Long Island, NY - April 16, 2014 - Sixteen parks across Long Island will hold volunteer events as part of the third annual I Love My Park Day on Saturday, May 3. I Love My Park Day is an exciting statewide event to improve and enhance New York’s state parks and historic sites and bring visibility to the entire state park system and its needs. Volunteers at over 80 state parks and historic sites across New York will participate in cleanup, improvement, and beautification events at New York State parks and historic sites. Volunteers will celebrate New York’s state park system by cleaning up park lands and beaches, planting trees and gardens, restoring trails and wildlife habitat, removing invasive species, and working on various site improvement projects.
New Yorkers love their parks. With a surge in visitation to over 60 million people annually, Friends groups and volunteers are more important than ever to keep parks beautiful, clean, and welcoming for all to visit and enjoy.
I Love My Park Day is coordinated at the statewide level by Parks & Trails New York (PTNY) in partnership with the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP). At the park level, friends groups and park staff oversee cleanup, improvement and beautification projects and work with volunteers.
The following is a list of I Love My Park Day events happening on Long Island on May 3:
- Bayard Cutting Arboretum State Park 11:00am – 3:00 p.m.
- Belmont Lake State Park 9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
- Bethpage State Park 9:00a.m.
- Caleb Smith State Park Preserve 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
- Captree State Park 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
- Connetquot River State Park Preserve 9:00 a.m.
- Heckscher State Park 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
- Hempstead Lake State Park 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
- Jones Beach State Park 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
- Montauk Point State Park 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
- Nissequogue River State Park 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
- Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park 8:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
- Sunken Meadow State Park (Alfred E. Smith) 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
- Valley Stream State Park 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
- Walt Whitman Birthplace State Historic Site 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
For more information on I Love My Park Day and to register for one of these great events, please visit www.ptny.org/ilovemypark.
About PTNY
Parks & Trails New York is New York’s leading statewide advocate for parks and trails, dedicated since 1985 to improving our health, economy, and quality of life through the use and enjoyment of green space.
Special thanks to additional sponsors that make I Love My Park Day possible, including LongIsland.com, AT&T, L.L. Bean, the New York State Commission on National and Community Service, Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners, Corning, Inc., Price Chopper, America’s Best Value Inn, the Business Council of New York State, GE, Earthshare, The Buffalo News, the Albany Times Union, the Watertown Daily Times, and Time Warner Cable News
Photo Courtesy of the Nissequogue River State Park Foundation.
