Welcome to this year’s installment of the 12 for 12 Superlatives. Last year, we awarded each of the 12 locales visited as part of our monthly 12 for 12 series a superlative best exemplifying that location. We’re keeping the tradition alive, this time with a focus on the twelve places visited over the course of 2025. With that preamble out of the way, let’s begin with…
Best Adventure: Mashomack Preserve (Shelter Island)
In order to visit Mashomack Preserve, you have to take a ferry ride across Peconic Bay to reach Shelter Island. Although this is a short trip, hardly fifteen minutes at most, it primes you for the exciting adventure that awaits. Mashomack feels exclusive, not a secret per se, but it’s a place you have to commit to visiting. Once you’ve paid the toll and taken the trip across the water (a trip which, if taken in the right season, can treat you with a glimpse at plenty of migratory waterfowl), you then reach one of the most extensive preserves in our region. Over two miles from end to end, Mashomack provides you with treks through thick forest, and sweeping views of vast, rolling fields. The feeling of stepping out of the woods and getting that first glimpse of the field is genuinely magical. For those of you with a need for a grand adventure, few preserves sat that longing better than Mashomack.
Best Quick Hike: Frank Melville Memorial Park (Setauket)
Sometimes, you don’t have time for a grand adventure. Sometimes, you’ve got just a few minutes, but you want to get outside, get some steps in, and see some wildlife. Frank Melville Memorial Park fills that niche perfectly, with a nicely paved path around a central body of water, frequented by egrets and cormorants in the right season. There are further trails for those looking for them, but the relatively low amount of parking induces a quick visit. If you’re in the area and have a spare half- hour, it’s well worth stopping in and taking fifteen minutes to lap the pond.
Most Inspirational: Shorefront Park (Patchogue)
Shorefront Park is not a place to go for a hike. There isn’t a trail. It’s little more than a path along the shore. But what a shore! This park is host to Patchogue’s living shoreline project, an absolutely wonderful, inspirational initiative which uses carefully engineered rocks in lieu of an artificial barrier, to prevent erosion. Then, the shoreline is filled with native plants, making it a small but ideal habitat for native fauna. Visiting this park, you’re left wondering “why don’t we do this everywhere?” It’s inspirational to see what clever engineering, and conscientious landscaping can do to improve both the structural and ecological integrity of Long Island’s shores.
The Naturalist’s Favorite: Hubbard County Park (Hampton Bays)
Hubbard County Park is one of the most marvelous Pine Barrens preserves on Long Island. Situated as it is on the edge of Flanders Bay, a walk through this preserve showcases the true depth of the Pine Barrens’ ecology. You go from thick forest to a mix of shrubbery and trees with the species shifting as you get closer and closer to the bay. Grasses shoot up, trees thin out, and finally you’re there, seeing the wide-open expanse of Flanders Bay. For a crash course in the many forms the Pine Barrens can take, no naturalist could go wrong with a visit to Hubbard County Park.
Best All-Day Hike: Sears-Bellows County Park (Hampton Bays)
This Pine Barrens preserve is ideal for those of you who want to get lost in the woods, without actually getting lost. The east-west layout of the park, with the two eponymous ponds serving as the endpoints, makes this an easy park to get your bearings in should you ever become disorienting. With that said, it’s easy to get absorbed in the hike as you explore its extensive trails. The proximity of water makes this an ideal place for birding, with numerous species flocking to this emblematic Pine Barrens habitat.
Best Place for Family Fun: Smith Point County Park (Fire Island, by way of Shirley)
Unique among the preserves covered in 2025 is Smith Point County Park. While there’s plenty of beachfront habitat to explore, this place is first and foremost a beach, making it perfect for a day of fun with the whole family. Beach games, going for a swim, relaxing as you soak up some rays, this park accommodates all that and more. Shorefront habitat like this also serves as ideal nesting grounds for certain bird species, like various terns and the Piping Plover. So, for those of you with a naturalist inclination, you’ll have a good time at this park.
Most Reliable: Wertheim National Wildlife Refuge (Shirley)
We revisited Wertheim National Wildlife Refuge in 2025, tackling the second of its two extensive trails. Wertheim is as close to perfect as a preserve can get. The trails are just long enough to provide a satisfying hike without sucking you in for hours on end if that’s not what you’re looking for. Situated in the heart of the Carmans River watershed, the wildlife is extensive and diverse. The visitor center is full of informative dioramas and helpful volunteers. Alternating trails between visits is a great way to keep the experience fresh. It’s impossible to imagine having a bad time visiting Wertheim National Wildlife Refuge.
Most Historical: Southaven County Park (Yaphank)
Besides being an emblematic Pine Barrens forest, and a great place for a variety of recreational activities, Southaven County Park carries with it the weight of history. It was here that Governor Mario Cuomo signed the Pine Barrens Protection Act into law all the way back in 1993. Being out in nature can overwhelm a person with a sense of timeless scale, but here those feelings are augmented with a sense of history. One also can’t help but reflect on the impermanence of all things, and the work that goes into preserving what we have for as long as we can.
Best Hidden Gem: Cranberry Bog County Nature Preserve (Riverhead)
A true jewel of the Suffolk County preserve system, Cranberry Bog consists of a single, looping trail that will treat you to beautiful views of the central pond, as well as plenty of wildlife. Like Shorefront Park, it is also an example of how we human beings can rectify our errors of the past, as what was once an agricultural site (hence the name) is now a thriving Pine Barrens ecosystem. This was also the main locale featured in our 48th anniversary gala, so if you’re not sold on visiting it, give that a watch and see if it changes your mind.
Best Bang for Your Buck: Suffolk County Environmental Center (Islip)
This preserve is small but mighty. At a steady pace, the trail takes no more than 15-20 minutes, but that’s not to say it’s an easy hike. Rooted paths and thin trails mean you have to watch your step, and that’s perfect for anyone looking for a challenge that won’t take all day. The habitat is also ideal, with extensive marsh that’s a great home for snapping turtles, kingfishers, and swallows. Considering how short the trail is, this preserve is well worth the visit, so long as you don’t mind a trickier trail.
Most Motivating: Ridge Conservation Area (Ridge)
There was no better preserve to visit first in 2025 than the Ridge Conservation Area. It’s undoubtedly a solid Pine Barrens park, with ample wildlife and some fine trails. It also tragically has suffered at the hands of the Southern Pine Beetle. That’s not a plague unique to this park, but there was no park more adversely affected by it, of the twelve we visited this past year. While a forest ravaged by the beetle is a depressing sight, to be sure, it is also a necessary one. It is crucial, as environmentalists, that we remain motivated, that we understand what’s at stake, our raison d’être. For as great of a hike as the Ridge Conservation Area can provide, it also provides motivation enough to push through even the most difficult of years.
Most In Need of Preservation: EPCAL (Calverton)
EPCAL is one of the most tremendous locales we visited in 2025. Its sweeping grasslands provide ideal habitat for a whole host of unique species, and such a vast, open area could provide an ideal recharge zone for the aquifer. But, there’s a problem. EPCAL is not actually a preserve. It’s open to the public, you can visit it and explore a key piece of the Pie Barrens whenever you please, but the Town of Riverhead has yet to set it aside for preservation. That, as far as we at the Society are concerned, is a tragedy. We’d love to see all of “The Best of the Rest” parcels finally, fully preserved. If you think so, too, we’d appreciate your support, either to the Society directly, or by contacting your local elected officials to let them know you support preserving “The Best of the Rest!”
By Travis Cutter, Long Island Pine Barrens Society
