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The Eastern box turtle, above, is a native species to Long Island. Photo by 37and7 from Wikimedia Commons

Through the years, there have been scattered reports of the Eastern box turtle, a native species to Long Island, seen along the Setauket-Port Jefferson Greenway Trail, particularly at a 1/8-mile strip adjacent to the Lawrence Aviation Superfund site.

Though not listed as an endangered species under the federal Endangered Species Act, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation considers the box turtle of “special concern,” a classification for native species that “warrants attention and consideration but current information, collected by the department, does not justify listing these species as either endangered or threatened.”

The New York State Department of Transportation, charged with mowing the Greenway three times per year, was alerted to the turtle presence earlier this summer by the Three Village Community Trust, the local organization supervising and stewarding the trail.

“We became aware that there were some turtles apparently in the area in and around the Lawrence Aviation site,” said Herb Mones, TVCT president. “As a result, we requested that the state, when it does its mowing program, not mow that section or that area.”

The Friends of the Greenway is a subsidiary of TVCT that works to maintain and upkeep the trail grounds. Charlie McAteer, the organization’s chair, held that the mowing operation does fulfill a public end, limiting tall grasses, which can often yield ticks.

“If the tall grass is right next to the paving, people worry about ticks as they go past,” McAteer said in an email. “So these few mowings do help with our human satisfaction.”

But, he added that the organization strives to keep “mowing to a minimum so meadow growth and places for turtles [and other wildlife] can flourish again and trail users can see and enjoy nature along the trail.”

Joshua Heller, public information specialist for NYSDOT, indicated that the department was made aware of the presence of turtles and halted mowing for the area in question. 

“The New York State Department of Transportation prides itself on being good stewards of the environment,” Heller said in a statement. “We have received the Three Village Community Trust’s letter and are reviewing it. In the meantime, we have temporarily halted mowing operations in this area.”

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Photos taken Tuesday, Aug. 22, indicate recent mowing activity near the Lawrence Aviation Superfund site, an area with a known presence of Eastern box turtles. Photos by Raymond Janis

Aug. 22 walkthrough

A walk along the Greenway Tuesday, Aug. 22, painted a different picture.

Outside the Lawrence Aviation property, there was evidence of fresh mowing. However, there was no evidence of harm to wildlife observed during the walkthrough. 

Presented the photos of the recent mowing activities, Mones expressed possible miscommunication. 

“It’s unfortunate that the NYSDOT extended their mowing beyond the area we recommended to them,” the TVCT president said in an email. “In the past, the DOT has been responsive to our requests and recommendations. It’s obvious we’ll need to do more work to create a ‘protective zone’ in the future.”

NYSDOT did respond to a follow-up request for comment on the matter by clarifying that the recent mowing occurred prior to temporarily halting mowing in the area.

Possible solutions

A 2017 thesis paper by Margarete Walden explores the danger mowing activities pose to box turtles. 

To mitigate the potential risk of turtle mortality due to mowing, Walden suggests conducting “mowing activities [from] November to March, so as to coincide with the period of turtle hibernation,” during which they live underground. It is, however, difficult to mow during these months when there is heavy snowfall.

McAteer pledged that the Friends of the Greenway “will work with NYSDOT to try to work on the mowing distance/guidelines” for routine mowings.

For Mones, wildlife conservation and trail maintenance are not mutually exclusive. Rather, he indicated that both efforts could serve the coinciding interests of trail users and wildlife.

“Our motto is, ‘Protecting the places we love,’” Mones said. “We are the stewards of the Greenway, but we also have the residual responsibility to protect the open space and advance environmental protection.”

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Diamondback Terrapin
John Turner

Friends of Flax Pond invite the community to join them at the Childs Mansion, 19 Shore Drive, Old Field on Sunday, March 26 at 3 p.m. for a lecture titled “Diamondback Terrapin: the Turtle with the Clown Lips” presented by John Turner.

These amazing turtles inhabit our local coastal areas. Late each spring and early summer the females come ashore to nest on our local beaches. Conservation is key to their continued survival.

Turner will present information about these fascinating creatures as well as some of the local conservation efforts. As always light refreshments will be served. Please bring a reusable coffee mug to reduce waste. The lecture is free, but donations are gratefully accepted. Parking is at the Flax Pond Lab, adjacent to the Childs Mansion. If you need other arrangements for parking and have a “handicap parking pass,” please e-mail or text 631-767-6287 to make arrangements.

