our grandchildren need perpetual preservation instead of more development. --- #1 JAMAICA BAY WILDLIFE REFUGE (NYC) – Improving in some ways, not in others * Jamaica Bay Guardian Don Riepe: Agreed-on items in cooperation with Gateway National Recreation Area (GNRA) Superintendent and maintenance chief. - Visitor center: Now open 4 days/week (Friday-Monday). - Portable toilet in parking lot for when Visitor Center is closed. - Trail Management: Wooden fence barriers now block destructive unofficial social trails. - Trailside thicket height trimmed at areas on the West Pond trail to improve bay viewing. * Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge Coalition: 16 local birding, environmental and civic organizations. * Conservation Action Agenda: The coalition has identified 34 transformative wildlife refuge improvement projects for further consideration. * OSPREY CRASH? MENHADEN CRASH? Both. Good news: Osprey breeding pairs on LI have hit an all-time historic high. Bad news: The 2026 Jamaica Bay osprey nesting survey was the worst fledgling ratio in 36 years; 20 of the 25 nests were empty! The other 5 only had one struggling chick each. People fear that industrial “reduction fishing” is to blame for depopulating Atlantic menhaden (the osprey’s primary forage) and disrupting the coastal food chain. Malnourished osprey are no longer fit enough to reproduce in some areas, and unable to catch enough to feed starving chicks. A call to action has gone out to CT and the LI East End, and a coalition led by the American Littoral Society is forming with NJ and Chesapeake groups to review what conservation actions can be proposed for a realistic sustainable approach to managing coastal and local menhaden stocks. * BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON are rapidly vanishing from breeding islands in Jamaica Bay and NY Harbor. A NYC Bird Alliance scientific study warns of their disappearance within 10 years without focused conservation action. Sign the petition to save the Black-crowned Night Heron in NYC: * www.nycbirdalliance.org/our-work/advocacy/current-advocacy-priorities/black-crowned-night-heron-protection --- #2 WOODMERE CLUB (Five Towns) – Potential for positive action * NYSOA, South Shore Audubon, Seatuck Environmental and the Long Island South Shore Waterkeeper are offering to cooperate with the municipalities, communities and developers on this landmark project that balances the development of a 155-unit age-restricted condominium with 70+ acres pledged to nature preservation and coastal open space on a former golf course.
* Recommend multi-jurisdictional approach to securing state and federal grants for coastal resiliency, natural buffering against storms and floods, and restoring coastal plains habitat.
* Watch video: https://youtu.be/8E23GTssFhk --- #3 HEMPSTEAD PLAINS Nature Study Area (Uniondale) – Recent positive action * Proposed nature study area to preserve the last 100-acre remnant of the historic 40,000-acre tallgrass prairie that once covered Nassau County. * Hempstead Plains Preserve: Prescribed burns needed on different sections in 2025 and 2026 proved effective to reactivate and help restore the prairie ecosystem. * Renewed Focus: Nassau County Soil & Water Conservation District grant awarded for invasive plants to be removed and replaced by Hempstead Plains endemic species. * AVIAN RESTORATION: The Soldiers2 Scientists organization launched an American Kestrel Restoration nestbox project with Long Island’s first documented breeding pair in 5 years, and two kestrel chicks. * Watch video: https://youtu.be/fpr22PrsOyA * Read more: https://www.ssaudubon.org/pdfs/hempstead-plains-nature-study-area-2025.pdf --- #4 EAST MEADOW BROOK (Central & South Nassau) - Little to no change * Over 10,000 years old, Nassau County’s longest freshwater waterway - 7.5 miles – flows to the saltwater South Shore Estuary Reserve.
* The East Meadow Brook has been severely degraded in the last 100 years by channelization (straightening), pollutants, contaminants, landscaping herbicides, pesticides, nitrogen fertilizer, road salt and plastic debris in stormwater runoff that also adversely affects the bay water quality.
* The survival of the brook depends entirely on community vigilance, restoration efforts, and strict stormwater management.
