August 3, 2022

Dear Friends of Read,

It’s already Half Past Summer, high time for a Midsummer Day’s Report. Things may look placid, green and hazy, but there’s a lot going on in and around the sanctuary. As always, we have our eyes on the action and fingers on the pulse of all the things listed below for our members and neighbors.

To the North:

  • Manursing Island Club has approved plans to build new pickleball courts and to renovate an existing structure used for summer camp programs which abuts sanctuary property. We will be watching closely for construction runoff.
  • Westchester Beach Club has an approved permit to host trapshooting from November through March beginning this Fall. Trapshooting is a sport in which clay “pigeons” are released by a machine for target practice. There is great concern and strong objection by neighbors and local environmental groups which may affect the outcome.

We are monitoring the situation closely and will keep you posted.

To the South:

  • Standard Amusements is in its first season of managing Playland, and the transition has gone smoothly. We are still integrating our new gate card system, mailing new batches of membership cards (3,000 in total!) bi-weekly. The Playland team has been very helpful in assisting our members with the new system, which is frequently not working. SA has been allowing members to show their membership card for access when the park is open and the gates are closed. They have also kept the second gate by the Dragon Coaster open for our members most days and placed an employee there to monitor and assist. We thank our membership for their patience with this ever-changing situation.
  • Westchester County has graciously responded to our members’ requests to provide a replacement for the kayak launch parking lot. As the construction offices and equipment will remain in place until the Playland project is completed, the County has opened a section of the “overflow field” adjacent to the parking lot for our members’ use.
  • As part of an extensive living shoreline project being created along the Long Island Sound, the County will be installing reef balls along the beach by the “overflow field” in early 2023. These artificial concrete reefs (giant Wiffle balls cut in half) are being installed to mitigate the effects of flooding by breaking up waves to help the shoreline stabilize.

To the East:

  • Construction is scheduled for completion by early 2023 on the new residence on South Manursing Island which began in October 2019 and abuts sanctuary property. They have worked well with the County and the Friends to sort out issues which good fences can’t always prevent. Some trees on ERWS property were removed in the process of building a new seawall, and they will be replaced and replanted by the builder this Fall. Total of 53 replacement trees includes:

2 Eastern Cottonwood           6 White Oak
5 Eastern Red Cedar              6 Swamp White Oak
5 Black Cherry                        6 Scarlet Oak
2 Hackberry                            6 Pin Oak
3 Black Walnut                       6 Red Oak
6 Black Oak

The County is working with the contractor on this. We will be following up on the proposed planting schedule.

To the West:

  • All Quiet on the Western Front.

In the Middle:

  • Our curator Scott Williamson and his team have produced 180 happy campers this summer. Camp has been a huge hit and will be ending on August 12.
  • Our new plantings at the flagpole, pollinator garden, purple martin house and boardwalk have been watered and weeded throughout the summer and are thriving. Thank you to our board members who have volunteered to help. If you would like to take a watering shift during August/September, please email janaseitz@yahoo.com. Feel free to weed whenever you see one pop up ;)
  • The Wilderness Trio will help us fall into Fall with a classical chamber music concert from our front porch on Thursday, September 22 at 5:30pm. BYOBlanket and catch the sunset with us.

We hope you can come enjoy the sanctuary before summer flees! As always, thank you for your support. We are forever grateful.

Sincerely,

The Friends of Read Board