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Learn all about turtles on Dec. 28. Photo from Pixabay

Cold Spring Harbor Fish Hatchery presents a virtual program for children, The Hard Facts About Turtles, on Dec. 28 via Zoom from 10 to 11 a.m. Can turtles come out of their shells?  Learn the hard facts about turtle shells with a storytime, craft, and by meeting some of the hatchery’s terrific turtles. Craft materials needed: paper plate (or a circle cut from paper), printed turtle template (or make your own, scissors, glue, crayons or markers, scraps of colored paper (optional) $15 registration fee. To sign up, visit www.cshfishhatchery.org. Call 516-692-6768 for more information.

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They aren’t unicorns, tooth fairies or fantastic creatures from the C.S. Lewis “Narnia” series. And yet, for a Long Islander who spent considerable time standing knee deep in the waters around West Meadow Beach, listening to the aggressive screech of territorial red-winged blackbirds, the sight of a green ruby-throated hummingbird moving forward and backward in North Carolina brought its own kind of magic.

By the time I got out my cellphone and clicked open the camera app, the bird had disappeared.

While there are hummingbirds that periodically appear on Long Island, the sight of one in Charlotte so soon after our move here seemed like a charming welcome from the nonhuman quarters of Southeastern life.

Behind a Chili’s and Qdoba — yes, they are side by side in a strip mall here — we discovered a spectacular lake with a small walking path over the water near the shore. Looking down, we saw numerous fish hovering below and, to our delight, a collection of turtles, who all clearly have an appetite for the leftovers from the nearby restaurant.

We have also seen, and felt, considerably more bugs and mosquitoes, while we’ve heard cicadas, which, unlike the 17-year kind on Long Island, emerge here every year.

So, what about the two-legged creatures?

After the initial shock from the level of consideration other drivers displayed, it’s become clear that:

(a) The Northeast hasn’t cornered the market on aggressive and anxious drivers.

(b) You can take the New Yorker out of New York, but you can’t take New York out of the New Yorker.

Until I get North Carolina license plates, I have been driving the speed limit on smaller, local roads. Other cars have tailgated me so closely that I can practically read their lips as they talk on the phone or sing songs.

I watched a woman in a Mustang convertible, with rap music shouting profanities, weave in and out of traffic as her long hair waved in the breeze behind her. From a distance, the music and expletives were one and the same.

We have also seen an extensive collection of tattoos. A young FedEx driver climbed out of her truck and rang the bell to deliver a package. Her arms were so covered in colors and designs that it was difficult to discern a theme or pattern.

I walked into a supermarket behind a young couple pushing a baby stroller. The father had tattoos along the back of his muscular calves, while body ink adorned the well-defined shoulders and arms of his wife. I wondered if and when their young child might get her first tattoo.

When they find out we’re from the Northeast, people in North Carolina frequently become self-deprecating about their inability to handle cold weather. They laugh that flurries, or even a forecast for snow, shuts down the entire city of Charlotte. They assure us that no matter how much we shoveled elsewhere, we won’t have to lift and dump snow by the side of the road.

They ask how we’re handling the heat, which is often in the mid-90s, and the humidity, which is fairly high as well. While the three H’s — hazy, hot and humid — are my least favorite combination, I have certainly experienced many warm summers on Long Island, where shade or a trip into the ocean or a pool provide small comfort in the face of oppressive warmth.

With birds and insects of all sizes flying around, and drivers weaving in and out of traffic, North Carolina has displayed an abundance of high-energy activity.

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Russell Burke, a professor of biology at Hofstra University, shows how newly state-mandated terrapin excluder devices keep turtles out while crabs can still get in. Photo by Kyle Barr

It has been a slow crawl saving Long Island’s turtles, but local conservation groups are hoping new state regulations will speed up the process.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and Long Island environmental groups gathered May 23 at the Suffolk County Environmental Center in Islip to celebrate new rules requiring crab cages — used in Long Island’s coastal waters including many of the bays, harbors and rivers that enter Long Island Sound — to have “terrapin excluder devices” (TEDs) on all entrances. As carnivores, terrapins are attracted to bait fish used in commercial, or what’s known as Maryland style crab traps or “pots.” As a result, male and female turtles of all sizes push their way through the entrance funnels and end up drowning.

