Pine Barrens and the Natural History of Long Island

The ecologically diverse Long Island Pine Barrens region provides a habitat for a large number of rare and endangered species, but faces challenges associated with protection of a natural ecosystem that lies in close proximity to an economically vibrant urban area that exerts intense development pressure. This lecture discusses how the Pine Barrens is intimately tied to Long Island’s natural history and what are the challenges to saving it.

This lecture is free with admission to the lighthouse.

David Taylor is an Associate Professor and Faculty Director of the Environmental Humanities track in the Sustainability Studies Program in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University. His writing crosses disciplinary boundaries and genres—poetry, creative nonfiction, scholarship, and science writing; however, at the core of his work always is a concern for environmental sustainability and community. David is the author and editor of eight books. He is Lead Editor and Contributor, An Island in the Stream: Ecocritical and Literary Responses to Cuban Environmental Culture (Lexington Books, 2019). In addition to the above, David has traveled to Cuba for over 10 years collaborating with writers, artists, and scholars at Consejo Nacional Artes Escenicas (CNAE), Fundación Antonio Núñez Jiménez de la Naturaleza y el Hombre, Union Nacional Escritores y Artistas Consejo (UNEAC)–Cuban national writers’ organization, and the Department of Geography at the University of Havana.