The Force was with our intrepid volunteers and friends on Saturday, May 4, 2024, as the 13th I Love My Park Day took place across New York. More than 150 state parks, historic sites, and public lands welcomed thousands of volunteers to help rake and plant flower beds, clear trails, paint benches, build birdhouses, clean up beaches and public spaces, clear away invasive species, and get the parks looking fantastic for the busy season ahead.
For the first time in four years, New York State’s Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation’s Park Police have a new graduating class.
That’s right, a group of 32 recruits answered the call, made it through a trying six-month training term, and are now ready to patrol our parks. While we still have a long way to go to get our Park Police numbers in a healthier place, this influx of personnel is a great start to filling depleted ranks, primarily on Long Island and in the Hudson Valley.
Four 17th Academy recruits were honored at the recent Saratoga Spa State Park Hall of Springs graduation ceremony:
For the family and friends gathered on that May 3 morning, the highlight was the recruit recap video that showed the rigors of just what the new officers had to go through. There were written tests, physical fitness activities, pursuit driving drills, snowmobile safety and water rescue lessons, the mental challenges of returning to their barracks to find their living space (purposely) in shambles, plus being tased and pepper sprayed. Some video onlookers laughed, some gasped, some pointed wide-eyed. Most of the new officers didn’t react – they had lived it and earned their badges.
The new class was also offered wisdom and well wishes from leadership at State Parks and Park Police:
“The call to service comes at all hours of the day,” Commissioner Erik Kulleseid reminded them.
“Always make your bed,” suggested Colonel Michael Daddona, Assistant Director of Law Enforcement, referencing making a practice of the first accomplishment of their day, every day.
“Protect precious and beautiful places in New York State,” urged Lieutenant Zachary Voegler, head of the Park Police Academy.
After graduation, PBANYS President and University Police Lieutenants Director James McCarthy underscored the immense benefits of building the Park Police force. “We welcome the addition of these specialized officers who have made a commitment to keeping their neighbors and communities safe,” he said. “At a time when law enforcement agencies face tremendous challenges in recruiting and retaining the best and brightest, the residents of New York state are extremely fortunate that these 32 individuals answered the call to serve and protect.”
Our Park Police graduation, however, was just one of two major events recently hosted at Saratoga Spa State Park. The other event unfolded a few days earlier when Park Police staged an emergency exercise on how to respond to a disaster during a concert at Saratoga Performing Arts Center, commonly known as SPAC, a venue within the park.
Continue reading Park Police Spring into Action for 2023Did you visit a New York State park or historic site last year? Maybe you plan to this year?
For nearly a century, New Yorkers and visitors around the world have enjoyed the great outdoors at New York State parks and historic sites. For everything these properties have given to us, we now invite you to give back and help ensure that future generations have the same access.
On Saturday, May 6, 2023, join us in celebrating the 12th annual ‘I Love My Park’ Day — an event in partnership with Parks & Trails New York; the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation; and the Department of Environmental Conservation. This is the largest statewide volunteer event to enhance parks, historic sites, and public lands across the State, and registration is now open.
“Our volunteers are crucial in making our state park system the very best in the nation and we look forward to welcoming thousands of volunteers for I Love My Park Day again this year,” said Erik Kulleseid, Commissioner of the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.
Last year, more than 5,000 volunteers gave back to our parks and public lands, planting more than 250 trees, creating and updating more than 1,000 gardens, and filling nearly 600 bags of garbage.
You and your family and friends will have the opportunity to participate in rewarding cleanup events at over 120 state parks, historic sites, and public lands all across the state. Here’s a quick look at only some of the properties where you can volunteer across the regions:
Registration is now open for sites across the State. But don’t wait! Volunteer spots will fill up quickly. We thank you for being responsible stewards so future generations can enjoy these special natural resources for centuries to come.
“I Love My Park Day is a great opportunity for New Yorkers to give back to our incredible parks and public lands,” said Governor Kathy Hochul. “I encourage New Yorkers to sign up and volunteer at a participating park, historic site or trail in their area to ensure future generations can continue to enjoy these amazing natural resources.”
