Residents urge Mamaroneck to apply for DEC community-forest inventory grant to protect Leather Stocking and Sheldrake woods

A group of residents urged the Mamaroneck Town Board on July 15 to apply for a New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) urban and community forest grant to inventory and develop a management plan for the Leather Stocking Trail woods and the Sheldrake River Trails Conservation Area.

A resident who identified herself as a member of the Sustainability Collaborative described “an overabundance of deer” that have eaten tree seedlings and saplings, allowing invasive plants such as English ivy and knotweed to dominate the understory and reduce biodiversity. She said a National Audubon Society inventory was performed in 1964 and that no comprehensive town inventory has been completed since. “We have no wild flowers anymore in the woods,” she said, describing losses of ground-nesting and canopy birds connected to the decline in insects and small animals.

The speaker told the board the DEC grant would fund an inventory by foresters and ecologists and a management plan; in later implementation rounds the town could seek additional funds for invasive-species removal, deer-exclosure fencing, and planting native seedlings. She noted the DEC application deadline is Aug. 12 and recommended securing grant-writing assistance; she also supplied letters of support and said organizations including the League of Women Voters and local Audubon chapters back the effort.

Mark Kramer, a resident who said he reviewed similar grant work in nearby Hastings, told the board the woods are an educational and recreational resource and urged the town to pursue the application. Kramer said examples and prior applications could reduce the time needed to assemble a competitive package.

The supervisor thanked the speakers and said the board would review the request. No formal motion or vote on applying for the DEC grant was recorded that evening.

The next procedural step, as described by the speakers, would be for staff to determine whether the town has capacity to prepare the application by the Aug. 12 deadline and, if not, to pursue grant-writing assistance and letters of support to strengthen an application in a future round.