Sylvester Manor’s Southwestern Woodlands is being added to the Old-Growth Forest Network, a nonprofit that seeks to identify one protected forest within each county in the United States so people of all generations can experience biodiversity and the beauty of nature.
Sixteen acres of woodlands known as the Quaker Corner have been permanently protected thanks to a conservation agreement between Sylvester Manor and the Town of Shelter Island using Community Preservation Fund revenues.
The area will be dedicated as Suffolk County’s representative in the Old-Growth Forest Network in a ceremony on Sunday, November 27, at noon. All are welcome to attend.
The designated woodland is within approximately 40 forested acres along Sylvester Manor’s boundary on Route 114. This forest is a remnant of lands inhabited for millennia by indigenous Manhasset people and held through 11 generations of the Island’s original European settler family from 1651 to 2014.
A 2013 forest management plan identified the oak/hickory/pine woodlands as mature to over mature aged 70 to 120 years.
Joan Maloof, founder of the Old-Growth Forest Network, will preside over the dedication. A professor emeritus at Salisbury University, Maloof launched the Old-Growth Forest Network to preserve, protect and promote the country’s few remaining stands of old-growth forest. She spends her time lecturing, writing, visiting forests, assisting private landowners, and supporting local groups trying to protect community forests from development.
Enter at the Quaker Cemetery gates on North Ferry Road, west of the main Sylvester Manor entrance. Dress for the weather and for a ±1-mile walk across uneven ground. The dedication will be held rain or shine, though severe weather cancels.
Please note: Sylvester Manor trails are otherwise closed to the public from November 1 to January 31 in cooperation with the Town of Shelter Island deer management program.