John Turner, a conservation policy advocate for the Seatuck Environmental Association, shows the North Shore areas where turtles are getting caught and drowning in crab cages. Photo by Kyle Barr

“With each and every season these traps are not required to have TEDs, there are likely hundreds of terrapins that are drowning,” said John Turner, conservation policy advocate for Seatuck Environmental Association, which operates the Islip center. “To me, one of the signs of a real civilized society is how we treat other life-forms. We haven’t treated terrapins very well.”

He said in Stony Brook Harbor alone there are dozens, maybe hundreds of terrapins that will spend the winter in the mud, emerging once the water runs up high enough. Turner said many of the North Shore areas that are home to these turtles, like Setauket Harbor, Conscience Bay, Port Jefferson Harbor, Mount Sinai Harbor and Nissequogue River, play a key role in preserving the species.

“In contrast to where I am in South Jersey, I can go by the canals and I can see a dozen [terrapin] heads bobbing up and down,” said James Gilmore, director of the marine resources division at the state DEC. “Here, it’s very rare to see one. Hopefully these new rules will help us see more.”

Gilmore said the DEC began working on changing state regulations in 2013 but have known long before there was a problem.

Carl LoBue, The Nature Conservancy’s New York ocean program director, said it was in the late 1990s he’d witnessed recreational crab traps in Stony Brook Harbor. One day he lifted a cage out of the water while trying to move his landlord’s boat and saw it was filled with trapped terrapins. Two were still alive, but five
had already drowned.

“With each and every season these traps are not required to have TEDs, there are likely hundreds of terrapins that are drowning.”

— John Turner

“I’m sure the crabber wasn’t intent to kill turtles,” LoBue said. “But when I looked across the bay at the 60 or something crab traps this person had set, I was crushed thinking of the terrapins drowning at that very moment.”

In the early 2000s terrapins became a popular meal in New York, but the harvest of those turtles led to a massive decrease in population, especially the diamondback terrapin, which was identified as a species of greatest conservation need in the 2015 New York State Wildlife Action Plan. In September 2017 the DEC passed regulations banning the commercial harvest of diamondbacks.

Terrapin population has slowly increased since then, but researchers say there’s still little known about the population, like life expectancy or habits while in water. The species has a very slow birth rate, with low local clutches of 10 or so eggs — sometimes only one or two of which hatch and mature. 

Russell Burke, a professor of biology at Hofstra University, said terrapins could live very long lives, pointing to older specimens he has seen living to 60 years old, but he estimated some could be twice that age. While Burke said it’s hard to estimate the total population on Long Island, he said in Jamaica Bay alone, he knows there are approximately 3,500 adult females.

Terrapin, or turtles, are carnivores, attracted to fish typically used to catch crab. Photo by Kyle Barr

The TED devices are 4 3/4 inches by 1 3/4 inches, an exact measurement, to ensure that while crabs can get through, turtles cannot. According to Kim McKown, leader of the Marine Invertebrate and Protected Resources Unit at the state DEC, the small, plastic TEDs cost $10 for the three needed to secure a normal crab trap. The cost exponentially increases depending on how many traps a fisherman has, with some owning up to 1,000 traps.

Turner said his organization used its own funds and purchased 5,000 TEDs and gifted them to the DEC. The state agency is giving them to Long Island crab fishermen on a first come, first served basis.

Commercial crab fisherman Fred Chiofolo, who hunts in Brookhaven Town along the South Shore, experimented with TEDs on his own for years before the regulations were passed. He said the devices
even improved the number of crabs caught.

“It made a significant difference with the pots that had them versus the pots that didn’t,” Chiofolo said. “Last year I put them in every pot I had — about 200 of them. I’m not going to lie it’s a lot of work to put them in, but we don’t want to catch the turtle. I don’t want them, and [the TED] does keep them out.”

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Volunteers hold the immobile sea turtles they discovered at West Meadow Beach, where Brookhaven Ranger Molly Hastings is working to nurse them back to health. Photo from Molly Hastings

December’s wacky weather made life more difficult for everyone — but sea turtles at West Meadow Beach had a particular struggle.

Recent outdoor temperatures were largely above normal, with some brief moments of frigid cold. Molly Hastings, who serves as Brookhaven’s environmental educator and park ranger, saw some of the environmental consequences of this when she received an unusual knock on her door on Dec. 20 after a volunteer encountered two immobile, or cold-stunned, sea turtles.

