Around the Island

Prose & Comments: Having no ecological plan is planning to fail

BARBARA ELLEN KOCH PHOTO
BARBARA ELLEN KOCH PHOTO

Colin Hoye’s April 16 letter to the editor (“It can’t wait”) brings attention to an aspect of Shelter Island that can so often be overlooked. With our all-too-busy world and ambitious lifestyles, we sometimes do not take the time to notice, no less fully understand, the ecological significance of those special natural communities such as the estuary fed by Dickerson’s Creek.

Little by little, these unique areas, especially the smaller ones, are just driven past, without much notice, then forgotten and one day are gone forever. Colin’s call to action to repair the road culvert thus permitting flushing waters to reenter the salt marshes, deserves a prompt response by the town and recognition by the community in general.

Shelter Island is a great place to live, largely because of our environment, which is composed of many wonderful, interconnected ecosystems and habitats. They provide us all, visitor and resident, with pleasure, solitude, recreation and many other benefits. Additionally, that special combination of systems provides the underlying basis of our economy.

There are certainly a multitude of advantages for actively protecting all those natural resources. One way, as many other towns have done, is to develop a long-term environmental plan, with all things, big and small, being considered.

With the 45th anniversary of Earth Day just past, it seems ironic and disconcerting that the problem at Dickerson estuary has existed for so long, with not much more than a few orange road-hazard cones along South Midway Road not far from Wades Beach.

In a community where the environment plays such an integral role in our overall well-being, can’t more be done to protect this resource for our benefit and that of future generations? While we do have some environmentally related committees, there has not been much interest in a comprehensive review, assessment and integrated planning for the future. Piece by piece, many things can be lost.

Who among us will stand up for this small, but symbolic Island ecosystem, or are we in a world just too busy for its own good? How many others will speak up for this and the many other compromised habitats in our town? We have only one Shelter Island, and only one Mother Earth. Where do we stand, as individuals and as a community ?

Herb Stelljes has a master’s degree in biology and additional studies in theoretical ecology.