Protectors Offers Testimony in Support of Funding  for Long Pond/Butler Woods Preservation

by Donald Recklies and
Ellen O’Flaherty Pratt
Conservation Committee Co-Chairs

Editor’s note: The following testimony was submitted on April 19 to the US Senate Subcommittee on Commerce Justice and Science of the Appropriations Committee

Protectors of Pine Oak Woods, a conservation organization representing over 2000 environmentally conscious Staten Islanders, appreciates this opportunity to testify in support of appropriating $3 million from National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration Coastal and Estuarine Land conservation Program for the preservation of Long Pond/Butler Woods in New York.

The southern coast of Staten Island, facing the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean and Sandy Hook in New Jersey southeast over the Raritan Bay, is an important natural and recreational resource for the residents of the metropolitan New York City Area. To conserve this shoreland, hundreds of acres have been protected as federal, state, and local government parks such as Gateway National Recreational Area in New York and New Jersey, Mount Loretto Unique Area, Wolfe’s Pond Park, and Conference House Park. These parks lie on the northern shore of Raritan Bay, a significant estuary between New York and New Jersey.

New York/New Jersey’s Raritan Bay, with Staten Island to the north and Middlesex and Monmouth counties to the south, is the largest component of the Hudson River-Raritan Estuary system. It is part of the New York-New Jersey Harbor Estuary Program, one of 28 federally recognized estuaries of national importance. Raritan Bay was historically one of the richest fisheries in the nation prior to over-fishing and a reduction of water quality due to silt and other pollution which have impacted fish stocks in recent decades. The harbor, where commerce, industry, and nature confront one another, has, considering its overlying urban/industrial matrix, large amounts of upland and wetland open space and an unexpectedly high degree of biological diversity. The wetlands, marshes, flats, and costal and riparian corridors in both New York and New Jersey serve as prime habitats for fish, terrapin, amphibians, and shorebirds, while migratory birds use these same areas for habitat and stopovers to replenish the energies needed to continue their journeys. In this part of Raritan Bay land conservation has been used as a primary tool for wildlife protection and to improve water control and quality; it is the site of extensive habitat and storm water management Bluebelts established by The New York City Department of Environmental Protection.

Two parcels totaling 80 acres near the Princes Bay section of Staten Island are available for acquisition in Fiscal Year 2007. These are collectively referred to as Long Pond/Butler Woods. The largest parcel, known as the North Mount Loretto Woods, comprises 75 acres of forest and wetlands lying between Hylan Boulevard and the Pleasant Plains station of the Staten Island Railway. This property contains wetlands that provide flood protection, stormwater control, wildlife habitat, and open space for residents. More than half of the property contains wetlands within the Mill Creek watershed and provides watershed protection. The smaller parcel, known as the Camp St. Edward property, is a five-acre triangular property on the shore of Raritan Bay. Currently undeveloped, it extends south of Hylan Boulevard along 800 feet of shoreland, and is adjacent to the only natural red clay bluffs in the New York City area.

Both of these properties have been identified as high priority conservation projects in the New York State Open Space Conservation Plan of 2005, a plan which includes the New York-New Jersey Harbor Estuary Program and the state plans for the Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program. Together the properties offer opportunities to conserve important recreation and open space for residents and other users. Enhancing their value are several existing conserved properties that surround the parcels, including the Mill Creek Bluebelt site immediately to the north of the North Mount Loretto Woods parcel; Long Pond Park Natural Area which contains forest, swamp, and freshwater ponds; Lemon Creek on the Bay itself; Bloesser’s Pond; Arden Heights Woods; and the Mount Loretto Unique Area, an adjacent 145-acre tract of grasslands and bluff fronting the Bay that was conserved in 1998.

In order to conserve the Long Pond/Butler Woods parcels, an appropriation of $3 million from the Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program is needed in Fiscal Year 2007. A federal contribution would be matched by $11.5 million in non-federal funds, very nearly a one-to-four ratio. Once conserved, the properties would be managed by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Both properties are highly vulnerable for development given their location in the metropolitan area, and other parcels in the immediate area have been purchased and developed for residential use within the past year.

Conservation of these two properties will ensure the protection of important coastal wetlands and the availability of open space, recreational opportunity, and public access to the shore of Raritan Bay. Therefore Protectors of Pine Oak Woods urges the inclusion of funding for this project in the Fiscal Year 2007 Commerce, Justice, and Science Appropriations Bill. We thank the Subcommittee for this opportunity to present testimony, and for consideration of this important request.