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.
Return to Friends of Fire Island National Seashore home page.