LIers clean Nissequogue River State Park

To St. James twins Oonagh and Gwyneth Knott, Sunday's cleanup of Nissequogue River State Park in Kings Park was part adventure, part community service.

"I had fun," said Gwyneth, her sweatshirt streaked with mud from collecting debris in the drizzle. "If everyone took out five pieces of trash a day, we'd have a cleaner world."

About 60 volunteers filled dozens of garbage bags with glass bottles, vintage beer cans and other rubbish they found by fanning out across the park's 521 acres.

They also found trash too large to fit in the bags. For instance, Oonagh and Gwyneth, 11, rolled a warped car tire down a path.

High school students representing Young Leaders, a Suffolk County community group, listed a battered golf club as among their odd finds.

Dan McQuade, 17, a senior at Huntington High School, used an extending garbage grabber -- long-handled pincers -- undeterred by being on crutches because of an ankle injury.

"It's very important," Michael Rosato, 47, of Kings Park, chairman of Nissequogue River State Park Foundation, said of the volunteerism. "It shows the pride and respect that people have for the park and for the local community."

The park, formerly home to the Kings Park Psychiatric Center, is to undergo a transformation in May, when demolition of some of the derelict buildings begins.

Smithtown resident Max Neukirch, 25, clearing brush by a pond, said his grandmother was a hospital employee, so maintaining the park is a point of family pride.

"So much passion and love was put into these buildings, but they've been left to decay," he said. "We might as well do something to make things better."

Susan Rowan, 46, of Nesconset, and her family cleared a wooded hillside. Rowan said she believes some people treat the park as a dumping ground.

"It's really sad that people do this to their own community," she said. "We try to teach our kids that this is their world and it's going to be their kids' world, so they should take care of it."

Rowan's daughter Kaila, 15, said she was surprised by at least the quantity of what they found.

"I didn't realize there was going to be this much stuff," she said, dropping bottles into a trash bag with a clink.