This week we celebrate Earth Day! The first Earth Day was held in 1970 to draw attention to ongoing environmental issues in the United States, such as water and air pollution. Since then, Earth Day has become a global event held every April 22nd in honor of protecting the environment. With over 350,000 acres of park land and waters, NY State Parks play an important role in the protection and stewardship of New York’s natural ecosystems. If you would like to join in the celebration and participate in hands-on Earth Day activities, check out the list below for a sampling of Earth Day events held in State Parks across the state! If you can’t make any of this week’s Earth Day events, join us for Arbor Day programs next week and I Love My Park Day on Saturday, May 7th!
Brookhaven National Lab Climate Van
Jones Beach Energy & Nature Center
Friday, April 22, 2022 09:00 AM – 04:30 PM
This pioneering mobile laboratory consists instruments used in their climate research to measure atmospheric variables. Come explore and get a glimpse into the science of forecasting atmospheric conditions. The talks will be on Zoom as well as in person.
Protect the Pollinators Event
Jones Beach Energy & Nature Center
Saturday, April 23, 2022 12:00 PM
Build your own bee or insect house; Guided tour of our Pollinator Garden; Springtime Storytime; and Pollinator Relay Races
Earth Day Celebration Project
Connetquot River State Park Preserve
Saturday, April 23, 2022 09:00 AM
In celebration of Earth Day, please join Friends of Connetquot to plant native plants and ferns along the main road to the Clubhouse. Meet up by the Kiosk in the main parking lot starting at 9 am. Please dress appropriately and bring gloves. To register, please visit www.friendsofconnetquot.org.
Earth Day Hike
Hallock State Park Preserve
Saturday, April 23, 2022 09:00 AM – 11:00 AM
Celebrate our earth home by taking a 3 mile hike through the trails of the Preserve observing all that nature can share with us! All programs meet in the upper parking lot unless noted. Programs led by MaryLaura Lamont. Call for details, reservations at (631)315-5475. Snow/rain cancels programs!!!
Earth Day Festival
Hempstead Lake State Park
Saturday, April 23, 2022 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM
The event will include alternative energy activities, up-cycling t-shirt into aprons, make native pollinator seed bombs, and more!
Earth Day Walk
Buckhorn Island State Park
Friday, April 22, 2022 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM
Happy Earth Day everyone! Joins us for a relaxing walk through the woods and along with Niagara River. For information and registration call (716) 282-5154
Arbor Day Walk
DeVeaux Woods State Park
Friday, April 29, 2022 01:00 PM – 02:30 PM
Happy Arbor Day! Enjoy a walk through old growth trees. Registration required, please call (716) 282-5154.
Celebrate Earth Day!
Point Au Roche State Park
Saturday, April 30, 2022 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Celebrate Earth Day with us! Go on a Scavenger Hunt! Play some Earth Day themed games! Plant a seed to take home! Help clean up the Park! Activities available 10am-12pm. All ages welcome!
Earth Day at Zoo New York
Minna Anthony Common Nature Center
Saturday, April 23, 2022 10:00 AM – 03:00 PM
Come join the Earth Day celebration at the Thompson Park Zoo! Learn about the natural world around you and the importance of protecting our natural resources. Discover new places and ways to enjoy the outdoors. There will be numerous family friendly activities and many different organizations at the event, including the Nature Center! For additional information, please call the Thompson Park Zoo at (315) 782-6180. Preregistration recommended. Please call (315) 482-2479 to register. Face covering encouraged when indoors.
Arbor Day at TILT’s Sissy Danforth Rivergate Trail
Wellesley Island State Park
Saturday, April 30, 2022 10:00 AM – 02:00 PM
Celebrate Arbor Day and the Thousand Islands Land Trust’ (TILT) 9th Annual “For the Trees” Celebration by planting trees at the S. Gerald Ingerson Preserve along the Sissy Danforth Rivergate Trail. Bring the whole family to get their hands dirty! There will be numerous family friendly activities, workshops, games, and exhibits from TILT and many different organizations, including the Nature Center! For more information, please visit tilandtrust.org or call (315) 686-5345. Preregistration recommended. Please call (315) 482-2479 to register. Face covering encouraged when indoors.
