Sandy Island Beach State Park

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Sandy Island Beach State Park
SandyIslandBeachSP topo.jpg
location Town of Richland , Oswego County , New York (State) , United States
surface 93 ha
Geographical location 43 ° 38 '  N , 76 ° 12'  W Coordinates: 43 ° 37 '52 "  N , 76 ° 11' 46"  W
Sandy Island Beach State Park (New York)
Sandy Island Beach State Park
Setup date 2011
administration National Park Service
f6
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Main Sandy Beach in July. Lake Ontario in the background.

Sandy Island Beach State Park is a state park in the US state of New York on the east bank of Lake Ontario . Its distinctive feature is a 460 m (1500 ft ) stretch of natural sandy beach. The park is located on the southern portion of a 27 km (17 mi ) long sandy coastline with dunes and wetlands ( the Eastern Lake Ontario Dunes and Wetlands ); a scientific publication from 1959 formulates: "The east end of Lake Ontario is not only home to the finest beaches on the entire lake, but also forms the finest habitat for animals."

geography

The park area mainly includes areas of a spit that separates former bays at the eastern end of Lake Ontario from the lake body. In the course of time, North Sandy Pond and South Pond have formed. Access to the park is at the point where a former peninsula separates the two ponds. From Pulaski small roads lead west to the ponds and today's lake shore. From this park entrance, Sandy Pond Beach extends north to the outlet of North Sandy Point into the lake. numerous other stretches of coast are protected, such as the Lakeview Wildlife Management Area in the north, which is directly connected to the Southwick Beach State Park and to the south the Deer Creek Marsh Wildlife Management Area and the Selkirk Shores State Park .

In the park there are several beaches with swimming opportunities and lifeguards in the high season. Changing rooms, toilets and a kiosk are part of it. A parking fee is charged in summer. An average of 30,000 visitors come every year.

Sandy Creek , Blind Creek , Mud Creek , Lindsey Creek, and Skinner Creek are the main tributaries to the ponds. To the north of North Sandy Point, Carl Island forms the end of the park.

history

Before 2011, the site was only 13 acres (5.3 hectares). The subsequent 120 acres (48.56 hectares) of the Sandy Island Beach Unique Area were protected by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation . The Unique Area also included several acres of land near the park, as well as most of the south end of North Sandy Pond . In 2011, the administration and ownership of the Sandy Island Beach Unique Area and Sandy Pond Beach Unique Area were transferred to the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation , creating today's Sandy Island Beach State Park. In 2014, the park covers 229 acres (93 hectares) in the Town of Richland, Pulaski, Oswego County .

"The hottest spot on the shoreline"

In the 1950s, Sandy Island Beach was operated as a private beach resort by LeGrande and Eva Smith . The resort became a popular destination. Jack Major wrote: "Overnight, Sandy Pond Beach - renamed Sandy Island Beach - became the place to go" (Overnight, Sandy Pond Beach - renamed Sandy Island Beach - became a must-see place to go out.) Ed Wyroba remembers that it developed into the “hottest spot” on the coast during the 1960s. After LeGrande Smith's death in 1966, the resort lost its appeal. It was closed in the 1970s. The area fell into disrepair, after which a public discussion was held in 1976 as to whether Oswego County should acquire the land. In 1980, an area of ​​450 acres (180 hectares) was acquired by Ed Wyroba and Dyke Riggs. They reopened the resort in 1981 and ran it until 1991. In 1999, The Nature Conservancy campaigned to protect the property. In partnership with Oswego County and the State of New York, the Central & Western New York Chapter of the Nature Conservancy acquired the remaining 133 acres from the Riggs heirs. The Conservancy then gave 13 acres of beach to Oswego County as a park; New York State has acquired 120 acres from the Conservancy for the Unique Area . Oswego County ran the Beach Resort for several years, building a new bathhouse, picnic pavilions, and a boardwalk. In 2005, County Park was incorporated into the New York State Park System , which manages it.

"The dune is moving"

To the north and south of Sandy Island Beach, high dunes form, rising up to 15 m (50 ft) above the water level of Lake Ontario. Hardwood species such as red oak (Quercus rubra, red oak) and red maple (Acer rubrum, red maple) even grow there . The wooded high dunes are characteristic of the coast of eastern Lake Ontario. It takes up to 400 years for a hardwood forest to grow on a new dune.

However, these dunes are also subject to rapid changes, as can be seen from the example of what is probably the largest dune in the area. Jack Major wrote: “For many years the most popular spot on the beach was an open-faced sandhill that overlooked North Pond.” (For many years the most popular spot on the beach was a sand hill that opened out towards the lake). The topographic map from 1958 (see the illustration and the note “lost sandhill”) shows that this dune towered at least 15 m above the water level. However, a local newspaper reported in 1981 that a "monster dune" was moving towards Sandy Pond. The sand hill described by Major has since become much lower and is now just a "low dune".

