Fund transfers authorized for tree removals, employee training

BY RIKKI MASSAND

Transfers of funds for the village’s Recreation Department were approved at the April 3 Board of Trustees’ meeting, after Superintendent of Recreation and Parks Paul Blake told the Board about the $55,000 transfer for “Contractual Services” needed to fund tree remov- als due to the Emerald Ash Borer invasive species, as well as a separate expense of almost $10,000 for training staff.

“The Contractual Services budget funds tree removals as well as exterminators, fire alarms, grass-cutting and some more services. We ended up taking down a lot more trees than anticipated and we have a shortfall in the line, so we must pay these bills,” Blake noted.

The Board also approved the transfer of $9,573 from three separate accounts into the Parks Dept. Travel and Training account. Of that amount $6,000 is coming from the village Personnel - Travel and Training account; $1,000 is from Safety Inspection Travel

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EAB member and East resident Kelly Smith organized a presentation from the Long Island Native Plant Initiative (LINPI), represented by Anthony Marinello and Pam Ireland. The LINPI organization, founded in 2011, is an all-volunteer cooperative effort including over 30 nonprofits, governmental agencies, nursery professionals and citizens.

Smith explained, “One of the reasons we are discussing native plantings is because they have multiple benefits for community and environment, and they are a simple, affordable solution to a lot of issues we face from the climate change crisis and for storms and local biodiversity loss.”

Long Island’s grass front lawns were identified as a root cause for much pollution and stormwater management issues.

Marinello noted a concept for the “Homegrown National Park” where instead of having to go to preserves or parks to experience nature, “everyone could just step outside their front door” with new forms of plantings supplanting flat front lawns, creating wildlife habi- tat with native plants.

Marinello presented information about the National Wildlife Association’s “Certified Wildlife Habitat” program for backyards, with guidelines for homeowners, schools and churches to create gardens made of plants and use bird feeders and other materials. He also spoke about the registration for a home garden to be a part of the “Pollinator Pathway” and information that can be found through the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, including guides on how green spaces can be converted into pollinator habitats with the use of native plants.

Marinello explained that “native plants” for the Long Island region would refer to any plant species observed in the era during European contact with North America, when Christopher Columbus arrived on the continent and in the Caribbean. He further defined that there are existing flora that were not introduced to the Northeast U.S. until generations later, and those may be found in large concentrations but are not classified as “native” species.

“Native plants are the foundation of the food web, as insects are specific to their respective host plants. If you are in New York the insects that have evolved alongside plants that grew here historically,

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