By Carole Paquette
A Day of Love for Caleb Smith Preserve
Hurricane Sandy destroyed approximately 300 trees at Caleb Smith State Park Preserve in Smithtown last fall. ;)
Vanessa, Barbara and Alex Tutaj of Smithtown prepare to plant a maple tree at the Preserve.On Saturday, May 4, more than sixty families and students worked to help restore sections of the park to its natural beauty during the state-sponsored I Love My Parks Day. Members of local families planted fifty new sugar maple trees, New York’s official state tree. Twenty-six Hauppauge High School seniors, and approximately fifteen Boy Scouts from Troop #349 under the direction of Dave Ryder, spent the day mulching the park’s hiking trails.
Other activities included planting flowers around the preserve’s flagpole. Members;)
A young gardener plants sunflower seeds. of the Friends of Caleb Smith Preserve organized a custom walking-stick workshop for adults, a family nature walk, and a table where children planted sunflower seeds in peat pots to take home.
This was the Second Annual I Love My Parks Day to be held at the Preserve. The program was initiated by Parks and Trails of New York ( HYPERLINK “http://www.ptny.org” www.ptny.org). “This group has done a lot to revitalize our state parks,” said Joanne D’Agostino, secretary of the Friends of Caleb Smith Preserve.