Backlog Funding Needs

  The decreased purchasing power of the park budget, combined with rising costs and demanding new issues have contributed to funding shortfalls.

Listed here are some of the requests the park has submitted through regular NPS procedures for base funding increases. These requests become part of the larger National Park Service funding requests. The individual requests for Fire Island National Seashore may or may not make the Department of Interior’s budget request to Congress depending upon other needs of the agency at the time the budget is prepared.

(These are annual, recurring costs)

• Funding for an education program: $230,000

Education programs were ended in 1995 and funds diverted to maintenance and resource protection. Funds would pay for staff and materials for programs to reach 40,000 students from more than 100 school districts in urban/suburban area with significant African American, American Indian, Hispanic populations and provide ferry tickets for low-income schools.

• Repair and maintain park facilities: $350,000

Corrosive beach environment and annual storms deteriorate facilities. 24 of 47 visitor-use buildings are in poor condition. 5 marinas and docks are in deteriorating condition and one marina is closed to public use. These are the sole entry point to the park for 400,000 visitors and critical to concession business. Funds would maintain these in good condition using park personnel and contracted services. The wear and tear of visitor use and the detrimental effects of the beach environment contribute to a situation that the current staff simply cannot keep up with.

• Protect resources and provide visitor services at the William Floyd Estate. $600,000

The William Floyd Estate was the ancestral home of the William Floyd Family for more than 200 years. The estate contains 17 historic buildings on the federal List of Classified Structures, a museum storage facility with more than 35,000 objects and papers, government quarters, a cemetery, hiking trails, and a little more than 600 acres of woodlands, marsh, ponds, and fields. The site is currently open only minimal hours on weekends in the spring, summer, and fall. Funding will allow:

- Grounds open all year.

- House tours would be available five days a week Memorial Day-Labor Day with increased school programs and weekend tours in the spring and summer.

- Direct management of ponds and marshes for mosquito abatement

- Restoration of historic gardens and landscaping

- Expansion of school programs

- Scheduled maintenance and upkeep of buildings

- Creation of "living history" programs and special events on the American Revolution and Declaration of Independence

- Partnership with the Mastic/Mastic Beach/Shirley area for community events

- Maintenance of trails and walkways

- Development of exhibits

Increased visitation will positively influence the image of the Mastic/Mastic Beach/Shirley area and directly affect surrounding businesses by bringing in additional tourist dollars.

• Provide visitor services and interpretation. $300,000

The park has only two permanent employees in an Interpretation (public education) function. A majority of the island's 4 million visitors have no interpretation or information contact. More than 20 million people live within 75 miles of the park. The lack of public knowledge of NPS presence and mission is a factor contributing to resource degradation and visitor injuries. Funds would establish new permanent ranger positions and up to 10 seasonal employees to provide in-park and outreach services and open the visitor centers.

• Protection of life. $350,000

The park has no lifeguard services at the Lighthouse Beach or the Wilderness beach. These areas have up to 12,000 visitors on a busy weekend in the summer. Funds would provide lifeguard services to these areas. $200,000

The park also needs a dispatch operation for the protection of staff and the public. Rangers respond to hundreds of law enforcement and medical emergencies a year and all staff operate boats in all types of weather. The lack of a radio dispatch service endangers the lives of the public and employees in these hazardous situations. $150,000

(These are term costs that end when the project is completed.)

• Develop a deer management plan including the required Environmental Impact Statement: $400,000
• Develop Cultural Landscape Reports for the Fire Island Lighthouse and the William Floyd Estate. These reports, done by historians, will guide the eventual restoration of the grounds and buildings in these two sites. No long-term work can be done in either area until these reports are completed: $250,000

(These are one-time construction projects.)

• Construct a park headquarters, ferry terminal, and visitor education center on the Patchogue River. Fire Island National Seashore is the only national seashore that does not have a mainland visitor center: $4.5 million
• Construct a Student Education Camp at Sailors Haven to replace the condemned building: $2 million
• Repair Watch Hill marina, Sailors Haven marina and other docks: $1.5 million
• Construct west entrance ranger station. This will enable better control of driving on the island and include a restroom for lighthouse beach visitors: $250,000
• Construct public restroom at the William Floyd Estate: $200,000
• Construct exhibits at the Fire Island Lighthouse: $500,000