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ROCKLAND LAKE NATURE CENTER CELEBRATES ENVIRONMENT - 4 August, 2004
By NANCY CACIOPPO
THE JOURNAL NEWS
Bob Castellanete of Nanuet had just finished hiking through the Rockland Lake Nature Center yesterday and was pleased with what he found.
"It's beautiful and surprising to find places like this in Rockland County," he said. "The state should develop more of these nature paths. We live in such a crazy world, it's good to get with nature again."
The field and forest habitat that is home to deer, rabbits, birds, frogs, turtles and mink reopened to the public in September. It features a network of short nature trails and new exhibits that interpret the area's plant and animal life, the past Lenape Indian presence and the 19th-century ice industry.
While the Nature Center has drawn more visitors on weekends, many people such as Castellanete are surprised that it even exists.
To change the perception that the Nature Center is one of Rockland's best-kept secrets, naturalists May Faulk and Peter Cutul are planning a schedule of environmental talks, guided nature walks and wildlife games to close out the summer season.
"I enjoy taking people on tours and talking about local history," Cutul said. "People say they had no idea Rockland Lake was the site of a 19th-century ice-harvesting industry."
Faulk said adults were eager to educate children about nature.
"A lot of people are enthused to learn how important swamps are for bird migration," she said.
The Nature Center opened in 1965 when Gov. Nelson Rockefeller dedicated Rockland Lake State Park. In later years, budget cutbacks slowly reduced the staffing hours, and the Nature Center closed in 1999.
Last year, about 100 volunteers joined staff from the Palisades Interstate Park Commission and from Rockland County AmeriCorps and its Student Conservation Association to restore the Nature Center's trails and build the its exhibits, using a $10,000 state grant. Students from the Summit School in Upper Nyack restored and painted the interpretive signs.
Barbara Thomas, environmental educator at Bear Mountain's Trailside Wildlife Center, said the Nature Center's Woodland Swamp Trail would be reopened once money is raised to reconstruct the trail's boardwalk.
She is also seeking photographs of plants, animals and birds indigenous to Rockland that will be used as back-lighted transparencies in a new exhibit.
If you go
What: Rockland Lake Nature Center.
Where: Rockland Lake State Park North, Route 9W, Congers.
Features: Main Trail, Meadow Trail, Lakeside Swamp Trail, plus environmental and cultural exhibits on plant and animal life, the Lenape Indians and the 19th-century ice industry.
Hours: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays to Sundays, and by appointment.
Nature talks: 11 a.m. Saturdays.
• "Skulls, Feathers and Skins" (Aug. 7)
• "Bird Migration and Hazards They Encounter" (Aug. 14)
• "Cold Blooded Animals: Amphibians, Reptiles and Fish" (Aug. 21)
• "Wildlife Ecology" (Aug. 28)
• "Necessity of Swamps for Our Survival" (Sept. 4).
Guided nature walks: 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturdays.
Wildlife games: Noon and 3 p.m. Saturdays.
Admission: Free. Visitors should bring insect repellent.
Parking: $6; seniors free on weekdays.
Information: 845-268-2503, or contact Barbara Thomas at 845-786-2701, Ext. 293.
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