Shelter Island Reporter Letters to the Editor

More than a village
To the Editor:
I am writing this letter in response to all the negative press that the Shelter Island Country Club has been receiving in the last few months.

I agree with the letter from Charlotte Hannabury (“Build, not knock down,” April 21). We all need to work together to turn it around. So here are a few ways to help:

1. Join as a social member, it only costs $110 for the season. With the social membership you get discounted prices at the bar, which is already the least expensive bar on the Island. You can attend the opening and closing parties and you get to vote.
2. Donate money to the grass seed fund. Just drop a few dollars off at the clubhouse, it’s open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
3. We are planting garden beds around the clubhouse on Sunday, May 1. We are volunteers and bringing our own bulbs, seeds and plants. If you want to help, we will be there at 8 a.m. If you want to donate bulbs, seeds or plants, just drop them at the clubhouse.

Just these three little things will help immensely. It is going to take more than a village — it’s going to take our Island.
TAMMY MOORE
Shelter Island

Knowledge and experience needed
To the Editor:
There is no doubt that the greens of Goat Hill are in terrible condition, full of plantain, crabgrass, chickweed and other species that don’t belong there.

Pure sand is the dumbest thing you can put on them. Sand draws heat (walk on the beach in the sun sometime). Lack of knowledge is part of the problem. In days gone by, many things were done by hook or by crook, begged, borrowed and “acquired.” Used machinery and parts were combined and built into one or two functioning pieces of equipment.

I purchased a reel sharpener out of my own pocket, $4,500, because I got tired of asking Gardiner’s Bay Country Club to use theirs. That piece is still in use. Back in the 1990s, Bill Congdon (who took care of the Goat for 57 years) told me he had never seen the greens in such great shape.

Let’s get Goat Hill back to its former self. Call on creative, knowledgeable people with experience to help.
GEORGE BLADOS
Shelter Island

Stop the invasion
To the Editor:
While many might question the fact, spring is here!

Many of you will be thinking of planting soon, perhaps heading out to nurseries to select plants and trees for your property. I want to alert you to the fact that there are plants that are good for our ecological community and those that are not.

I bring to your attention a paper developed several years ago by the Mashomack Science and Wildlife Committee. It lists the more common invasive plants that are damaging not only our fields and forests but properties right next to where we live. As you know, many of these invasive plants are “escapees” from gardens — selected from plants imported into this country just because they had certain desirable features, such as a particular shape or beauty.

However, they have no natural biological control and provide nothing to the environment while outgrowing native plants that do provide sustenance for our native insect and animal species.

You may not be aware, for example, that our native oak trees support hundreds of insect species that are critical to the animals and  birds in their ecosystem, whereas most imported ornamentals support none or at most one or two. Great — no insects to deal with No! What about the small animals and birds that depend on these for life? Ever wonder why the populations of certain birds are down?

I am sure you are well aware of the changes in our ecosystems. There is something you can do to help stem this right now: Select native plant species to plant which will support the life that keeps our ecosystems healthy.

A publication, “Alternatives to Invasive Species,” lists the native plants that can be used in lieu of planting non-native aliens and is available from the Mashomack office at 749-1001. It is by no means an exhaustive list but use it as an introduction to learning about which plants you might use instead of alien invasive plants. New York State also publishes a current “Do Not Sell/ Transfer” list at: dec.ny.gov/docs/lands_forests_pdf/isprohibitedplants2.pdf.

This also has some good pictures of the plants.
Hopefully, when you head out now to make your property look good, you will make good choices, considering not only what to plant but what is best for the birds and animals that share this island with us.
BILL ZITEK
Chair, Mashomack Preserve Science and Wildlife Committee.