Transfer Stillwell Woods Preserve to NYS Parks

by Guy Jacob, Conservation Chair

As reported in Newsday, The Intermunicipal Agreement (IMA) between Nassau County and the Town of Oyster Bay (TOB) to transfer Stillwell Woods Preserve budgets $12 million without any project proposal. This is a recipe for the decimation of open space. The TOB has already damaged habitat by breaching into woodland with sand and sod adjacent to their athletic fields.

Letter to me from George Gorman, Long Island Regional Director, OPRHP (3/14-25)

Rather than be complicit in the preserve’s demise, Nassau County must ensure not one additional acre of undeveloped green space is removed. To safeguard its protection, the TOB must only be “sold” land on which the town has already developed infrastructure. To protect this environmental treasure for the benefit of all New Yorkers while perfectly matching the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP) acquisition criteria, this is best achieved by ceding 270 acres of this undeveloped sanctuary and the trails within it to the OPRHP7.

References:

1. Plan to transfer Stillwell Woods Park, preserve in Syosset to Oyster Bay Town sparks concern about open space boundary https://www.newsday.com/long-island/towns/stillwell-woods-park-preserve-transfer-amudt4w7

2. INTER-MUNICIPAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE COUNTY OF NASSAU, NEW YORK, AND THE TOWN OF OYSTER BAY, NEW YORK, IN RELATION TO THE TRANSFER OF STILLWELL PRESERVE: https://www.nassaucountyny.gov/DocumentCenter/View/46296/IMA-Stillwell-Woods-Preserve

3. STATE OF THE WATERSHED REPORT ON OYSTER BAY/ COLD SPRING HARBOR: https://www.nfwf.org/sites/default/files/finalreports1/7611_2007-0087-010_State_of_the_Watershed_Report_Final.pdf. (Pages 7 and 25) (November 2009)

4. National Audubon Society 2023-2028 Flight Plan: Download Article here

5. National Audubon Society 2023-2028 Flight Plan Core Indicator Species: https://www.audubon.org/new-york/birds