Stillwell Woods preserve advocates: Site needs a clear border to help protect it

Before the Town of Oyster Bay takes control of Stillwell Woods, a roughly 300-acre plot in Syosset, advocates want to know where the property's ballfields end and its vast nature preserve begins. 

Without a clear border, the ecologically significant area could be vulnerable to future development, they say.

In January of last year, the county approved the transfer of the park and preserve to the town for $1, and after pushback from residents and others who raised concerns over the future of the site, the town hired a consultant to map it out.

The survey, which cost the town $97,000 and was finalized in late February, shows the border of the expansive property, located between South Woods Road and Stillwell Lane, and the section of the plot that includes a series of soccer and baseball fields.

What it doesn't show is a clear marking that separates the existing athletic fields from the preserve, according to a group of neighbors and critics of the town's push to possess the land. 

“The line of demarcation is not there,” said Guy Jacob, conservation co-chair of the South Shore Audubon Society.

Town officials appear to see the survey differently. 

Wooded buffer seen as critical

Officials said the survey has two lines — one cutting through athletic fields and another past the property’s softball and baseball fields — that show the borders of areas covered by permits provided to the town in 1978 and 1986. There’s a stretch of wooded area between the two permit lines that directly abuts the baseball fields. Advocates see that space as a critical buffer between the busy fields and the preserve. 

When asked if the town sees that wooded area as developable, Brian Nevin, a town spokesman, said “Could the world end tomorrow? Sure. The town has not announced any intentions to do so.”

"As we have for decades, we will continue protecting Stillwell so families, athletes, and nature lovers can enjoy it for generations to come," Nevin said in an emailed statement. 

Matthew Meng, a longtime member of the Nassau County Open Space and Parks Advisory Committee, an advisory panel that voted against recommending Nassau County transferring the property to the Town of Oyster Bay, said the permit lines aren't relevant since the entire property was designated as a perpetual preserve in 1989. 

"Any wooded area [on the property] is perpetual preserve, regardless of permit," Meng said in a phone interview. 

The town and county, as part of the transfer, agreed to each contribute $6 million toward upgrades to the property.

Before the property can be officially transferred, the State Legislature has to sign off on the deal.

An online petition calling for stronger protections of the preserve has 3,715 signatures. Jacob has notified the town of the petition in multiple letters this year.  

Concerns about future

For years, Nassau County has attempted to dump off portions of the Stillwell Woods property. In 2008, the county tried to transfer authority of a series of parks and preserves, including Stillwell. In 2021, Syosset voters rejected a plan that would have sent the park property — but not the preserve — to the school district.

Ron Ganz, an advocate who lives near the property, said removing any wooded area would diminish the buffer between a unique habitat and an active sports complex.  

"It’s all about allowing the people who operate on the sports fields to continue operating on the sports fields but at the same time absolutely guaranteeing there will be no further removal of the wooded portion of Stillwell Woods Preserve," Ganz said. 

Greg Schleich, 70, who lives near the park, said in an interview he remains concerned about future plans that could affect the preserve but understands the desire to create a space for children to play sports. The acres of wooded area between the 1978 and 1986 permit lines, however, is a "delicate habitat" that shouldn't be altered.

He's witnessed American woodcocks in the preserve — a unique, long-beaked bird — and said he worries that encroachment into the trees could disrupt the balance of wildlife.

"That is the type of thing that could disappear incredibly easy," he said.