Facts about
Fire Island National Seashore is a unit of the National Park System and is managed by the National Park Service within the Department of the Interior. Authorized by Congress in 1964, the national seashore can also be called a national park.
Almost within site of New York City and adjacent to the heavily populated Long Island, Fire Island National Seashore protects a stunning, and sometimes surprising, number of outstanding natural and historical resources. For example:
See the Fire Island National Seashore's official website for additional information about the park.
- The only Federal Wilderness in the State of New York (The Otis Pike Fire Island High Dune Wilderness)
- 24 smaller islands
- The Seashore includes extensive portions of the Great South Bay, Narrow Bay, and Moriches Bay
- 26 miles of beach from mean high water to 1000 feet into the Atlantic Ocean
- Over 400 identified plant species on the island
- More than 420 bird species have been identified on the island or are expected to occur in this habitat
- 25 herpetological species – 12 amphibians and 13 reptiles
- 28 mammals
- More than 60 fish species observed or collected from the ocean surf
- More than 40 species of fish collected in seine nets from the Great South Bay
- More than 40 different bay and ocean invertebrates (worms, shrimp, sponges, etc.)
- More than 50 different macro invertebrates collected from the bay and ocean (anemones, whelks, crabs, scallops, etc.)
- Various vegetation communities – ocean, beach and dunes, maritime forests and thickets, fresh water marshes, salt water marshes, and bays
- 3 federally listed species as threatened or endangered (piping plover, seabeach amaranth, roseate tern)
- 3 New York State Listed as Species of Concern (common tern, least tern and seaside knotweed)
