Rye Waterfront Selected as High Priority
Stewardship Area on Long Island Sound

– By Bill Lawyer –

Edith Read Sanctuary Curator Jason Klein considers himself to be a lucky environmentalist. He works each day in a place where wildlife is abundant, visitors are generally enthusiastic and supportive of what he does, and he has the opportunity to help the next generation of environmental activists get the knowledge and skills to take on the challenges of climate change.  That’s why he’s so excited about recent actions taken on the regional level to promote the preserve and surrounding area. 
Out of the 600 miles of coastline that surround Long Island Sound, Rye’s 6.5 miles have been selected as one of 33 high priority stewardship areas for special management treatment in the coming years. The federally funded Long Island Sound Stewardship Initiative, a coalition of government and non-profit agencies in New York and Connecticut, carried out the selection process. 
The Rye site extends from Edith Read Sanctuary to the Marshlands Conservancy, and it includes Playland, Rye Town Park, and the Milton Harbor tidal area (see habitat map). On a recent visit to Read, this reporter (without even trying) saw a pair of osprey perched on a preserve-built nesting platform, wild turkey strolling by the bird feeders, and bufflehead diving ducks feeding in the lake. 
From 1994 through 2003 the Long Island Sound Project was carried out to develop priority objectives for improving the environmental quality of the Sound.  A 22-member Stewardship Work Group (SWG) chose 33 stewardship sites from the thousands of possibilities identified through the inventories carried out from 2004-2005. 

The sites were selected based on a rigorous process of setting standards and evaluating sites on them.  Criteria and attributes were set up, in four categories: 1) public access to the water; 2) recreational and conservation need; 3) water resource protection; and 4) open space, cultural and recreational resources. The final 33 sites ranked highest on the number of ecological or recreational categories that applied and, for recreation sites, the number of patrons served.
Additional criteria used to select the areas included: how well they represented the Sound’s diverse habitat types and recreational opportunities; if they provided a good distribution of sites around the Sound; and, if the sites’ communities supported recognition of the area.
Rye’s waterfront was selected for a combination of ecological and recreational factors. First, it is one of the largest contiguous areas of undeveloped coastal land and the largest tidal marsh system in Westchester County.  Second, its protected parkland and open spaces provide nesting and feeding habitat for native shorebirds and rare birds, including the wood sandpiper, black rail, little gull, sedge wren and yellow-headed blackbird. And third, a significant portion of the area is already protected county and municipal parkland. 
“Read and Marshlands make up northern and southern ‘anchor points’ for the area, giving it a strong base for further conservation efforts in between,” said Mr. Klein. “That was the strongest selling point.” 
Now that Rye has been selected, a 19-person Rye-Area SWG was created to get Rye’s residents to join them in making improvements to the area’s environmental conditions. The first step was to produce the habitat map of Rye highlighting the areas most critical to protect for wildlife. 
Jillian M. Liner, Director of Bird Conservation for NY Audubon, is the Rye-Area SWG coordinator. Given her passion for birds, she notes that, “in addition to the large numbers of waterfowl found in Playland Lake, historically, there have been some rare saltmarsh sparrows at Marshlands. It would be great to get those sparrows back. With the development around these areas… the priorities should be to reduce the threats to these areas, take management steps to maintain them … and maintain as much additional natural habitat as possible [through] acquisition or easement if it makes sense.”
In 2005 Westchester County received EPA funds to install parking lot stormwater drains at Playland to capture contaminants that would otherwise pollute the surrounding wetlands. In 2006 the sanctuary got a grant to remove invasive plants from a .9-acre meadow site. Both grants were obtained through the efforts of Jason Klein, who has been curator of Edith Read Sanctuary for five years. “It’s not enough just to protect crucial habitat from development,” Klein noted. “We need to protect it being damaged by outside threats, so that it can provide refuge for wildlife.” 
In late 2007 Audubon New York received a total of $65,000 in grants to carry out four projects in CT & NY to enhance what they call “important bird areas” (IBA). Part of these funds will be utilized at Edith Read Sanctuary. 
As to the future, managing the Byram River and Blind Brook watersheds to control flooding and pollution is one project being considered. Others include the acquisition or protection of additional waterfront within the area – such as the nearly one-acre Bird Homestead Property near the Milton Firehouse. They’re also looking at a 10-acre parcel of land directly north of Read Sanctuary. 

Members of the Rye SWG recently made a presentation to the City Council, and they intend to reach out to Rye’s CC/AC and other environmental and cultural heritage groups. To get started, they’re planning to make a video with RyeTV about the Stewardship Area and the threats and opportunities ahead. They also want to encourage more residents to get out and visit the area, so they can appreciate why it should be protected and promoted.