Park Operations

  Normal daily operations of Fire Island National Seashore that are funded through the base budget of the park include:

• Maintain ranger station/visitor centers at the Fire Island Wilderness, Watch Hill, Sailors Haven, and the Lighthouse.
• Tours and education programs at the Lighthouse presented by the Fire Island Lighthouse Preservation Society under an agreement with the National Park Service.
• Provide law enforcement, lifeguard services, emergency medical services, search and rescue, visitor information, guided tours, resource protection, and routine grounds maintenance for some 4 million annual visits to Fire Island National Seashore.
• Repair and maintain 15 miles of boardwalk, 163 toilets, beach showers, electrical systems, plumbing systems, sewer systems, more than 150 buildings and structures.
• Maintain 3 public marinas, 5 public docks, 3 picnic areas, 3 public parking lots, employee housing, two administrative marinas, park boats, park vehicles, and a cemetery.

• Maintain 41 historic structures at the Fire Island Lighthouse and the William Floyd Estate (William Floyd was a signer of the Declaration of Independence.)
• Care for more than 60,000 objects and documents in the museum collection.
• Maintain the only Federal Wilderness in New York.
• Manage 26 miles of ocean shoreline and bay waters up to 4000 feet into the Great South Bay.
• Maintain boating navigation buoys.
• Manage 4 concessionaires with 2 marinas, a snack bar, and 3 ferry routes.
• Provide for nearly 11,000 overnight stays per year.
• Manage a campground with more than 3300 campers per year
• Enforce boating and fishing regulations in the Great South Bay and other waters adjacent to Fire Island.
• Administer permits for driving in the national seashore
• Manage hunting and fishing on the shoreline.
• Protect threatened or endangered species including piping plover, least tern, seabeach amaranth, and seaside knotweed.
• Monitor mosquitoes to prevent health threats.
• Permit and oversee weddings, assemblies, commercial filming, and other special events.
• Present programs and tours to more than 20,000 school children a year.