Thanks Artie Kopelman for making some improvements. Looking good so far! Dear Department of Environmental Conservation, National Park Service US Fish and Wildlife Service, & Suffolk County Parks Department, My name is........and I am an avid outdoor photographer, videographer and wildlife enthusiast. I am also a member of a large, local photography group at the Long Island Wildlife Facebook site which is growing every day with activists and talented photographers alike. We are people who care deeply for our parks and have a passion to preserve and protect them for future generations. I am writing today to bring something, of which you may have been aware, to your attention as a critically important issue. Over the last several years of visiting various parks, preserves and refuges, my colleagues and I have noticed a growing and worsening problem. The more that photography of wildlife becomes a part of a forefront on social media, the more we notice that feeding of wild animals in the parks and areas under your jurisdictions and we are deeply concerned. Many of the activists, I am referring to, including myself are very upset over this issue because we are aware of the damage this causes to the biota and the impacts it will have in the long term on our wilderness areas such as beaches and far-stretched dunes. Many people are beginning to avoid places where the practice is common such as Smith Point County Park and Fire Island National Seashore. Red Fox were once very difficult to spot and now they are gathering in high numbers looking for handouts. White tailed deer often look malnourished and are often seen eating bread, potato chips, and various other food scraps left on the pavement as well as directly from car windows and doors. It is time that Suffolk County, NYSDEC, the National Park Service and the US Fish and Wildlife Service buckle down on this destructive environmental abuse that seems to be spiraling out of control. We already are concerned with long term sustainability of our beaches as they are threatened by debris, erosion, storm inundation and flood waters; now many people in our communities are adding to environmental problems by feeding wild animals with little to no perceived consequences at all. We ask that stricter oversight and penalties be quickly applied and people who participate in this behavior are held accountable. It is time to come together with citizen stakeholders such as Long Island Wildlife and help support these efforts on local, state, and federal levels, if need be, without law abiding citizens feeling an impact. This issue is critical to the biota and the ecosystems in which they live, and your help is needed by the people who value these beautiful places and hold them as sacred in our hearts. Wildlife needs us to step up and equally, we need wildlife and the plants they depend on to survive without interference. Please let us know what we need to do to help you make this change quickly and effectively. We will work diligently and we will apply the needed pressure until we are positive the ecosystems that we are blessed with are managed correctly and the offending behaviors and the damage they cause are mitigated. Thank you
Posted on: Mon, 05 Jan 2015 15:17:05 +0000
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