¥New York State Department of Transportation
¥State Department of Environmental Conservation
¥State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation
¥State Police, Troop L
¥Nassau County Legislature
¥County Department of Public Works
¥County Planning Department
¥County Parks Department
¥County Open Space Advisory Committee
¥County Police Department
¥Town of Hempstead Parks Department
Woodland plans
The Unprotected Woodlands Task Force recommends the following actions in the woodlands:
¥Historical structures should be inventoried to determine whether they are eligible for inclusion on the National Register or State Register of Historic Places.
¥Native vegetation should be inventoried.
¥Illegal dump sites should be identified and cleaned up.
¥The existing trail system should be made safe and marked.
¥Local volunteer groups should be contacted about a maintenance agreement between them and the state Parks Department.
¥Access points should be inventoried and closed off to ATV users.
¥Signs should be installed alerting people to permitted uses in the woodlands.
¥Informational kiosks should be installed at various points throughout the woodlands.
¥Security should be provided through regular police patrols.
¥Water quality in streams should be tested.
¥Wildlife should be inventoried to identify threatened and endangered species.
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Saving the woodlands
After two years, task force releases management plan for Meadowbrook forests
By Scott Brinton
The woodlands along the Meadowbrook Parkway run for roughly 10 miles, from south Merrick to East Meadow, and encompass hundreds of acres. By all accounts, they are beautiful, serving as a reminder that before Nassau County was a suburban Mecca, it was a pastoral farming community.
Until now, the government has failed to protect the woodlands from ATV users and partying teenagers, who have ravaged the forests over the years. That may soon change, however.
The Nassau County Unprotected Woodlands Task Force recently completed its draft management plan for the woodlands. The 15-page document is a blueprint to preserve the forests for generations to come.
The task force formed following a year-long Herald series in 2002 that examined the plight of the woodlands along the Meadowbrook, Southern State and Wantagh parkways. County Legislator Norma Gonsalves, a Republican of East Meadow and a member of the group, was instrumental in organizing it. She said that creating the management plan was a Herculean effort that involved 13 state, county and town agencies and required numerous meetings. In the end, Gonsalves said, all the work was worth it. "I think we have come to the point where we have achieved a great deal," she said.
Brian Schneider, a hydrogeologist with the county Department of Public Works, Donald Hohn, a planner with the county Planning Department, and Greg Koslowski, an engineer with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, prepared the management plan with suggestions from task force members.
Many of those ideas came from county Legislator David Denenberg, a Democrat of Merrick. Denenberg, an attorney and environmental engineer, worked with Gonsalves and others to help start the task force. Denenberg said the management proposal "is our plan to have a coordinated effort between the county, state, and town and local villages to maintain, police and allow passive recreational use of the Meadowbrook Parkway corridor."
The premise behind the management plan is to cut off illegal uses of the woodlands, such as ATV riding and drug parties, and make the forests safe for recreational activities such as hiking, mountain-biking, cross-country skiing, fishing and bird watching.
The plan calls for creation of hiking trails. There are now numerous paths that have popped up over the years, but many are unsafe, lacking, example, footbridges across streams. The task force would like to see bridges installed where needed. It also wants visitors' centers. The centers wouldn't be large structures. Rather, they would be more like lean-tos, with maps and perhaps pamphlets about the habitat's flora and fauna.
The task force would also like barriers installed at key access points to prevent ATV users from entering the woodlands. The barriers could be simple lines of metal poles, spaced far enough apart to allow hikers in but close enough to keep ATV riders out. The group wants to see the woodlands' fence line better maintained. And clearly marked signs at the heads of trails would let people know which uses are allowed in the woodlands and which are not.
Task force members stressed that the woodlands would not become a park in the traditional sense. There would be no designated parking lots, and barbecuing would not be allowed. Rather, the woodlands would be for "passive" uses; that is, activities that don't affect the land.
Richard Schary, of North Bellmore, and Bob Young, of Merrick, are the two citizen representatives on the Unprotected Woodlands Task Force. Each has organized numerous cleanups in the woodlands surrounding the parkways. Young is chairman of the local chapter of the America the Beautiful campaign, and Schary is a member of the Nassau County Open Space Committee, a citizens' advisory panel.
Schary said he is excited by the management plan's completion. "I think this is fantastic," he said. "It's a great start." The woodlands, he said, "are an untapped resource" that should be reclaimed for lawful use, rather than the illegal activities that go on there now. The area has been "ignored too long, abused too long," he said.
Schary also noted that cooperation in drafting the management plan was enormous. "It's a good example of bipartisanship among three layers of government," he said.
Young said the plan doesn't indicate which areas of the woodlands would and would not be for public use. He believes certain sections of the forests should be left wild. "Some areas should have no use at all, just preserved as space," Young said.
In order for the plan to be enacted, the state Department of Parks and Recreation must sign off on it, since the department owns most of the woodlands. (The county and town also own small sections of the forests.) Bernadette Castro, the state parks commissioner, has indicated support for a recreational area along the Meadowbrook, but has not yet committed to the management plan, Gonsalves said.
The task force said it would bring the management plan to state elected leaders such as Sen. Charles Fuschillo Jr., a Republican of Merrick, and Assemblyman David McDonough, a Republican of North Merrick. The hope is that they will take the plan to Castro, because they might have the greatest influence on her decision-making.
McDonough couldn't be reached at press time. Fuschillo said he received the management plan last Friday and hadn't had a chance to look it over yet, but added that he would as soon as possible.
Comments about this story? SBrinton@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 203.
