Problem

State Pulls Out of Quogue Wildlife Refuge and It May Close

By Sabrina C. Mashburn

The Quogue Wildlife Refuge is in trouble and it is up to us, the members of the East End community, to save it. While the New York State Department of Ecological Conservation provided two-thirds of the operating budget for the center from 1999 until 2005, they have since decided to focus their efforts on wildlife refuges closer to their Albany headquarters, leaving the Quogue Wildlife Refuge entirely dependent upon private donations and funds raised by the Southampton Township Wildfowl Association. Unless they can manage to raise $200,000 by the end of this year, it will be only a matter of time before the Quogue Wildlife Refuge is forced to close their doors to the public forever. As the Refuge is the only permanent care facility for land animals on the East End and one of the only educational centers that teaches ecology to students of all ages year-round, as well as the site of hundreds of years of Long Island history, this great loss must be prevented.

The lack of funding for this refuge, resulting from the absence of governmental support, has impaired Long Island’s ability to keep injured wildlife on the island. The Refuge is filled to capacity now and has no means of expanding their facility. The animals lucky enough to have found their way to the Quogue Wildlife Refuge are watched over with the utmost sensitivity to the needs of their species, as well as the needs of each individual animal. From the bobcat declawed by a neglectful owner to owls, kestrels, bald eagles hit by cars, African tortoises, Burmese pythons and chinchillas whose owners could no longer care for them, every animal in the Refuge is kept in as spacious an enclosure as possible, with the very best natural food sources and enriching experiences that can be created for them out of their natural environments. Animals who are too injured to cope with extreme temperatures are taken into the Refuge Director’s home on frigid winter nights and as many non-native species as can fit are cared for in the high-ceilinged Nature Center, despite the growing costs of heating the 1970s-era building 24 hours per day. You won’t see any pacing predators or listless birds here — there is no pre-made “zoo-mix” on the menu at the Quogue Wildlife Refuge and it shows. The animals are fed with their natural prey, such as deer meat and fish donated by local hunters and fisherman and rodents donated by a nearby breeder. Their robust health shows in their eyes and in the gleam of their coats.

At the core of this operation is a husband and wife team who work day and night, seven days per week, every week of the year, to ensure that each living thing, from the dwarf pines to the bobcat to the injured Canada Geese who live around the Old Ice Pond, is happy, healthy and well cared for. This past year, Mike Nelson, the Refuge Director, has logged in an average of 227 hours of work each month at the Refuge while still managing to remain an active member of the Quogue Volunteer Fire Department. His wife, Marisa, has logged similar hours at the Refuge, as well as many hours giving wildlife presentations at schools all over the East End. Mike and Marisa share the responsibility of maintaining seven miles of trails, creating and teaching educational programs for the public each week, leading scout groups on special tours and activities, hosting and teaching school groups, writing newsletters, cleaning the Nature Center, answering phones and other office work, feeding the animals and cleaning and maintaining their cages, as well as general maintenance of the entire Refuge. During the summer, they also conduct summer ecology camps for over 200 children each year. The $2,000 grant awarded to the Quogue Wildlife Refuge last year from the Town of Southampton was used to hire an additional educator for the summer season to ensure that every child receives one-on-one attention during their program and comes away with a love for science and an appreciation of the unique beauty and complexity of Long Island’s diverse ecosystems. During the years that the State Department of Environmental Conservation was providing $200,000 to the Refuge annually, a staff of one full-time Refuge Director, four educators and one full-time maintenance person shared the responsibilities now shouldered by Mike and Marisa Nelson alone. Although it is impossible for two people to care for a 305-acre wildlife Refuge and sanctuary by themselves, financial constraints have limited the help available to them to a handful of weekend volunteers and reluctant assistance from those sentenced to community service at the Refuge by the local justice system.

Along with being home to numerous animals unable to care for themselves outside of the Refuge, the Quogue Wildlife Refuge is the site of some of the most unique features of Long Island’s history and ecology. The seven miles of trails in the refuge snake through one of only three dwarf pine forests in the United States. In between the Distressed Wildlife Complex and the Nature Center building, a small museum, also maintained by the Nelsons, tells the story of Quogue’s Old Ice Pond Ice Factory, and divulges a bit of Long Island History unknown to many locals and visitors. The Southampton Township Wildfowl Association’s extensive archives, cataloging the ambitious plan of a few local duck hunters to save Long Island’s duck and waterfowl populations during the particularly harsh winter of 1934, are kept in the Nature Center building, where Mike Nelson has been scanning them into the Refuge’s computers to share with the children and grandchildren of those local pioneers of conservation. Visitors to the Refuge brim with stories of relatives who helped keep the birds alive each winter, and how the Southampton Town Police Chief used to come break the ice on the pond to feed the ducks every day in the winter and radio stations from all over New York would bring their equipment to record the testimony of these men who, in the first year of the Southampton Township Wildfowl Association’s existence, were given a conservation award for breeding and releasing the most ducks in one year in the entire United States. Those men dreamt of preserving the wild nature of this small portion of the island and their dream has evolved into the finest wildlife refuge and sanctuary on the East End.

Because of the tireless fundraising efforts of the Southampton Township Wildfowl Association and private donations, the Refuge has been able to remain open for the past year despite the absence of funding from the State Department of Environmental Conservation. But the Nature Center building has fallen into disrepair, the utility bills are piling up, and the staff of two is nearing the point of utter exhaustion. With a trust of only $500,000 and only $8,000 earned annually from the proceeds of animal sponsorships and the Halloween trail combined, the Quogue Wildlife Refuge, whose operating costs are well over $200,000 per year, is in danger of disappearing. Although Mike and Marisa conduct as many kayak trips, hikes and ecology programs, as they can to raise the funds necessary to keep the center open, the proceeds from these seasonal activities are not enough to ensure the survival of the Refuge and its inhabitants.

Luckily, there is hope and if recent fundraising activities are successful, the Quogue Wildlife Refuge may be able to remain the Long Island institution it has been since the 1930s. The Board of Directors recently sent out a mailing to 14,000 Long Island residents, asking them to become members of the Refuge for a contribution of $25 or more. Each membership purchased will bring the Refuge closer to their annual fundraising goal of $200,000. If you cannot spare $25, volunteering in the Nature Center is a fun, relaxing way to spend a few hours on a Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday or Sunday and having a volunteer in the office allows the Nelsons to take care of the rest of the Refuge while still keeping the Nature Center open to the public. If you have a penchant for writing grants, the Quogue Wildlife Refuge is certainly a candidate worth writing about and would be grateful for help applying for some well-deserved grants.

The Quogue Wildlife Refuge has always been a testament to what a few dedicated members of a community can accomplish when they decide to band together for a worthwhile cause. In 1934, the Town of Southampton, the Village of Quogue and the newly formed Southampton Township Wildfowl Association decided to purchase the Old Ice Factory and preserve the island’s waterfowl population. In the 1970s, Long Islanders triumphed again when they raised the funds to build the Nature Center building, giving the Refuge a beautiful place to hold meetings, special programs, and house non-native species in need of care. Now, it is our turn to preserve this beautiful Wildlife Refuge for the protection of our island’s ecological health and the enjoyment of future generations. We must all band together to save this historically and ecologically important place before it is gone.

To make a donation to the Quogue Wildlife Refuge, please visit www.QuogueWildlifeRefuge.org or call (631) 653-4771.