By Melody Cerniglia and Bill Jacobs
This month our partner spotlight shines on the Caumsett Foundation. The Foundation works closely with New York State Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation to support and enhance the Caumsett State Historic Park Preserve as a unique and historic environment on Long Island’s North Shore.
Caumsett is a 1,500-acre property on Lloyd Neck in the Town of Huntington. The Park Preserve features several significant ecological communities, a 30-acre grassland restoration, miles of bridle paths, and walking, jogging, hiking, biking, cross-country skiing, and nature trails that run through woodlands, meadows, rock shoreline, and salt marsh.
State Parks and the Foundation use a comprehensive approach to managing invasive species at Caumsett. One of those species is hardy kiwi (Actinidia arguta), a Tier 2 high-priority species listed for early detection and eradication within the LIISMA region. Hardy kiwi is known to be present in five locations on Long Island, with Caumsett being the “first in county” observation for Suffolk. Hardy kiwi grows rapidly and forms dense stands that block sunlight and smother native vegetation.
On September 12, 2023, the LIISMA team, led by Melody Cerniglia, Early Detection and Rapid Response Manager, conducted an emerging invasive species survey of hardy kiwi at Caumsett. The team confirmed the presence of hardy kiwi along an unmarked trailhead near Fresh Pond in the northeast corner of the Park Preserve. The plant was growing interspersed between dense populations of invasive wisteria (Wisteria spp), mile-a-minute (Persicaria perfoliata), round leaf bittersweet (Oriental bittersweet, Celastrus orbiculatus), periwinkle (Vinca minor), and common ivy (English ivy, Hedera helix). The plant is crowding out several native species as well.
Hardy kiwi was first reported at Caumsett on iNaturalist by Steve Young, Chief Botanist with the New York Natural Heritage Program (retired), in 2014. A population of hardy kiwi had been found at Coffin Woods in Locust Valley, Nassau County, the year before.
Sue Fuestel of the Foundation and Annie McIntyre and Yuriy Litvinenko of State Parks are aware of the hardy kiwi at Caumsett and have been working to control it. Several years ago, State Parks implemented an effort to cut the plants; however, the plants quickly grew back. Today, State Parks and the Foundation are exploring alternative control measures in consultation with LIISMA. We greatly appreciate their work.
Another challenging invasive species at Caumsett is winter honeysuckle (Lonicera fragrantissima). Winter honeysuckle, recorded in 2020 on iNaturalist, is known to spread rapidly in other regions, forming dense understory thickets that outcompete native vegetation, decrease light availability, and potentially release toxic allelochemicals into the soil, inhibiting plant growth in its vicinity. According to the literature, the plant is difficult to control due to rigorous resprouting from the base and can reproduce from root fragments. Thanks to the quick action of volunteers of the Foundation and State Parks, all the winter honeysuckle at Caumsett has been removed.
The Foundation has begun work on a grant from NYSDEC to remove invasive plants on a four-acre site known as Butterfly Hill to decrease porcelain berry (Ampelopsis brevipedunculataies). Porcelain berry is a perennial, woody vine in the grape family (Vitaceae). It resembles wild grapevine, climbs via tendrils, and grows to 15 to 20 feet. Other projects include creating pollinator gardens, removing mugwort in parking lot bio-swales, phragmites management, and invasive knotweed cutting at the Fresh Pond site.
The Caumsett Foundation is dedicated to education, low-impact recreation, historic and environmental preservation, and conservation of the scenic values, natural heritage, and cultural history of the Caumsett State Historic Park Preserve. The Foundation is 100% volunteer-run and recognized as a model “friends group.” For more information about the Caumsett Foundation, visit https://www.caumsettfoundation.org/.
