This month, our 12 for 12 hike is to a location a little different than usual. While this series has covered parks and preserves along Long Island’s shores, small parks and preserves, and new parks and preserves, it’s never covered a place quite like Shorefront. Shorefront Park lies at the end of Rider Avenue, just south of downtown Patchogue Village. At a glance, it seems quite pithy compared to any of the other locales we’ve covered, but a closer study reveals a park that is of titanic importance.
What makes Shorefront Park stand out amongst the many parks and preserves around Long Island is the fact that it is a “living shoreline.” You might point out that any preserve that sits on the coast is a living shoreline, and that’s technically true, but what that term means is a bit different when looking at this park. Nearby residences and businesses are clearly visible from Shorefront Park. All you have to do is turn a little bit one way or the other, and you’ll see plenty of development. Then, you turn back to the park, and you see a lengthy stretch of natural grassland and marsh, protected from Patchogue Bay only by a long line of rocks.
How did this formation come to be? One might think that it’s natural, but it was in fact carefully engineered to mimic nature. Just a few years ago, there was an aging wooden bulkhead that performed less-than-admirably in trying to prevent flooding from the bay. At that time, the Patchogue Village community made a decision to try something new: a living shoreline. The line of rocks was in fact carefully engineered to be the right height and material to prevent flooding, and the rocks used have the right shapes to be modular. Should a higher wall be needed, more rocks can be added. Within the rocks, there’s a vast array of native grasses, leading to a salt marsh and the Little Creek, which was widened and extended so it actually connected to the bay. This habitat, and the field behind it, is host to a diverse array of flora as well as fauna – from Red-winged Blackbirds, to Killdeer, to Green Herons – and makes for a very pleasant sensory experience as you walk along it.
It’s not just pretty scenery and wise policy that you’ll find at Shorefront Park. Mascot Dock, which lies just beside the park, is a prime fishing spot, with several people casting lines during my visit. On the edge of the park, between it and the dock, there’s a kayak launch, and despite the rainy weather the water was calm, and people were taking advantage of that fact. Shorefront Park, is not too far from the Carmans River, and so if you’re looking for a good workout (plus a chance to see the whole of the living shoreline from a new angle) why not head east and visit one of Long Island’s primary watersheds? Just be sure to wear a life vest!
Shorefront Park is not a long walk, perhaps ten minutes from end to end at a measured pace, but it is one of the most insightful walks you can have on Long Island. If you live in a coastal community and have noticed the aging flood infrastructure, visit Shorefront Park. See the novel, progressive, environmentally conscious solution to an age-old problem, and bring it back to your community. At Shorefront Park, one can see a future where Long Island is bordered not by ugly construction projects, doomed to decay and fail, but by living shorelines which use the principles of nature to achieve the same end more efficiently. Projects which make Long Island not just safer, but also greener and more beautiful are no-brainers, and if you visit Shorefront Park, I think you’ll agree.
By Travis Cutter, Long Island Pine Barrens Society
