Protectors of Pine Oak Woods • Message from the President

President’s Autumn 2011 Letter

by Hillel Lofaso

Challenges

IT’S BEEN QUITE THE SUMMER OF CHALLENGES! By now most Staten Islanders know what flood zone they are in, thanks to the much publicized flood zone map put out by the City’s Office of Emergency Management. Not surprisingly, most of coastal Staten Island falls in Flood Zone A: Residents in Zone A face the highest risk of flooding from a hurricane’s storm surge. Zone A includes all low-lying coastal areas and other areas that could experience storm surge from ANY hurricane making landfall close to New York City.

Our sympathies with those of our members who experienced flooding due to Hurricane Irene and we hope that you are reasonably past the cleanup phase. Still, there should be some good message that comes out of this experience. It’s that Staten Islanders must take more seriously the effect of destructive storm damage caused by flooding and storm surges. This means that continuing to build in flood zone A locations—think the West Shore—is out of the question! But even now city planners are examining this area for potential future industrial (perhaps even residential) development. This is foolhardy and wasteful. If anything, we need more protection from storm surges in the form of undeveloped and restored tidal marsh land. Only natural protection will help dissipate the force of water as it surges inland; concrete barriers are not effective.

We are glad that Protectors Board member Dr. Alan Benimoff has been speaking publicly about the realities of our flood-prone Island. This is not something storm sewers are going to solve. We are an Island of a high center surrounded by low lying areas, many below sea level. The solution is to stop building in these areas.

The Nature Challenge, The Protectors Challenge

It always amazes me that our society will create spectacles that test the endurance of Man or Woman against Nature. On Staten Island, there is the annual High Rock Challenge and, most recently, the Advance reported that 4,000 people took part in the Spartan Race Challenge at Wolfe’s Pond Park (the Spartan Sprint, the Super Spartan, The Spartan Beast and The Death Race). My point here is not to belittle these events, but to point out that the message seems to be that the only appropriate relationship that a human can have with Nature is an adversarial one. Really, now, 4,000 people in The Death Race?

Protectors’ mission is to increase stewardship of the natural world by fostering long-lasting relationships. We do this best by educating our neighbors about the harmony inherent in the natural world and how respect for Nature and the force of Nature is really the only true response to any natural challenge that might come our way. For in the end, Nature always wins.

Protectors offers its own version of the Nature challenge. We invite members and friends to sign up for and participate in Protector’s ‘49ers. The ‘49ers challenge offers participants the opportunity to proudly chart the progress of completed walks in our specially designed Walk Book. We offer walks of varying levels of hardship and duration, appealing to the weekend athlete in all of us. There is no application process or fee: Simply show up for one of our walks and speak to the walk leader or an assistant to get started. Awards will be given for significant milestones. Contact ppow@siprotectors.org for more details. Thanks to the Staten Island Foundation for funding for this project.

—Hillel Lofaso