While bat populations face the threat of white nose syndrome, stands of pine trees are under attack by pine beetles. These realities have been felt across the country, but both are being monitored by scientists and students at Fire Island National Seashore in New York.
On February 3, Fire Island National Seashore Superintendent Chris Soller and Fire Island Lighthouse Preservation Society President Bob LaRosa signed a new five-year partnership agreement. The agreement renews the Society's commitment to work collaboratively with the National Park Service to provide public programming and assist with preservation efforts at the lighthouse.
Natural processes, specifically the ebb and flow of the Atlantic Ocean, should be allowed to continue at Fire Island National Seashore, where the National Park Service is willing to let a breach in the Otis Pike Fire Island High Dunes Wilderness open and close as the waves dictate.
Four years after Hurricane Sandy struck Fire Island National Seashore, recovery efforts at the New York park will continue Sept. 12 with a $5.4 million project that will close the Watch Hill Marina through next summer.
With white-tailed deer changing the natural ecosystem at Fire Island National Seashore, the National Park Service approved a White-tailed Deer Management Plan last month that includes direct population reduction as well as the construction of fences to preserve critical areas of the Seashore.
You can find them at Cape Cod National Seashore, Fire Island National Seashore, Assateague Island National Seashore, Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Cape Lookout National Seashore, and Cumberland Island National Seashore. But what exactly is a maritime forest and how to they survive in these salty environments?