Apparently, the stabilizing vegetation, mainly consisting of beach grass ( Ammophila breviligulata ) and Canadian black poplar (Populus deltoides, cottonwood trees), was destroyed by heavy human use in the 1970s . In 1982 Dyke Riggs wrote: "Bonfires fueled by trees on the beach and dune buggies, trucks and three-wheeled motorbikes that zipped around destroyed the vegetation that was holding the sand." trucks and three-wheeled motorcycles careening around destroyed growth that holds the sand.)

Since 2000 the sand dunes of Sandy Island Beach have been partially rebuilt by a program of the New York State and replanted with "beach grass" ( beach grass ). In the nearby Sandy Pond Beach Unique Area , about 1.6–3 km north of Sandy Island Beach, the replanting has led to new growth in the dunes. Despite this success, a return to the original, natural height of the High Dunes is unlikely. Robert Davis and Sandra Bonanno write that "Conditions no longer exist for the maintenance of. At least half of the high dunes at Sandy Point have disappeared since the time of the French traders ." high dunes - at least half of the high dunes at Sandy Pond have been reworked into low dunes since the time of the French traders. ”) The high dunes of eastern Lake Ontario are evidently relics from the time when the lake's water level was approx. 10 m lower than today. During this time, today's ponds were estuaries. During the Cold Age at that time, a lot of drifting sand was brought in, which allowed the dunes to grow. Today's amount of sand does not allow such pronounced dune growth any more.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey.
  2. ↑ “The eastern end of Lake Ontario contains not only the finest beaches on the entire lake but also the finest wildlife habitat.” Great Lakes Shoreline Recreation Area Survey: Remaining Shoreline Opportunities in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania , New York . US Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 1959.
  3. ↑ 2008 New York State Statistical Yearbook: 33rd Edition . Rockefeller Institute of Government, 2008, p. Table O-9 (Retrieved January 23, 2010).
  4. ↑ geonames.org .
  5. ↑ Central New York: Region 7 . New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Archived from the original on October 19, 2008.
  6. ^ A b Mary Jo Hill: Sandy Island Beach plans await sale. In: The Syracuse Post Standard. 1999-05-14: B1
  7. ↑ 2011 Land Acquisition Report . NYS Department of Environmental Conservation. 2011. Retrieved March 23, 2016.
  8. ↑ ENB - Region 7 Notices 11/24/2010 . NYS Department of Environmental Conservation. November 24, 2010. Archived from the original on April 4, 2015.
  9. ^ Section O: Environmental Conservation and Recreation, Table O-9 . In: 2014 New York State Statistical Yearbook . The Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government, 2014, p. 674.
  10. ↑ Jack Major: Sandy Pond 5: The Rise and Fall . 2008. Archived from the original on January 26, 2009. The webpage is part of a larger website that describes one family's experiences at Sandy Pond over 80 years.
  11. ↑ a b "It was the hottest spot on the shoreline. All our parents had gone there. "Andy Knobel: Sandy Island Beach awakens from sleep. In: The Syracuse Post Standard. 1981-08-19: Accent p. 7th
  12. ↑ a b County may purchase beach. In: The Syracuse Post Standard. 1976-04-28: 19-N.
  13. ^ Mary Jo Hill: Beach Offers Sun, Sand, and Lots of Trash. In: The Syracuse Post Standard. 1992-07-31: B1.
  14. ^ Oswego County real estate transaction records for parcel 027.14-01-01.2 (Unique Area) and parcel 027.13-01-01 (State Park). Online versions accessed 2009-01-26.
  15. ↑ Wendy Gibson: State Parks Commissioner Opens Sandy Island Beach . New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation. June 24, 2006. Archived from the original on January 26, 2010.
  16. ^ Sandra E. Bonanno, David G. White: Eastern Lake Ontario Sand Dunes: An Overview of their Flora . New York Sea Grant Extension. September 1993. Archived from the original on January 26, 2010.
  17. ↑ Sandra E. Bonanno, Donald J. Leopold, Lucy R. St. Hillaire: Vegetation of a freshwater dune barrier under high and low recreational uses. In: Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society. 1998, vol. 125, 1: 40–50 (doi = 10.2307 / 2997230) Torrey Botanical Society (jstor = 2997230)
  18. ↑ John Lichter: Primary succession and forest development on coastal Lake Michigan sand dunes. In: Ecological Monographs. 1998, vol. 4, 4: 487-510 (doi = 10.1890 / 0012-9615 (1998) 068 [0487: PSAFDO] 2.0.CO; 2)
  19. ↑ Jack Major: Sandy Pond 2: Head for the Hill . 2008. Archived from the original on January 26, 2009.
  20. ↑ a b Dan McGuire: Monster sand dune moving inland from lake. In: The Syracuse Post Standard. 1982-07-14: D1
  21. ↑ a b Jack Major: Sandy Pond 9: Update . 2008. Archived from the original on January 26, 2009.
  22. ^ Aaron Gifford: Answer is Blowin 'in the Wind: Group's planting effort restores dunes at Sandy Pond. In: The Syracuse Post Standard. 2000-09-21: B-1
  23. ^ Robert Davis: Sandy Pond Beach Management Plan . NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation and The Nature Conservancy. October 10, 1995. Archived from the original on January 26, 2010. Retrieved on January 26, 2010.

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