Restore Long Island’s Native Habitats – Volunteer or Donate
Plant the Native, Remove The Invasive, Protect Our Public Lands
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
Margaret Mead
Become A Local Steward!
Come Join The Long Island Conservancy
Our mission is to restore local ecosystems: We plant natives, combat invasive species, and support local stewardship efforts in Long Island’s 13 towns and in your community!
HOW YOU CAN HELP
Your Park Needs You!
Is there a park on Long Island that needs your help? Every park, big or small, faces serious threats: Most are overrun with invasive plants while our native plant population dwindles and our wildlife disappears. The Long Island Conservancy empowers local stewards like you to protect and restore these vital public spaces.
- Call To Action: Tell us what you want to see protected or restored.
Your Yard And Local Wildlife Need You Too!
- Call To Action: Familiarize yourself with the work of Prof. Douglas Tallamy
- He is the author of Nature’s Best Hope. He is a leading advocate for planting native in our yards. Our local wildlife is disappearing fast, and we need to restore local ecosystems everywhere we can, particularly in our now mostly lifeless yards.
- Learn how to source native plants — from LINPI, from Tyska Natives, Re-Wild, from Dropseed, from the Northport Native Plant Initiative, from and other growers of Long Island-specific (ecotype) native plants.
- Insist to your gardener/landscaper that you want to plant native. If they need to source them, Long Island Natives, with 60 acres in Eastport, is the leading wholesaler to LI landscapers of natives.
- Plant with intent. Every plant has it’s preferred soil, water, and light conditions. And you aren’t just planting native, you are creating plant communities, building ecosystems. Plant groves of trees, not solitary specimen trees. Have all the roots knit together, as we see in forests. I have about 100 native trees and shrubs on less than half an acre. And a lot of birds, bees, and butterflies.
- Come to Plantstock VI at Hamlet Organic Garden aka The Hog Farm in Brookhaven Hamlet October 11th from 10-2. Meet all the local native plant growers, see what they have available for fall planting. There will be food, music, and great conversation in this “growing” community!
Your Community Needs You As Well!
- Call To Action: Educate Your Community While Planting It
- The whole concept of planting native, and its importance for Long Island’s environmental future, the need to restore local ecosystems, is still foreign to many. Most of us suffer from “plant blindness” : Where once knew the names and characteristics of innumerable plants, that knowledge, with our moving from farm to city, is largely forgotten.
- For municipalities and businesses alike, poor planting decisions seem to be the rule, not the exception. Non-natives predominate. We need to “Bring Nature Home” as Professor Tallamy would put it, and show them how a sustainable Long Island is possible.
- There is also a deep ignorance of invasive plants. People seem to think that if it’s green, it’s good. We need to address how commercial mowing helps spread them because of what sticks to the machinery from job to job. As of now, we are losing badly in a battle we don’t even know we are fighting.
- Choose native street trees. The Callery Pear is invasive, and a general pain to manage, for one, but somehow they seem to be everywhere.
- Champion the right to plant native in one’s yard. If there are codes in your town that dictate that you must have lawn, or must conform to some antiquated or subjective notion as to what constitutes beautiful, please work to strike such nuisance rules from the books.
When Volunteering, Tell Us Which Town and Village You Are From
We want to connect you with restoration initiatives in your community.
Key Initiatives:
- Plant Native: Support local wildlife by creating native plant gardens.
- You can restore local ecosystems right from your yard. We provide guidance and resources to help you choose the right plants and create a thriving biome for your yard or community.
- Call to Action: Discover Native Plants
- Start using an app like PictureThis! or iNaturalist so that you can start to know what you are seeing.
- Restore Local Ecosystems: Plant Native In Your Yards
- The Long Island Conservancy has been much inspired by the work of Prof. Douglas Tallamy, and we are hardly alone. He is through his works and lectures has deeply informed people about how essential it is that we plant native plantings en masse so that there is enough habitat to support our native species as so many are now facing extinction.
- We support civic groups throughout the island that are dedicated to “rewilding,” to “going native.” There is nothing more rewarding than to witness the return of native wildlife. We can each make that little miracle happen, and right in our yards. Visit Homegrown National Park to see a movement in formation, and represent for Long Island!
- Combat Invasive Species: Invasive plants are destroying Long Island’s natural habitats.
- Join our “Dirty Dozen Campaign” to help identify and remove these threats.
- Call to Action: Identify Invasive Plants
- Long Island is losing badly in a battle it doesn’t know it is even fighting. With The Dirty Dozen Campaign, launched in conjunction with The Town of North Hempstead, The Science Museum of Long Island and Sands Point Preserve, seeks to raise awareness as to how plants like Japanese Knotweed, Oriental Bittersweet, English Ivy, and a host of others are rapidly destroying what is left of native habitat here on Long Island.
- Long Island is losing badly in a battle it doesn’t know it is even fighting. With The Dirty Dozen Campaign, launched in conjunction with The Town of North Hempstead, The Science Museum of Long Island and Sands Point Preserve, seeks to raise awareness as to how plants like Japanese Knotweed, Oriental Bittersweet, English Ivy, and a host of others are rapidly destroying what is left of native habitat here on Long Island.
Turn Sumps into Sanctuaries:
- Help us transform mosquito-ridden sumps into havens for birds, bees, and butterflies.
- Call to Action: Support Sump Restoration
- How We Built A Local Ecosystem: A Sump Became A Sanctuary
The Long Island Conservancy is seeking to convert some of the many sumps in Nassau and Suffolk County into nature preserves for birds, bees, and butterflies. There are about 1000 in each county. What if they weren’t mosquito-ridden, garbage strewn pit overrun with invasive plants, but a long refuge alive with life? A sump turned into a bird sanctuary — we can do this!
Planting Natives in a Sump
Help Restore the American Chestnut
- Be a part of history by helping us bring back the iconic American Chestnut tree.
- Call to Action: Help Us Plant American Chestnut Orchards
(sign up as a Volunteer and we will alert you when and where). - We are growing and planting American Chestnut saplings in anticipation that they will be cross-pollinated in time so that 50% of the next generation will be blight resistant. We gather the chestnuts locally from remnant trees, hand-pollinate, then grow them. We seek to plant “mother orchards of eight” across Long Island. We estimate the Chestnut blight killed 100,000 of these magnificent trees. A cure is at hand. Help us make history.
Plant a pollinator garden in your yard or town
Frank Piccininni, our Co-Founder, was Co-Chair and contributing author to Suffolk County’s Pollinator Taskforce report. We are actively seeking locations across Long Island where pollinator gardens would best be planted.
Call To Action: Help us identify where we can plant our gardens
Local Steward Spotlight: Rona Fried’s Fight Against Invasive Plants
- Rona Fried has been acting as a local steward for her beloved parks for decades, especially her beloved West Hills County Park. She is now generously funding large scale action where Walt Whitman once communed with Nature.
Restore Local Ecosystems:
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Learn about Long Island’s local environment and how you can help steward it and restore local ecosystems.
This is our podcast on positive local environmental actions in communities all across the island. We will be dropping ten episodes this fall!
Can we help you restore local nature in your town? Let’s see what is possible when Nature gets involved!
Hi there! I’m originally from LI and was wondering if there will be any job opportunities available? Preferably ones that will start in the middle of next year. Thank you!