An immobile sea turtle discovered at West Meadow Beach is being nursed back to health. Photo from Molly Hastings
An immobile sea turtle discovered at West Meadow Beach is being nursed back to health. Photo from Molly Hastings

Hastings said the knock came from Celeste Gorman, who was taking a hike along West Meadow Beach as a volunteer in search of turtles rendered immobile by the cold weather. She ended up finding two in a very short span of time.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration described sea turtles as cold-blooded animals with circulatory systems that can slow to the point of immobility when exposed to extremely cold temperatures. Various factors have helped contribute to the higher prevalence of cold-stunning, like more shallow bodies of water and more dramatic temperature changes, NOAA said.

Hastings said she was well aware of the impact an unpredictable climate has on the wildlife living not only at West Meadow, but across the town and country. She said this small, isolated incident with the sea turtles should serve a greater purpose.

“Hopefully, the turtles will recover from this climate change-caused incident,” Hastings said. “Regardless of their individual fate, let it serve as a gentle reminder that we all are charged of fixing what we’ve done to the great outdoors.”

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Stony Brook University grad student coordinator of the 2015 Diamondback Terrapin study Martana Edeas has her hands full. Photo from Nancy Grant

It’s hot. It’s muddy. It’s dirty. But it’s exciting work, if you like that sort of thing.

That was how Nancy Grant of the Friends of Flax Pond chose to describe her group’s latest initiative this summer tracking Diamondback Terrapin turtles at West Meadow Beach. And while they may move slowly, the Friends have been acting quickly to spot the four-legged reptiles at the height of their nesting season and working to preserve their species.

“I think a lot of people don’t realize we actually have turtles here,” Grant said of the program, which has been in operation annually since 2004. “You think you have to go someplace exotic to observes them, but you don’t.”

From the third week of June through the entire month of July, the Friends of Flax Pond has set out to conduct its annual six-week search for evidence of nesting turtles, documenting the population numbers and behaviors of what Grant called an important keystone species. The group meets every Sunday at West Meadow Beach at the park ranger sign at 9:30 a.m. and is accepting volunteers on an ongoing basis.

The Friends of Flax Pond have been keeping a vigilant eye on the shorelines of West Meadow Beach and Flax Pond with hopes of spotting the exotic creatures, as Grant referred to them as a vital way of keeping a finger on the pulse of the North Shore’s environment.

“They determine the health of the area,” she said. “It’s important to protect them because their numbers have gone down. They used to be over at Flax Pond, but we haven’t seen any there since 2009, with the exception of one recently.”

The Friends have spotted on average between nine and 10 nests a year, depending on the number of volunteers, Grant said. Once they find the nest, volunteers dig around it, put a cage over it and hold it in with tent stakes to keep predators away.

They’ll even go as far as using cayenne pepper to deter animals from some nests, but Grant admitted the nearby threats like foxes and birds were becoming privy to their methods and becoming less deterred by them.

From an educational standpoint, the group has also been working to launch its own Flax Pond Summer Research Institute this summer. For a $100 fee, the Friends is offering up an internship program at the Flax Pond Lab and salt marsh as well as West Meadow Beach that links up with academic marine scientists to gather data to document changes in the marshes there. This year, the group said it planned on documenting the status of species prior to a possible dredging of the Flax Pond inlet — a 146-acre tidal wetland on the North Shore — which the Friends has been adamantly advocating for.

Earlier this year, Old Field Mayor Michael Levine and the board of trustees called on legislators from the county, state and town levels to join with Stony Brook University and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to see the pond dredged and protect the fin and shellfish populations known to once thrive there.

“If you don’t have a marsh there, you have nothing between you and those major waves,” Grant said. “It protects real estate. As much as having a dock is nice, it won’t matter if you don’t have those plants there.”
The application deadline for the institute is July 13 and an application can be found at flaxpondfriends.org.

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A WORLD OF PURE IMAGINATION Catch a performance of 'Willy Wonka' at the Brosnan Theater in Northport. The show opens May 3. Photo courtesy of Community Playhouse of Northport
PROGRAMS

First Steps in Nature

Sweetbriar Nature Center, 62 Eckernkamp Drive, Smithtown continues its First Steps in Nature series for ages 2 to 4 on May 3 at 9:30 a.m. An experienced educator will lead your youngster through hands-on exciting activities, crafts, stories and much more. Children will gain a greater appreciation of nature and wildlife while having fun. $20 per child. To register, visit www.sweetbriarnc.org. 631-979-6344. 

