By Scott Brinton
In a Herald special report last week, Merrick civic activist Robert Young brought to light the devastation that vandals have wrought on the property.
State and county officials have responded swiftly, vowing to restore the dense forest to its original, natural state and protect it long-term.
The Nassau County Parks Department sent volunteers to the property on Sunday to start removing the thousands of plastic and glass bottles, aluminum cans, Styrofoam cups and other trash that line the woodland's pond. The effort was one part of the department's Volunteer Earth Day Cleanup on Saturday and Sunday, April 20 and 21 and April 27 and 28. (Earth Day was, in fact, April 22.)
The volunteers ranged from teenagers to older adults. Some were local homeowners, others environmentalists. All said they were committed to saving this endangered habitat. Each was given an aluminum trash pick and a handful of heavy, orange trash bags, which the state provided.
Working amid poison ivy and thorn bushes, the volunteers pulled out a variety of potentially dangerous garbage, from hypodermic needles to broken glass to rusting propane tanks.
Volunteer Elliott Tang has lived on Stuyvesant Avenue with his wife, Jean, for 45 years. When the Tangs first moved in, Elliott said, the woodland wasn't fenced in as it is now, and children played in the forest and ice-skated on the pond when it froze in winter.
"It was all innocent games," he said.
Now, however, the secluded property has become a haven for dirt bikers who tear up trails, causing erosion; teenagers, who hang out around fire pits, drinking and doing drugs; and people who dump mounds of trash that they likely would have to pay to dispose of at a Town of Hempstead facility. During the cleanup, Nassau County Legis. David Denenberg (D-Merrick) uncovered a pile of empty, plastic motor-oil and anti-freeze bottles that, he believes, a gas-station owner likely left amid the fallen oak leaves.
Many like the Tangs said they couldn't believe the level of trash that had accumulated on the property over the years.
Ownership still in question
Pinpointing which government agency owns the land and is responsible for protecting it is difficult. Some government officials believe that the state Parks Department owns it, and the Department of Transportation must maintain it. Others say it's owned in part by the state, in part by the county. A Nassau County tax map even states that the state, county and New York City own the property.
A Herald investigation this week suggests that it is likely part of the state's right-of-way for the Meadowbrook Parkway, and that the state Parks Department owns it and the DOT should maintain it.
According to county documents and government officials, New York City owned the property and built the pond's drainage system, much of which vandals have destroyed. Apparently, the pond was a city reservoir.
In 1981, the city deeded to Nassau all of its watershed properties along the South Shore.
The county, it appears, may have kept the twin pond to the west of the Meadowbrook Parkway, in Freeport, as part of the South Roosevelt Preserve. A county sign nearby the pond suggests that Nassau may still own the section of land. Even that, however, isn't certain.
The South Roosevelt Preserve, as the name suggests, begins in Roosevelt, but no county official could or would say exactly how far south the preserve spans. Some maps show it running into Freeport, while others do not.
Town of Hempstead officials at first had said the town doesn't own any part of the property, but now admit Hempstead is responsible for a Babylon Turnpike access gate and dirt road into the woodland.
State cleanup?
State Sen. Charles Fuschillo Jr. (R-Merrick) toured the property in question, both on the Merrick and Freeport sides, with the Herald and Robert Young last Friday. Fuschillo said he would request assistance from Gov. George Pataki's office in restoring the forest and preserving it. The senator said he would personally call John Cahill, secretary to the governor and former commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
The woodland, Fuschillo said, should become a preserve at which hiking and mountain biking are permitted. A regular presence of people who are concerned about the environment would keep vandals out, he believes.
Of this natural habitat, Fuschillo said, "This is a disgrace, an absolute disgrace. It's 20-plus years of people keeping their eyes shut."
He noted that the DEC recently posted No-Kill-Bass signs on the Merrick pond's southern end, but apparently did not report vandalism on the property.
Fuschillo could not say exactly what part of the property is state owned, but he did say, "There is state involvement here."
During the tour, Young took the senator to a section of woodland just west of the Meadowbrook Parkway and north of Sunrise Highway in Freeport. There, he showed the senator several mounds of gray road silt, apparently waste from winter salting and sanding. Each measured about 10 feet high and was dumped in the woods, just north of a stream that eventually feeds into saltwater wetlands south of Merrick.
Young and James Caracciolo, the county deputy parks commissioner who first discovered the mounds, believe the state Department of Transportation left the road waste, which is laden with trash and chunks of asphalt. A DOT depot sits not more than 50 feet away.
Caracciolo, of Freeport, said of the mounds: "It's all contaminated. It contains oil, anti-freeze, anything that comes off a car...It's pretty upsetting. I don't think it should be."
Denenberg, the county legislator, would like the entire property deeded over to the county, which could perpetually preserve it. "It's better off county owned than state owned," said Denenberg. "The [county preserves] are at least maintained."
Like Fuschillo, the legislator also would like the property opened to hikers and mountain bikers.
Doreen Banks, the county parks commissioner, would not commit to the idea of the property becoming a county preserve, saying that Nassau's poor fiscal health had to be considered with any county takeover.
Banks did agree that the woodland should be open to people. "You just don't want to acquire it and lock it up," she said.
The Tangs, who along with other local residents once fought off developers from the property by collecting 3,000 signatures against construction there, would not like to see the woodland open to the public. They, however, recognize that a regular presence at the property could scare away vandals.
Most important, said Elliott Tang, is that law-enforcement officials keep closer watch over the property. "The ideal is to have the police say, 'Stay the heck out,'" he said.
