Staying the Same in the Face of Change
Quogue Wildlife Refuge turns 75
By Hallie D. Martin
The Quogue Wildlife Refuge has remained largely unchanged in the face of rapid development during its 75-year existence, and director Michael Nelson hopes it stays that way for at least another 75 years.
Offering a safe haven for many native birds and mammals, the 305-acre nature preserve on Old Country Road also boasts several hiking trails spanning 7 miles. While it was originally founded as a conservatory, the refuge shifted its focus in the 1990s to both education and preservation and now offers an array of educational programs. It will mark its 75th anniversary on Thursday, October 8, with a celebration of its history and that will include a narrative slide show and, of course, cake.
The event, organized by the refuge’s four-person staff and its board of directors, begins at 7:30 p.m. and is open to everyone. There is no charge to attend, though reservations are requested.
"You can tell how much development has happened," Mr. Nelson said while pointing to two aerial photos of the preserve—one taken in 1980 and the other in 1997. Nothing but trees line the refuge’s property in the older photo while a string of houses can be seen in the more recent image.
"It’s so important to keep this as a preserve," Mr. Nelson added.
Today, the refuge offers more than 250 educational programs throughout the year and works with local organizations to enhance the property. Among those groups are the local Boy Scouts, who color-coded the facility’s three hiking trails, set up a composting display and made bat houses in order to earn their Eagle Scout honors, and the Westhampton Garden Club, whose members created the refuge’s butterfly garden.
Environmental education is important because there is a lot of development in Southampton Town and, as a result, many native species are losing their homes, Mr. Nelson said. If children are educated about the environment when they are still young, Mr. Nelson believes that they will better learn to respect it. Environmental education is lacking in schools and that is why the refuge focuses its efforts on so many programs, said Peg Caraher, president of the Southampton Township Wildfowl Association, the non-profit group that runs the Quogue Wildlife Refuge.
"We are part of the environment," she said, noting that refuge employees often travel to local schools to educate children. "Children learn enough about business. They need to learn also about the environment."
Like Mr. Nelson, Ms. Caraher hopes the refuge stays largely the same in the years ahead and specifically she hopes to be able to continue offering admission free of charge.
"We’d like to keep it free for the children to come and see, so there’s no barrier," she said.
The Quogue Wildlife Refuge is open every day, from sunrise to sunset. In addition to sponsoring programs and lectures, the facility offers guided nature tours. Volunteers, which number between 10 and 12 in the summer, are crucial in running the programs, Mr. Nelson said.The Deep Freeze
Frigid temperatures in the winter of 1934 inspired local duck hunters to start a conservation group. That winter, the mercury dropped as low as minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit, depleting the food supply for ducks, according to the educational pamphlet "A History of the Quogue Wildlife Refuge," which was written by Carl Helms, a past director of the facility.
The Southampton Township Wildfowl Association was formed in the summer of 1934, when 45 local duck hunters banded together to help save the dwindling population of ducks. Two charter members who owned the Quogue Ice Company—cousins Abram and Erastus Post—let the association use their 10-acre pond.
"The duck hunters broke open the ice to feed and breed the ducks," Mr. Nelson said.
Two years later, the Southampton Township Wildfowl Association won a first-place conservation award given by More Game Birds in America, according to Mr. Helms’s pamphlet. Today, the organization is responsible for raising the $400,000 a year needed to operate the refuge. Southampton Town, Quogue Village and the Wildfowl Association share ownership of the 305 acres, Mr. Nelson said.
The Ice Pond was built by the Quogue Ice Company in 1913 and was a primary regional source of ice. The property also hosted a three-story ice storage building and a barn that sheltered a steam engine. By 1925, modern refrigeration was enough halted ice harvesting on the site. The barn is now home to an ice harvesting exhibit, complete with old tools.
In 1938, the Wildfowl Association bought 107 acres of what is now the western edge of the Quogue Wildlife Refuge from the Quogue Ice Company for $1,400. After that purchase, the Refuge’s perimeter extended to the eastern border of Francis S. Gabreski Airport in Westhampton.
The Post family donated another 104 acres that year to the Village of Quogue, with the stipulation that the property always remain a wildlife refuge, according to Mr. Helms’s history book.
The Wildfowl Association's conservation efforts were put on hold during World War II, when the U.S. Army leased part of the refuge’s property for gunnery training. The property was returned to the association in a state of disrepair, according to Mr. Helms's book. The fences around the pond had deteriorated and the flocks of geese and ducks had once again disappeared.