Art in the Barn

Walt Whitman Birthplace Association, 246 Old Walt Whitman Road, Huntington Station presents Art in the Barn, storytime and hands-on art projects for pre-schoolers on May 4, 18, 25 and June 1 at 11 a.m. $15 per child, $13 members. To register, visit waltwhitman.org/events.

Me & You with Keri Wirth

Caumsett State Historic Park Preserve, 25 Lloyd Harbor Road, Huntington hosts a morning concert, Me & You with Keri Wirth, at the Walled Garden on May 5 at 10:30 a.m. Rock out to original music that is funny and educational and dance your way into the sunny day. Pick up an instrument and join this wonderful Sunday morning music program. For infants to age 5. For prices and to register, visit www.caumsettfoundation.org/programs.

Glacial Erratic Hike

Sunken Meadow State Park, Sunken Meadow Parkway, Kings Park hosts a Glacial Erratic Hike for ages 8 and up on May 5 from 1:30 to 3 p.m. If a huge boulder looks out of place, it might be a glacial erratic, a large piece of stone left by glaciers long ago. Venture through the park’s trails and see the glacial remnants brought to Long Island from the last Ice Age. $4 per person. To register, please visit Eventbrite.com. 631-269-4333

Story & Craft with Nana Carol

The Next Chapter bookstore, 204 New York Ave., Huntington hosts a Story and Craft event with Nana Carol on May 6 at 10:30 a.m. No registration required. Appropriate for ages 0-4. 631-482-5008

Crafternoon at the Library

Save the date! Join Emma Clark Library, 120 Main St., Setauket for a Crafternoon on May 11 from 2 to 4 p.m. Create a work of art out of recycled materials. For families with children ages 3 to 12 years old. Supervision may be needed for younger children. Open to all. Questions? Email [email protected]

Bicycle Rodeo

Register now! On May 11 the Brookhaven Highway Department will host a Bicycle Rodeo at Safety Town, 249 Buckley Road, Holtsville from 8 a.m. to noon. Children will learn how to safely ride their bikes in a mock-roadway, kid-sized setting. Participants are required to bring their own helmets and bicycles; both will be inspected for safety. Free but by appointment only; call 631-451-5335 to reserve your spot.

THEATER

‘Alice in Wonderland’

John W. Engeman Theater, 250 Main St., Northport present’s Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland from March 23 to May 12. Alice takes a tumble down an enchanted rabbit hole to an off-kilter world of mock turtles, dancing flora, punctual rabbits, and mad tea parties. Will Alice be able to find her footing in this bizarre place? More importantly, will she ever figure out how to get home?All seats are $20. To order, call 631-261-2900 or visit www.engemantheater.com.

‘Willy Wonka’

Community Playhouse of Northport presents Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka at The Brosnan Theater, 158 Laurel Ave., Northport on May 3, 4 and 10 at 7:30 p.m. and May 5 and 12 at 3 p.m. Character meet and greets will be from 2:15 to 2:45 p.m. at Sunday performances. Tickets are $20 adults, $15 students and seniors. To order, visit www.communityplayhousenorthport.org. 631-683-8444

‘You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown’

Simple Gifts Productions presents You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown at 7:30 p.m. on May 3 and 4 at First United Methodist Church, 603 Main Street, Port Jefferson. This revised version is a fresh approach to the all-time 1967 classic, based on the beloved comic strip by Charles Schulz. Featuring all your favorite Peanuts characters, this charming revue of vignettes and songs is fun for the whole family (ages 4 and older). Tickets are $15 at the door or at www.simplegiftsproductions.com.

‘The Mystery of the Missing Ever After’

“Where in the world is our happy ending?” Stories collide and mysteries abound as three great princesses come together to solve The Mystery of the Missing Ever After at Theatre Three, 412 Main St., Port Jefferson from May 25 to June 15. A slipper, a spinning wheel, and a red, red rose are all clues in this hilarious new musical! All seats are $12. To order, call 631-928-9100 or visit www.theatrethree.com.