Trees and Climate
Point Au Roche State Park
Saturday, April 30, 2022 02:00 PM – 03:00 PM
Join the park naturalist to explore trees, their important role in the ecosystem, and what they do for us. How can trees help with climate change? What can we learn by studying tree rings? What threats do trees face? Also, learn about Wangari Maathai, a very inspiring conservationist and activist, and how we can follow her example to help trees! Please note this will be an indoor program.
Beach Cleanup Event
Sampson State Park
Friday, April 22, 12:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Looking for a good way to give back to your community this Earth Day? Come out to Samson State Park from 12:00pm to 4:00pm on Friday, April 22nd and help us clean up trash and debris along the beach front and cobble shoreline of Seneca Lake. Did you know that the beautiful and State Threatened grows right here at Sampson? Twinleaf is just one of the unique and important species that call Sampson State Park home. Come help us protect this important ecological community and learn about conservation efforts around the state! Feel free to bring work gloves, or borrow ours! Meet us near the beach and look for the FORCES table!
Earth Day Clean Up
Saratoga Spa State Park
Friday, April 22nd, 10:30 AM
Celebrate Earth Day at Saratoga Spa State Park with our most recent park partner, the Children’s Museum at Saratoga! We will work together to make the park a little more beautiful. At 10:30AM on April 22nd, we will meet at the Lincoln Bathhouse where the Museum’s new Nature Backpack program will be demonstrated. At 11:00AM everyone will head out to help clean up one of the park’s many pathways. Come share in the reward of making a greener, cleaner world! Gloves and bags will be provided. No registration necessary.
Trout Discovery Day
Grafton Lakes State Park
Thursday April 21, 2022 11:00 AM to 1:30 PM
Grafton Lakes State Park is hosting its annual Trout Discovery Day. As the weather gets warmer it is the perfect time to stock long pond with trout. The DEC will be providing trout and Grafton will be providing activities. Come on your own or bring out the whole family, Trout Discovery Day is the perfect event for all ages. Enjoy trout shaped treats, crafts, and educational booths highlighting the wonders of trout! Learn about their habitats, school programs and micro and macro invertebrates. Come help to stock our ponds. The event will be held on April 21 from 11am-1:30 pm, $2 cash per child, ages 6-15. Ages 5 and under and adults are free to enter. DEC will bring trout at 11:30 am. Park at Rabbit Run.
Earth Day Festival
Grafton Lakes State Park
Friday, April 22, 2022 5:00 PM-8:00 PM
Join Grafton Lakes for a family friendly Earth Day festival. Learn about the migration of monarch butterflies, the importance of pollinators, the impacts of invasive species, and much more. Partake in activities, demos, and crafts. This year’s Earth Day theme is to Invest in Our Planet’s Future. Each one of us can make a positive impact from the small to the tall. No registration required. The Festival will be held Friday, April 22nd from 5-8pm. The charge for the festival is $3/person cash, ages 5 and under free.
Earth Day Celebration
Rockefeller State Park Preserve
Saturday, April 23 from 10:00 AM – 4:00PM
Earth Day was first celebrated in 1970 as an act of support for environmental protection. Now, more than 50 years later, Earth Day events are attended by over a billion people worldwide. What better way to celebrate this year than to visit your local Preserve!
Immerse yourself in nature and stop by “education stations” along Brother’s Path from 10 am – 1 pm to learn about topics such as clean water initiatives, sustainability, native plants and pollinators, wildlife conservation, and more!
Start your own native plant garden with our seed planting activity, which will take place every half hour from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm beside Swan Lake. (While supplies last.)
Learn about birds of prey and get up-close and personal with a few of them in a LIVE demonstration from 1 – 2 pm on the Overlook trail. (Please note: no dogs or horses will be allowed on Overlook during this time.)
