The Times of Smithtown - July 2, 2015

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The TIMES of Smithtown

Volume 28, No. 18

Serving Smithtown • St. JameS • neSconSet • commack • hauppauge • kingS park • Fort Salonga July 2, 2015

$1.00

Go for it, grads

Members of the class of 2015 graduated from Smithtown High School East, Smithtown High School West, Commack High School and Kings Park High School, last week.

See PageS a7–16 for Coverage

‘Made in America’

also: golden gatsby highlights, ‘artie Techie’ show in Huntington, ‘Cinderella’s glass Slipper’ at the SCPa

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kings park high School students wait for their turn to line up at their graduation on thursday, June 25. Photo by Phil Corso

Sunken Meadow State Park gets new roots By phil corSo

Matz makes history

Ward Melville High School graduate hits mound for first time with Mets

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It wasn’t pretty, but it was still pretty necessary. More than 50 volunteers came together over the weekend to plant an acre of native Spartina cordgrass at Sunken Meadow State Park in Smithtown. The planting event was one of the first major public steps in a multiyear grant to restore river and marsh habitat and strengthen the park’s resilience to severe storms. The $2.5 million project is funded by the Hurricane Sandy Competitive Grant Program and administered by Save the Sound with a team of governmental and nonprofit partners. Sunken Meadow State Park comprises 1,300 acres including the mouth of the Nissequogue River, salt and tidal marshes, dunes, coastal forest and three miles of Long Island Sound beachfront. Attracting over 2 million visitors a year, it is often dubbed the most popular state park in the New York

City metro area. Historically, Sunken Meadow Creek connected over 120 acres of marsh habitat with the Nissequogue estuary and the Sound, but in the 1950s, the Army Corps of Engineers built an earthen dike across the creek, restricting its tidal flow and fundamentally changing the marsh’s plant community, a spokeswoman for Save the Sound said. The Sunken Meadow Restoration team has been working since 2008 to restore tidal flow to the creek. Hurricane Sandy hit the park in October 2012. Its storm surge blew through the dike, fully reconnecting the marsh to the estuary for the first time in 60 years. “Now that tidal flow is restored to Sunken Meadow Creek, we’re excited to combine marsh restoration, green infrastructure and public education to have an even greater impact,” said Gwen Macdonald, habitat restoration director for Save the Sound, a bi-state program of PLaNTINg continued on page a2

Photo from Sarah ganong

water quality monitors take samples and check for bacteria.


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