Send your calendar events to [email protected]

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EARTH DAY FUN Become a Water Warrior at the Whaling Museum in Cold Spring Harbor on April 25. Photo courtesy of Whaling Museum
PROGRAMS

Invisible Ink Workshop

Three Village Historical Society, 93 North Country Road, Setauket will host a STEM workshop for kids in grades 2 to 5 on April 25 from 10 a.m. to noon. The formula to create invisible ink has been lost! Seeking brave young spies, scientists, and historians to discover a new recipe for writing with invisible ink. Choose from top secret ingredients to find the combination for cracking the coded messages. Each session is $5 per child, adults are free. Children get a full year complimentary museum membership following the program. To register, visit www.tvhs.org. 631-751-3730

Spring Break at the Hatchery

Enjoy spring break at the Cold Spring Harbor Fish Hatchery, 1660 Route 25A, Cold Spring Harbor with various craft programs, hatchery tours, live animal encounters and more on April 25, 26 and 29. Admission fee is $7 adults, $6 seniors, $5 children ages 3 to 12. For a full schedule of events, visit www.cshfishhatchery.org. 516-692-6768

Water Warriors

In honor of Earth Day, join the Whaling Museum, 301 Main St., Cold Spring Harbor for Water Warriors on April 25 at noon or 2 p.m. Explore the dangerous side effects of water run-off through a hands-on, educator-led watershed model activity. Then, bring the water cycle to life as you construct your very own terrarium to grow plants at home. Admission free + $10 participant, $5 members. ​No registration needed. 631-367-3418

Spring Festival

Join the Cold Spring Harbor Fish Hatchery, 1660 Route 25A, Cold Spring Harbor for a Spring Festival on April 27 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Enjoy kid’s fishing, food, music, games, environmental exhibitors and live animal encounters. Admission fee is $7 adults, $6 seniors, $5 children ages 3 to 12. 516-692-6768

Art in the Barn

Walt Whitman Birthplace Association, 246 Old Walt Whitman Road, Huntington Station presents Art in the Barn, storytime and hands-on art projects for pre-schoolers on April 27, May 4, 18, 25 and June 1 at 11 a.m. $15 per child, $13 members. To register, visit waltwhitman.org/events.

Visit with a School Marm

Step back in time with a visit with a School Marm at the Long Island Museum’s 19th-century one-room Nassakeag Schoolhouse, 1200 Route 25A, Stony Brook on April 27 from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. Learn about this historic building and try some school activities from long ago. Free with Museum admission. www.longislandmuseum.org

Storytime Under the Stars

Suffolk County Vanderbilt Planetarium, 180 Little Neck Road, Centerport continues its Storytime Under the Stars series on April  28 at 6 p.m. Your favorite bedtime storybooks come to life in the planetarium theater! Children are invited to wear their most comfy pajamas and bring their favorite stuffed animal. Tickets are $8 per persons, $6 for members at www.vanderbiltmuseum.org.

Story & Craft with Nana Carol

The Next Chapter bookstore, 204 New York Ave., Huntington hosts a Story and Craft event with Nana Carol on April 22 at 10:30 a.m. No registration required. Appropriate for ages 0-4. 631-482-5008

Kids Yoga on the Farm

New! Benner’s Farm,56 Gnarled Hollow Road, E. Setauket now offers Kids Yoga classes for ages 5 to 10. First session will be from 6:30 to 7:15 p.m. on April 29, May 6, 13 and 20. Classes will focus on easy yoga poses that improve strength and flexibility, breathing exercises, self-awareness, and kindness. Please bring a yoga mat with you to class. $80 per child for 4-week session. Pre-registration is required by calling 631-689-8172 or visit www.bennersfarm.com.

FILM

‘Song of the Sea’

Cinema Arts Centre, 423 Park Ave., Huntington continues its Cinema for Kids! series with a screening of Song of the Sea on April 28 at noon. The film tells the story of Ben and his little sister Saoirse — the last Seal-child — who embark on a fantastic journey across a fading world of ancient legend and magic in an attempt to return to their home by the sea. Tickets are $13 adults, $5 children 12 and under. www.cinemaartscentre.org.

THEATER

‘Alice in Wonderland’

John W. Engeman Theater, 250 Main St., Northport present’s Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland from March 23 to May 12. Alice takes a tumble down an enchanted rabbit hole to an off-kilter world of mock turtles, dancing flora, punctual rabbits, and mad tea parties. Playing cards hold court, and nothing is as it seems in this land where whimsy and wordplay are the order of the day. Will Alice be able to find her footing in this bizarre place? More importantly, will she ever figure out how to get home?All seats are $20. To order, call 631-261-2900 or visit www.engemantheater.com.

