Winter 2012

Message from the HOBAS President Stella Miller

Happy New Year to all our members and friends, enduring and new!

As we enter the New Year, I want to convey to you how much I appreciate your support and loyalty to Huntington-Oyster Bay Audubon. As President, I view each and every member and volunteer as vital to this organization’s success and I thank you for your continued support.

English Ivy

While we truly appreciate your membership, when you sign up to volunteer for a project, we are even more thrilled! In 2011 we saw a dramatic increase in volunteer participation thanks in great part to our habitat restoration projects. From ages 7 to 70, you have stepped up to the plate and helped us as we work to restore our natural areas.

Stillwell Woods Preserve
- Grassland Area

Our efforts this past year have included beach clean ups at Target Rock National Wildlife Refuge, garlic mustard pulls at St. John’s Pond and an English ivy and garlic mustard eradication program at Shu Swamp (please see article by John Turner on page 4 for more information) as well as our monthly highway clean up on Pulaski Road. In the upcoming year we will continue these efforts, as well as coordinate additional restoration projects at Stillwell Woods and other local preserves. This makes our volunteers more valued than ever!

Garlic mustard at Shu Swamp

HOBAS has targeted habitat restoration this year as one of our top priorities since invasive species have become a scourge on our local preserves. Common invasives on Long Island include mugwort, garlic mustard, rosa multiflora, porcelain berry, Japanese Honeysuckle, mile-a-minute weed, and autumn olive. These plants, shrubs, and vines all rapidly reproduce, crowding out and choking native species that wildlife depend on for their livelihoods. Porcelain berry, honeysuckle, and mile-a-minute also climb trees, eventually causing the demise of their hosts. An ecosystem smothered by invasive species is an ecosystem which will eventually collapse. There is a small preserve in Oyster Bay that is completely covered in porcelain berry and as a result, it resembles shrouded furniture. What was once a thriving patch of nature is now a monoculture that has essentially become a wasteland.

Target Rock NWR beach

As funding for government agencies dry up, preserves and parks depend on volunteer efforts as never before. That’s why our members and volunteers are so appreciated by us. Your efforts are critical as we work to protect our natural areas and restore them to health. While it may be difficult to eradicate invasives completely, we think that keeping our preserves healthy and thriving for wildlife and the enjoyment of the community is worth the effort. Once again, on behalf of HOBAS thank you! I wish you all a safe, healthy, and prosperous New Year.

PS: While we are on the topic of giving thanks to our loyal supporters, I would like to give a shout out to someone whose public thank you has been long overdue. Charlotte Miska has been editor of the Killdeer for over 10 years and has been doing a phenomenal job of it. Her vision and attention to detail has continued to produce one interesting newsletter after another. Thank you Charlotte, for a job well done!