There were few, but very important, developments at the Quogue Wildlife Refuge in late 1940s and 1950s. For starters, the Southampton Township Wildfowl Association revived the local duck population and achieved its non-profit status in 1948, according to Mr. Helms. Four years later, members convinced the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to help manage the site. A 40-year lease was signed on April 27, 1952, by the state, Quogue Village and the Wildlife Association. The association had lobbied to get the DEC to keep a presence in Quogue so officials could lend their wildlife expertise and help run the facility.
A renewed lease was signed in 1993 but, in 2006, New York State pulled out of the agreement, taking its funding with it, Mr. Nelson said.
"It had to do with funding and political reasons," he said. "They didn’t own the property and it was difficult [for them] to have control of the facility."
The refuge is now funded through public donations, grants and the facility’s annual July benefit, the latter of which usually raises about a quarter of the $400,000 needed to run the facility.
The Final Piece
The Quogue Wildlife Refuge expanded again in the 1960s and 1970s as more people started visiting. A system of nature trails was installed around that time. Today, the site features three trails that wind through the preserve.
The final piece of the puzzle—a 100-acre property located just east of the refuge—was added in the 1980s with the help of Southampton Town. Town officials agreed to re-zone a nearby subdivision from 2-acre to 1-acre lots if a large swath of the land could be handed over to the refuge, Mr. Nelson said.
A small wildlife center that cares for distressed animals was opened at the refuge in the 1960s—at around the same time that a building boom began in nearby Quogue Village, Mr. Nelson said. Around that time, more people started bringing in animals that were injured or dislocated, and refuge workers took on the responsibility of caring for them.
“There were not too many places that did care for injured animals. With the development, animals needed to be relocated,” Mr. Nelson said. “They thought the preserve would be the perfect home.”
Today, the refuge primarily cares for animals that would not be able to survive on their own in the wild. Some of the animals that now call the preserve home were illegal pets that were confiscated by authorities. Others animals, such as the large birds that reside at the refuge, were hit by cars and brought in by concerned residents.
The wildlife center is now home to about 15 animals, including a 9-foot albino Burmese python that lives in a tank inside the refuge’s Nature Center, which was built in 1970 and has not been touched since. It was donated by a volunteer who kept it as a pet in college. Her father would not allow the snake in his house, Mr. Nelson said.
In the outdoor complex, which was rebuilt in 1994, red-tailed hawks, a bald eagle and several owls can be seen flying and hopping around in their pens.
“He thinks he’s human, or we’re all owls,” Mr. Nelson said, referring to the facility’s great horned owl.
A skittish red fox also lives in an outdoor pen. As a baby, the fox got itself tangled up in fishing line on a North Shore beach. A family bought it to a veterinarian who deduced that it had suffered a broken leg. During its six-month stay at the refuge, the fox became too accustomed to being taken care of and its hunting instincts vanished. The fox has lived at the refuge since 2002.
A bobcat also prowls the facility’s outdoor complex. The refuge has been caring for it since 1992, when it was confiscated by the DEC from a family keeping it illegally as a pet. The bobcat’s claws were removed and it, too, became too accustomed to people to ever be returned to the wild.
“There is no way it could be released into the wild because of how friendly she is,” Mr. Nelson said, petting the purring feline as it chomped on cat food.
Other wild animals, including deer, squirrels and Canadian geese are often seen roaming the grounds of the preserve. Mr. Nelson said he even sees other red foxes on the trails and hears owls screeching at the caged ones at night.
All of the animals at the refuge, with the exception of two African spur tortoises, are native to Long Island. Few wild bobcats remain on Long Island and while there are no more nesting grounds for bald eagles in the area, some immature ones sometimes make their way to the East End from Connecticut, Mr. Nelson said.
Though they do not care for bizarre animals too often, refuge workers once accepted an alligator that had been confiscated by authorities and, at another time, agreed to take care of a large bear, Mr. Nelson said.
His First Love
Antique pictures, preserved animals and the original Southampton Township Wildfowl Association charter still decorate the walls of the great room in the refuge’s Nature Center. Big windows overlook the ice pond where geese and ducks can be seen frolicking in the water.
“This place hasn’t changed since the 1970s,” Mr. Nelson said, adding that he has been visiting the Quogue Wildlife Refuge since he was in a stroller.
Once he secured his driver’s licence, Mr. Nelson said he started volunteering at the preserve. In 1996, he was hired as a full-time educator and took over as director in 2000.
Today, Mr. Nelson and his wife, Marisa, the refuge’s assistant director, live on the property. He explained that their goal is to maintain the uniqueness that makes the Quogue Wildlife Refuge so special and keeps them coming back.
“People like to come back year after year,” Mr. Nelson said.