Dozens of East Meadow residents spent part of Saturday exploring one of the community’s least-seen natural treasures during guided tours of the East Meadow Bird Sanctuary and Nature Preserve, a protected wildlife area tucked behind Speno Park and maintained by the Council of East Meadow Community Organizations, known as CEMCO.
CEMCO engages in many activities around East Meadow, including providing the community updates about important projects, serving as an avenue for civic engagement, and working towards local, environmental improvements. Its impact includes tree planting and beautification efforts, maintaining the bird sanctuary and East Meadow’s berm site, and working with additional local agencies.
The May 2 event, co-hosted by Nassau County Legislator Tom McKevitt and CEMCO, invited residents inside the normally restricted preserve for a series of guided walks highlighting the sanctuary’s environmental importance, ongoing preservation work and the wide variety of birds and wildlife that call it home.
Tours ran every 30 minutes throughout the morning and early afternoon, giving visitors a chance to observe the marshland habitat and learn more about the efforts underway to keep the area protected.
CEMCO continuously engages in a number of improvements aimed at preserving the sanctuary, including the installation of a new perimeter fence designed to reduce trespassing and vandalism.
“We’ve had, over the last five years, a lot of trespassing happening,” CEMCO President Joseph Parisi has said of the bird sanctuary. “This organization has worked closely in conjunction with Legislator Tom McKevitt’s office, and the new fence has been installed there. It was a costly expense, I would say, but it’s helping to at least cut down on some of the vandalism.”
Parisi added that the fence was also installed with safety in mind.
“The concern has been, not only vandalism and trespassing, but since there’s a large body of water, we wanted to make sure that it’s not easy for younger kids to get in there and have some kind of serious accident,” he said.
In addition to protecting the site, CEMCO also works to strengthen the natural habitats for all wildlife.
“You can’t believe how much is there, so we do our best to help nature out and to keep the sanctuary as clean as possible,” Parisi said.
Saturday’s tours served as both an educational outing and a reminder that one of East Meadow’s most significant natural habitats exists quietly in the middle of the suburban community — home to birds, amphibians and other wildlife that many residents rarely get the opportunity to see up close.
To learn more about CEMCO and how to get involved, call (516) 542-7609 or email CEMCO1976@gmail.com.