Participate in a “BioBlitz” to learn more about biodiversity within the Preserve and contribute as a citizen scientist by logging your observations using the iNaturalist app. We’ll meet at the Swan Lake kiosk at 2 pm and venture from there.
Cost: FREE! No registration required. You may want to bring cash for raffles and merchandise. Proceeds support the maintenance of our beautiful carriage roads and landscape. Appropriate for all ages. Rain date: April 24
The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation offers the opportunity for environmental volunteers to get to work! Stewardship Saturdays are a great way to come together with a community of people that care about the environment and want to give back to nature.
For example, this spring at the Bayard Cutting Arboretum State Park along the Connetquot River on the southern shore of Long Island, volunteers guided by Parks employees kicked off the season by trimming the historic Rhododendron bushes that line the paths. Rhododendron bushes can grow as tall as small trees if they are not trimmed once a year, but thanks to volunteers, the trails were ready for summer.
The original bushes were planted by the Bayard family during the turn of the 20th century. Gilded Age financier and philanthropist William Bayard Cutting wanted people to “Think of us as a museum of trees, not a park.” The family donated the 691-acre estate in Great River to New York ” to provide an oasis of beauty and quiet for the pleasure, rest and refreshment of those who delight in outdoor beauty; and to bring about a greater appreciation and understanding of the value and importance of informal planting.”
The arboretum has many miles of trails to explore the grounds. Find a trail map by clicking HERE.
Our volunteers have a range of reasons for wanting to help on Stewardship Saturdays. They also come with different levels of knowledge about plant life, so people who are not experts can still contribute by learning from others.
One such volunteer, named Laura, said, “We volunteer as a family because we care about conservation and we are always looking for opportunities to give back to the community. George (also a volunteer) invited us to Stewardship Saturdays and we are glad to be here.”
Another volunteer, James, who was there with his wife Jeanette, said, “I am retired so I have a lot of time and like to keep busy. We are involved with Island Harvest, Long Island Cares and help with the flower garden at Planting Fields Arboretum in Nassau County. I volunteer about three days per week. I don’t know about the plants but I’m here to help with anything the park needs.”
Joe has a lot experience volunteering with New York State Parks with his family. He found out about Stewardship Saturdays through the State Parks’ web site: “We went to a meeting and it sounded like a great opportunity to give back to the community and get out into nature for a change. After the first time, we were hooked and we now show up for about 95 percent of Stewardship Saturdays. My family has been to around six different state parks so far and it’s fun. I have lived on Long Island for 45 years and had no idea that this beautiful park existed. When I was in college I worked for Habitat for Humanity and my job was to build houses for people in need. When there is an opportunity to get away from electronics, I jump on it. It’s easy to pick up your phone, but here at Bayard, we are giving back and having some downtime which is nice. I volunteer all year.”
According to research, Rhododendron, meaning “red tree,” refers to the red flowers and woody growth of some species, but Rhododendrons range from evergreen to deciduous and from low-growing ground covers to tall trees. Flowers may be scented or not and are usually tubular to funnel-shaped and occur in a wide range of colors—white, yellow, pink, scarlet, purple, and blue.
One Stewardship Saturday volunteers, Jenna, has some knowledge about the history and how to care for these plants “The Rhododendron plants are from the 1800s brought by boat from England. They started planting them when Frederick Law Olmsted designed the park. These specific ones grow very tall so we have to cut them back when they start to get too big and before they push buds, which helps with next year’s growth. You can cut them but they will grow right back and very fast.”
Two other volunteers contributed to the conversation. Josh said, “I have no knowledge of plants. I am here so that I can help to maintain the historic park which is important to people who live on Long Island”. And another man named Joe who was volunteering said “I love nature. I have my own garden at home. When you volunteer, it is a way to meet like-minded people.”
Everyone in the Long Island community is welcome to volunteer during Stewardship Saturdays! For more information, visit website: https://parks.ny.gov/environment/nature-centers/6/details.aspx or contact us at 631-581-1072.
All photos by Melissa Hunter, NYS Parks
Post by Sage Saperstein, State Parks Long Island Region
New York State Parks and Historic Sites Blog 