Long Island, the ever-evolving ecosystem

Lately I’ve begun to think of Long Island as neither a region of New York state nor a semi-cohesive bedroom community that owes its existence to the mother ship, Manhattan. Rather, I’ve begun to think of Long Island as an ecosystem.

You might wonder what this bastion of suburbia might have to do with nature. With its seemingly endless strip malls and parking lots the size of aircraft carriers, Long Island has nothing to do with the natural world, you might argue. But before you conclude that I’ve really lost it this time, hear me out.

For starters, what is an ecosystem? It is, simply, a natural system, such as a rainforest. Within that system, there are subsystems — smaller communities, if you will. Ants inhabit the ground, birds the trees. Ecologists call these smaller communities “niches.” The sum of the parts, the communities, make the whole. The parts depend on one another for survival. If one community collapses, though, the entire system does not shut down. There are other communities within the ecosystem. Ants are needed to keep the system churning, but if one colony fails, there are others. The ecosystem survives.

Now think of Long Island for a moment as a rainforest. Within it, we find larger communities (Nassau and Suffolk counties), medium-sized communities (the cities and towns) and still smaller communities (villages and school districts).

Contrary to popular opinion, Long Island was not born in the post-war baby boom. It did not magically arise from Levittown in 1947. Long Island was inhabited by Native American tribes long before European settlers –– meaning the Dutch and then the English –– arrived in the 1600s.

The Town of Hempstead was founded by English settlers from New England in 1644. They held their first government convention in 1665. Delegates from towns as far east as Southampton and as far west as Brooklyn came for it.

Long Island played a central role in the Revolutionary War. The British invaded New York City in 1776 via Long Island, and beat back General George Washington’s Continental Army into New Jersey before the Americans fought back and ultimately routed them.