Edgewood & the Proposed Long Island Rail-Truck Inter Modal (Commack, New York)

When you first go to Edgewood, check out the guys who fly model airplanes. Really! There's even a runway that's not far from the park's entrance. Walk towards the runway, but be careful as the planes fly overhead and you never know when one might take a nosedive into your head! That was especially true when I learned how to fly as a novice. Take a close look at the runway and the grassland restored around it. The guys keep the runway clear and in so doing have saved the native plants and wildflowers we planted some ten years ago.

Crossing The Flying Field

When the Friends of Edgewood arrived we carefully crossed the flying field. Denis Byrne wore blue jeans and a plain blue T-shirt. His chatter filled the air with youthful memories of growing up nearby and of spending countless days exploring the seemingly endless forest of Edgewood. Still exuberant in his adult years, he swiftly guided us through Edgewood. We took one trail here, and turned on another, as both Mary Beth Tomko and I listened to Denis talk about Edgewood. "I love the place because it represents a part of Long Island that almost was erased. It's an oasis among one of the most densely populated portions of Long Island, right at a location where so many people can access it."

Hiking & Mountain Bicycling

How this land came to be a park is an interesting story. In the late 1980's, Edgewood Hospital was abandoned and demolished. Its barren footprint along with an eventual 850 acres of surrounding open space became dedicated as the New York Oak Brush Plains Nature Preserve. As we walked, I learned from Denis, "There's a marked hiking trail that is just a bit over three miles long with a few shared sections of mountain biking trail. The mountain biking trail is about 6 miles in length, which Concerned Long Island Mountain Bicyclists (CLIMB) is hoping to expand. The hiking trail was established around 1992 by the Long Island Greenbelt Conference, and the mountain biking loop was first created in 2002, then modified and expanded in 2007 by CLIMB."

How You Can Take Action

The best thing you can do is to go out and visit the preserve. My early visits inspired me to restore the "openings" in the footprint that was once Edgewood Hospital. John Cryan, a local naturalist who also spent many days of his youth exploring this same forest, described Edgewood's natural history as a place of transition between Long Island's western grasslands and the eastern Pine Barrens. It was John who got me curious about Edgewood's landscape, its openings of wildflowers and grasses tucked between scrub oak and scattered pitch pine. Your visits may also inspire a project of your own or you can more easily join forces with the Friends of Edgewood. They have organized massive cleanups of the entire preserve, worked with the US Army Guard to airlift and drop in cement blocks to stop illegal access, and have organized the Edgewood Task Force, which gives voice to Edgewood's many other stakeholders.

Stopping Development

Mary Beth followed Denis; eager to learn everything she could about the natural history of Edgewood. As we crossed the invisible boundary between the preserve and the proposed Long Island rail-truck inter modal (LITRIM), she caught his excitement. We paused to study the plant life of the forest and of a disturbed sand pit that was beginning to restore naturally. I took a picture as the sun set bright pink. Thirteen environmental groups, nine civic groups, two towns, and at least ten more organizations also wanted the proposed LITRIM stopped. Yet, according to an article written for Long Island Newsday by Elizabeth Moore, the Governor vetoed the bill that they had lobbied so hard for because he believed that the environmental review should continue, as the proposed LITRIM would reduce carbon emission and fuel use. The Governor also questioned whether disturbed areas within the proposed site could be restored! I have found that the trick to a successful restoration is to control vandalism, reduce exotic plants, supplement with native plantings, and manage the good side of fire in this fire-prone ecosystem.

Changing Tactics

"Unless the Governor decides to transfer the land by executive order, which he can and should do according to existing laws, we are looking for counsel," later said Friends of Edgewood, board member and founder, Patricia Burkhart. As I read her email, I could understand why. The proposed LITRIM's draft environmental impact statement considered regional transportation needs but failed to consider regional greenways for recreational use and corridors for wildlife habitat and dispersal. I believed that it was this lack of completeness that made the proposed LITRIM unacceptable to the community. I studied both the "Handbook for NEPA Practitioners" and the New York Department of Transportation's Content Sensitive Solutions (CSS). Specifically one CSS project goal is to be "in harmony with the community and preserve the environmental, scenic, cultural and natural resources of the area." So why wasn't regional open space needs considered by the proposed LITRIM draft environmental statement? But do any regional open space plans exist? The subject I hoped for comment on by readers of this article.

Restoring Hope

Mary Beth explained to me how she, along with her husband Paul Tomko, are getting other groups like the Long Island Botanical Society and the Great South Audubon Society involved in the preserve. They are also working on getting bird conservation area status for Edgewood. Listening to the call of the whip-poor-will as the sky darkened, we returned to our starting point. When communities rely on natural resources for transportation and open space protection, they mustn't also forget that which uplifts our spirit: the call of the wild, the sweet smell of a forest on a clear day, and the bright sunshine after a rain that brings out a rainbow. I hope you will take the time to visit Edgewood and take actions, as I will be doing to protect and conserve Long Island's open spaces and its natural resources.