Envirothon set for Saturday in N. Merrick woods

The Nassau County Unprotected Woodlands Task Force is preparing for an “Envirothon,” which is scheduled to take place at the Brookside School on Meadowbrook Road in North Merrick on Saturday, April 30, from 9 to 11:30 a.m.

The event is intended to encourage local residents to get involved in preserving the woodlands and to lobby the state to open the forests to law-abiding hikers and mountain-bikers, who would act as a citizen patrol that would alert authorities when vandalism occurs. The woodlands are currently closed to the public, but teenagers get in through breaks in the fence that separates the forest from local neighborhoods and often vandalize the property.

Developer Robert Moses included the woodlands in plans for the Meadowbrook Parkway when the 12-mile-long thoroughfare was constructed in 1934. In 2002, the Merrick Herald, with help from environmental activists Richard Schary and his wife, Lisa, of North Bellmore, and Bob Young, of Merrick, revealed the dire condition into which the Meadowbrook woodlands had fallen after decades of neglect and abuse. The woodlands task force was formed that year.

Nassau County Legislators David Denenberg, a Democrat from Merrick, and Norma Gonsalves, a Republican from East Meadow, head the woodlands task force. In 2004, the group issued a management plan for the forests, which included a proposal to open them to the public. But the state, which must permit access to the forests, has thus far balked at the plan.

All are welcome at the Envirothon, which will include a half-hour presentation in the Brookside School auditorium and a 45-minute hike through the woods. Participants are asked to wear long-sleeved clothing and comfortable hiking boots or shoes. Children are welcome, but must be accompanied by an adult.

Comments about this story? SBrinton@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 203.