‘The Adventures of Peter Rabbit’

Join Theatre Three, 412 Main St., Port Jefferson for a perennial favorite, The Adventures of Peter Rabbit, from April 13 to 27. “Over the hill and through the garden …” That mischievous rabbit Peter just can’t stay out of the McGregors’ garden! But with help from  his sisters—Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-Tail—and his cousin, Benjamin Bunny, Peter learns the power of sharing and caring. Tickets are $12. To order, call 631-928-9100 or visit www.theatrethree.com. 

Disney’s ‘Finding Nemo Jr.’

Smithtown Center for the Performing Arts, 2 E. Main St., Smithtown presents Disney’s Finding Nemo daily from April 20 to 28. Marlin, an anxious and over-protective clownfish, lives in the Great Barrier Reef with his kid Nemo, who longs to explore the world beyond their anemone home. But when Nemo is captured and taken to Sydney, Marlin faces his fears and sets off on an epic adventure across the ocean. Tickets are $25 per person. Tickets are $25 per person. To order, visit www.smithtownpac.org.

‘Willy Wonka’

Community Playhouse of Northport presents Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka at The Brosnan Theater, 158 Laurel Ave., Northport on May 3, 4 and 10 at 7:30 p.m. and May 5 and 12 at 3 p.m. Character meet and greets will be from 2:15 to 2:45 p.m. at Sunday performances. Tickets are $20 adults, $15 students and seniors. To order, visit www.communityplayhousenorthport.org. 631-683-8444

‘You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown’

Simple Gifts Productions presents You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown at 7:30 p.m. on May 3 and 4 at First United Methodist Church, 603 Main Street, Port Jefferson. This revised version is a fresh approach to the all-time 1967 classic, based on the beloved comic strip by Charles Schultz. Featuring all your favorite Peanuts characters, this charming revue of vignettes and songs is fun for the whole family (ages 4 and older). Tickets are $15 at the door or at www.simplegiftsproductions.com.

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Pixabay photo

By John L. Turner

John Turner

Oh those lighter-than-air balloons! As the helium gas inside seeps away, causing them to lose their buoyancy, they come back to earth and their deflated outlines appear everywhere —  in natural places such as fields, forests, and the island’s wave-lapped shorelines — and human constructed landscapes like dangling from utility lines, even the support wires of traffic lights. Sometimes they’re single balloons tethered with nylon string, other times they’re in bunches — a half dozen or more tied together. Some find their way to the ground while more entangle themselves amidst tree branches.  

While most have generic messages, like the “Happy Birthday Princess” balloon I recently found in a hike in the Pine Barrens with 30 6th grade students, if they have a message at all, in a few cases I’ve been able to tell the original purpose of the balloon purchase: a Happy 40th Birthday to Beth! exclaimed one mylar balloon, dangling from a young understory oak tree while another mylar balloon announced “Todd’s 3rd Birthday” with a triangular cake wedge adorned with three candles. As these examples illustrate, buoyant balloons have become a common, unwelcome, and  unfortunate, presence in the environment.  

Photo by John Turner

The ubiquitous presence of balloons in the environment has real consequences beyond forming unsightly litter, and these effects are felt most acutely by marine animals — sea turtles, cetaceans (whales and dolphins), and a wide variety of seabirds. Websites, both governmental ones such as the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and conservation organizations like Ocean Conservancy, contain countless photos of dead sea turtles and stranded whales and dolphins, all having perished from ingesting  balloons, mistaking them for food. 

This deceit is especially telling for leatherback sea turtles for which jellyfish comprise a significant part of their diet. Compare photos of a deflated balloon floating on the ocean’s surface with a jellyfish and it’s easy to see why a sea turtle might easily mistake a balloon for an easy-to-capture meal. Well, mistake them they all too often do, with fatal results, when the balloon lodges in their digestive tract. The same results often occur with larger mammals. 

With marine birds entanglement, not ingestion, is the main cause of death. Tassels of long  string which ties balloons together are often made of nylon or other material which is  slow to degrade, easily wrapping around a seabird’s wings, neck, feet, or bill as it floats on the water.      

Photo by John Turner

There are two basic types of lighter-than-air balloons — latex and mylar. Both pose risks to wildlife: in the case of latex, a threat for many years, and for mylar many decades. Not surprisingly, balloon manufacturers have long claimed that balloon releases pose no risk to wildlife and the environment, and that latex balloons, especially, are biodegradable. This is a fact not borne out both by objective experiments and numerous observations. In fact, the biodegradable claims are largely an example of greenwashing (when a company presents a more environmentally favorable view of its activities than is warranted).  

