Meadowbrook BioBlitz

~ The Meadowbrook Bioblitz ~

The Meadowbrook Bioblitz was an amazing success, bringing over 380 amateur and professional naturalists together in September 2007 and resulting in documentation of 499 different species in the 7 1/2-mile Meadowbrook corridor. A Bioblitz is a volunteer-based event promoting collaboration between biologists and citizen-scientists, with the twin goals of increasing public awareness of science and learning more about local natural areas. This was the first Bioblitz in Nassau County, and it came about through the efforts of The Nassau County Unprotected Woodlands Taskforce and Nassau County Legislators Norma Gonsalves and David Denenberg and. As the various governmental entities work in concert to build a plan for the corridor’s future, including the possibility of a lengthy nature trail, the Bioblitz is designed to enhance the public understanding of the area’s ecology.

A typical Bioblitz focuses on a thorough inventory of the living organisms in a given area, including all the plants and wildlife, and limited to those species that can be found in 24 hours. The Meadowbrook Bioblitz ranged from Hempstead Plains near Nassau Community College on the northern end to Cow Meadow on the edge of the South Shore Estuary in the south. The corridor contains a mix of state, county, Town of Hempstead and Village of Freeport public lands, including the 73-acre county-owned Roosevelt Preserve, and consists of spring-fed streams, ponds and forest. In total, there are 252 acres of freshwater wetlands. The area also plays a significant role in the county’s storm-water management plan, supporting more than 100 storm-water outflow pipes that discharge directly into the Meadow Brook.

The volunteers’ efforts were divided among five locations: Cow Meadow Park and Preserve, Hempstead Plains, Norman J. Levy Park and Preserve, Roosevelt Preserve, and Rev. Arthur Mackey Sr. Park. More than half of the species found were either plants (188 species) or birds (76 species), with only a few species of mammals, reptiles, amphibians and fish found. “Although the weather was fantastic, other than birds, not very many vertebrate species live in the Meadowbrook Corridor, and they are not easy to spot in a short survey” according to Hofstra University biologist Russell Burke. More species were found at The Hempstead Plains (289) than at any of the other sites, and most of these were plants. However, 43% of those plants were non-native, highlighting that park’s problem with invasive species. Cow Meadow Park had the second highest species count, largely due to the high number of bird species found at that South Shore preserve.

Four of the birds recorded at Cow Meadow Park are listed by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation as “Threatened”—the Northern Harrier, Pied-billed Grebe, and Common Tern, and the Osprey is a Species of “Special Concern”. A Cooper’s Hawk, another Species of Special Concern, was observed at Hempstead Plains. One federally endangered plant, Sandplain Gerardia, was also seen at Hempstead Plains.