Peter Paquette
Smithtown resident Peter Paquette received the Friends of Caleb Smith Preserve’s prestigious preservation award on June 2 during The Canoe Trip Benefit on the Nissequogue River, which was coordinated and sponsored by two of the town’s preservation groups: the Friends of Caleb Smith Preserve and the Smithtown Historical Society.
Following the canoe trip, approximately 100 boaters and guests sat down to a barbecue by Main Street Meats & Catering at Nissequogue River State Park in Kings Park where they enjoyed live music by guitarist Norman Vincent.
Mr. Paquette, who has been a member of the Friends group since it was founded in 2000, was given the award based on more than thirty years of environmental service to Long Island and the Smithtown community. This included his days as science chairman at Kings Park Junior High School where he organized the school’s first Earth Day celebration in the 1970s and founded a Conservation Club. Following his retirement he volunteered with the Okeanos Ocean Research Foundation, and chaired the Friends of Caleb Smith Preserve’s annual Junior Anglers Fishing Tournament. He currently is the Friends’ liaision to the regional Nissequogue River Watershed Steering Committee, where he is a member of its water quality committee; and a member of Save the Sound, a Connecticut/Long Island advocacy group. He is a weekly volunteer with the Fire Island Lighthouse Preservation Association where for ten years he has been teaching schoolchildren about the U. S. Lifesaving Service; conducting lifesaving demonstrations as well as tower and nature-trail tours. He is currently a docent in the new Lens Building where the original Fire Island Lighthouse Fresnel lens was recently put on exhibit.
The Friends of Caleb Smith Preserve’s preservation award was established seven years ago to recognize individuals, or groups, for their efforts in the conservation and preservation of historical structures, the local natural environment or that of the larger community. Past recipients of the award were Smithtown residents Louise Hall, Joanne and Michael D’Agostino, and Mary Ann Spencer of Setauket.
Sponsors for this year’s canoeing event were: Hirsch Fuels Inc.; Smithtown Chiropractic, Dr. David A Wallman; Touch of Class Car Wash; John and Nancy Haynes; EGM Construction Corp.; Strathmore Bagels, Inc.; Dr. Bruce D. Yudelson, Yudelson Hearing Aid Center; Harlan J. Fischer, Branch Financial Services, Inc.; Tommy Hancock; Austin, James, Kyle, Kevin; Aimee and Randolph Schmitt, Friends of Connetquot; and Fidelity Investments.