* Watch video: https://youtu.be/2Kfm0IS0N74 --- #5 STILLWELL WOODS PRESERVE (Syosset) – Uncertain status * Petition to save 270-acre Stillwell Woods Preserve signed by over 4,000 concerned people. * A required land survey map was produced in 2026 but did not clearly delineate the boundary line between the passive nature preserve and the active sports fields. A supplemental survey is recommended to fix this critical deficiency by showing an unambiguous boundary to prevent future legal challenges over land-use expansion. * Strongly recommend using a land conservancy or NYS Parks to provide a conservation easement to the Town of Oyster Bay and to follow a 10-year comprehensive habitat management plan to ensure the protection of the preserve's oak barrens, meadows, native wildlife, groundwater, and aquifer resources. * Recommend following the spirit of Suffolk County Nature Preserve Handbook when drafting robust unbreakable legal protection restricted to perpetual preservation, passive nature recreation use and wildlife habitat management for Stillwell Woods. * Learn more: https://www.change.org/p/save-our-stillwell-woods-preserve --- #6 NISSEQUOGUE RIVER Restoration (Smithtown) – Developing * 120-acre confluence and wetland meadow on 2-mile river stretch in Blydenburgh County Park. * Free The Nissequogue River Coalition: 18 organizations led by Seatuck. * Lawsuit filed against Suffolk County by Seatuck Environmental Association, Save the Sound, American Rivers, Four Harbors Audubon Society, Long Island Trout Unlimited, and Open Space Council for Suffolk County’s failure to follow NY State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) requirement to complete an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to fully evaluate the potential ecological and community resilience impacts of building a new dam and impoundment on the now free-flowing stretch of the Nissequogue River. * Learn more: https://freethenissequogue.org * Here too: https://seatuck.org/nissequogue/ --- #7 EPCAL Environmental Park at Calverton (Riverhead) - Little positive progress * Consider resolving the environmental and economic stagnation at EPCAL by cleanly separating the 1,000+ non-developable ecologically sensitive acres from the 600 developable commercial acres. It’s the most effective way to protect rare kettle hole and grassland flora, fauna and habitat while streamlining economic development for the Town of Riverhead (TOR). This will address the complication that environmental issues exclusive to the sensitive habitats have gridlocked the underlying commercial land transactions into long-standing legal battles and community pushback. * Strongly recommend using a trusted land conservancy to provide a conservation easement to TOR and to manage the rare ecosystems, grassland and kettle hole habitat and wildlife. * Recommend permanently preserving the 1000+ acres as an environmental park per guidelines of the Suffolk County Nature Preserve Handbook.* Recommend permanently preserving the 1000+ acres as an environmental park per guidelines of the Suffolk County Nature Preserve Handbook. --- #8 PLUM ISLAND (Orient Point) – Recent positive action * Suffolk County has recently announced its intention to acquire the 840-acre Plum Island from the federal government and permanently preserving it. * This follows years of advocacy by the Preserve Plum Island Coalition, a powerhouse alliance of over 110 regional and national environmental organizations led by Save The Sound. * Champions: Several federal lawmakers have championed Plum Island preservation legislation in the past decade. Most recently, Senator Chuck Schumer and Representative Nick LaLota of New York, Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, and others. Thank you. * Complements Great Gull Island (17 acres), a short distance from Plum Island. Since 1949, Great Gull Island has been owned by the American Museum of Natural History which has restored its ecosystem. It now hosts the largest Common Tern nesting colony in the world and the largest Roseate Tern colony in the Western Hemisphere. Source: Linnaean Society of NY. * Learn more: https://www.savethesound.org/2026/07/16/press-release-preserve-plum-island-coalition-applauds-suffolk-countys-plan-for-plum-island/ --- #9 NEW YORK CITY - Developing * BIRD/BUILDING COLLISIONS: Millions of birds from across the western hemisphere pass through New York City each spring and fall on the way to and from their breeding and nursery grounds. They rely on natural night light cues for celestial navigation, but building light pollution disturbs these cues, disorients birds, and an estimated quarter of a million die from building window collisions in NYC each year. * Do you live or work in NYC? Please call your NYC Councilmember’s office to ask him/her to co-sponsor and support the new "Lights Out" legislation (Intro 0998) introduced in August 2026, which requires commercial buildings and large retailers to turn off nonessential lights at night. This bill can stop preventable bird collisions and saves energy. * Learn more: https://ujoin.co/campaigns/4317/actions/public?action_id=7220 --- QUICK & EASY ACTION STEPS (Takes 10 Seconds each) Many have asked how you can help preserve these remaining irreplaceable local habitats from relentless development and how to protect birds, wildlife, and biodiversity for the future and for our grandchildren. Below are a few way you can take immediate action and make your voice heard. Anyone living on Long Island or in New York City can review and sign all three of these active campaigns right now: * Sign the NIGHT HERON PETITION for NY Harbor and Jamaica Bay: www.nycbirdalliance.org/our-work/advocacy/current-advocacy-priorities/black-crowned-night-heron-protection * Sign the SAVE STILLWELL WOODS Petition: www.change.org/p/save-our-stillwell-woods-preserve * Sign the NYC LIGHT OUT Action Portal: LI residents, you CAN sign this! Migratory birds passing through NYC at night can be the same birds that were migrating through LI backyards and preserves earlier that day. www.ujoin.co/campaigns/4317/actions/public?action_id=7220 * STAY INFORMED. Subscribe to the free e-newsletter on LI wildlife conservation from: www.seatuck.org Cordially, Russell Comeau <Russ...>(928) 614-9186 Dir., Audubon NY/CT Council Dir., NYS Ornithological Assn -- NYSbirds-L List Info: Visit: http://LISTS.cornell.edu for more information Posting Address: <NYSbirds-L...> Archives: The Mail Archive: //www.mail-archive.com/<nysbirds-l...>/maillist.html" class="hft-urls">https://www.mail-archive.com/<nysbirds-l...>/maillist.html Sightings: Please submit your observations to eBird at http://www.ebird.org --