A 1989 balloon industry study contended that most balloons pose no risk since they rise in the atmosphere to the point they burst due to low air pressure, creating “harmless” pieces of rubber, and those that don’t burst are so few as to be dispersed in a density of about one balloon per every 15 square miles (about a four mile square). From my anecdotal experience hiking and traveling around Long Island, the density of balloon landings is significantly greater than that, more like several balloons per square mile, an observational density borne out by coastal clean-ups.  

For example, according to a press account in a local paper, “the Eastern Long  Island Chapter of the Surfrider Organization collected 774 balloons on 38 beaches from June 2017 to December 2018.” Further, a New York Sea Grant newsletter indicated that in 2016 coastal clean-ups in the mid-Atlantic states produced 8,400 balloons and balloon fragments. 

Photo by John Turner

According to NOAA’s website: “In 2014, 236 volunteers found over 900 balloons in the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge in Virginia in a three-hour period. Recent surveys of remote islands on Virginia’s Eastern Shore documented up to 40 balloons per mile of beach.” Closer to home, a 2018 clean-up involving 33 volunteers at Jones Beach alone picked up 308 balloons or pieces of balloons. 

A colleague, Pete Osswald, to whom I was recently chatting with about the problem balloons pose to wildlife, sent me a comment which is especially illustrative of the problem: “I have been navigating the waters around Long Island both inshore and offshore for over 50 years as a fisherman and Seatown boat captain. I have seen many things both wondrous and appalling. One of the intolerable sights that bothers me the most is the abundance of balloons I see floating in the water on a daily basis. I had hopes for the problem being remedied a few decades back when there was an apparent push for educating the public about the dangers to marine life from releasing balloons. Unfortunately the defiling has become worse There are slick calm days out on the ocean where I see scores of downed launched balloons floating like foreboding headstones of the unwitting turtles and marine mammals that consume them.” 

All these observations and findings suggest a density a bit greater than one balloon every four square miles, don’t you think?  

Lawmakers have responded to the issue. Many municipalities throughout the country have enacted bans on the intentional release of balloons as have several Long Island municipalities. To its credit, the Suffolk County Legislature in September 2019 passed a law sponsored by then Legislator Sarah Anker banning the release of lighter-than-air balloons and requiring businesses which sell these items to post a statement indicating that intentional release of balloons is prohibited in the County; the County Executive soon signed it into law and it became a revised Chapter 310 of the Suffolk County Code.   

Several states have enacted release bans with Florida poised to become the next. Legislation has been introduced in New York State over the past several sessions but, to date, there’s been no action on the bills. 

Another problem with lighter-than-air balloons, especially mylar balloons which have a metallic coating, is contact with high voltage power lines. Contact can cause an explosion often shorting out electrical power. If you type in “Balloons Exploding on Powerlines” in the search box of the YouTube website you can see videos of such events. 

Some organizations think “release bans” don’t go far enough as it is impossible to monitor such behavior; rather supporting a prohibition on the sale of lighter-than-air balloons, understandably believing a ban on purchase is a much more effective strategy than banning their release.  

Many environmentally benign alternatives exist to replace balloons during special events. The “Balloon Blows” website lists the following options: streamers, kites, pinwheels, garden spinners, flags, ribbon dancers, bubble blowers, and inflatable, weighed-down characters.  

There is an old Greek adage, paraphrased here: “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.” While there are no shortage of malevolent acts intended to kill wildlife — the sickening, still legal use of leghold traps for trapping foxes, muskrats, skunks, and weasels on Long Island, comes to mind — the “stupidity” involved, to soften it a bit, is more often the purview of ignorance or thoughtlessness. 

The logical inference of this is if people knew the consequence of their thoughtless acts would be to cause animal suffering and death, they would not have acted this way in the first place.  This perspective gives great credence to the phrase as it relates to lighter-than-air balloons —“Say no to letting it go.” Better yet, in recognition of the countless wildlife species that make up the living fabric of our oceans, let’s commit on this Earth Day, to not buying lighter-than-air balloons. 

A resident of Setauket, author John L. Turner is conservation chair of the Four Harbors Audubon Society, author of “Exploring the Other Island: A Seasonal Nature Guide to Long Island” and president of Alula Birding & Natural History Tours.

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