Conserving Long Island Wildlife
Seatuck’s Vernal Pool Project, launched in 2020, seeks to inventory, restore and protect ecologically valuable vernal pool habitat across Long Island. These unique places are essential to a wonderful assemblage of wildlife, including many of our region’s frogs and salamanders (and fairy shrimp!).
Coyotes Coyotes on Long Island: Background The following videos, from presentations made by Gotham Coyote founders Mark Weckel and Chris Nagy at the 2015 Long Island Natural History Conference, (while already slightly outdated) provide excellent background about how coyotes arrived in our
Good conservation begins with good science. A thorough understanding of both historical and existing ecological conditions is essential to ensuring that decisions regarding conservation policy initiatives and land management are effective and successful.
Plum Island, an 843-acre, federally-owned island off the tip of Long Island’s North Fork, has been proposed for sale by the federal government. In addition to historical importance, Plum Island has great ecological and environmental significance. It contains the largest seal haul-out site in southern New England and provides habitat to 216 migratory, overwintering, and breeding birds (one-fourth the North American total of avifauna).
Seatuck works across Long Island on a variety of wildlife issues, employing a multi-pronged approach to advancing conservation. We advocate for wildlife, advance restoration projects, conduct surveys, educate public officials, host workshops, lead coalitions and pursue a host of other approaches to promote wildlife conservation and habitat restoration.
The Spotted Turtle (Clemmys guttata) is a small, secretive, semi-aquatic species that is found in a wide variety of shallow wetland habitats and their adjacent upland areas. It was once considered the most common turtle in New York State and the New York City region.
Long Island’s geological history allowed for a range of conditions and a diversity of habitats. Deciduous trees thrived in the rich soils of the North Shore’s glacial moraines. And the many streams and wetlands of the South Shore favored wetland species.
The North American River Otter (Lontra canadensis) once inhabited rivers, lakes and estuaries throughout North America. But unregulated trapping, water pollution and habitat loss caused a dramatic decline in otter populations in many areas and local extirpations in others.
The horseshoe crab (Limulus Polyphemus) has been around practically unchanged for over 450 million years, categorizing it as a “living fossil”. These fascinating creatures aren’t actually crabs at all, as they don’t fall under the subphylum “crustacea,” which includes blue crab, spider crabs and other true crabs.
Diamondback Terrapins About Diamondback Terrapins One of Long Island’s more iconic coastal species is the Diamondback Terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin), the only turtle in the world that inhabits brackish water habitats such as salt marshes, tidal creeks, and shallow bays and