Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock’s operations administrator, Adam Barshak, said the congregation has no plans to leave its 100-acre property bountiful with native, untapped woodlands, but a question is on the congregation’s mind concerning it’s natural ecosystem.
“Do you want to make a statement for future generations?” Barshak said.
The statement the congregation is now weighing is the establishment of a conservation easement, a legal deed restriction that would protect the land from development and preserve its natural ecology.
“We probably have the largest untapped woodland area in Nassau County,” Barshak said.
The Manhasset congregation’s 100-acre property – of which 75 acres is woodland – sits atop an aquifer that is granted its own aquifer protections as well. Barshak said the conservation easement would add another layer of protection to the aquifer.
The conservation easement has not yet been presented to the congregation’s board of trustees for approval, but Barshak anticipated a recommendation would be given to the board by June. He said a decision would not likely come until the second half of next year.
Other Long Island congregations have opted to adopt conservation easements as well, including the Sisters of St. Joseph’s in Brentwood and and the Sisters of St. Dominic in Amityville.
Barshak said the congregation is taking the time to explore all aspects of this easement before making a recommendation to the board, including consulting other organizations that have enacted such easements and discussing options with stakeholders and partners.
“Because once you decide on an easement, that decision is kind of in perpetuity,” Barshak said. “That’s the point.”
When establishing the easement, the congregation has the ability to either donate the land or sell it to the state, Barshak said. There are pros and cons to both options, but he said that the congregation is currently weighing those.
He said talks are still in the exploratory phase, which began about six months ago.
But the catalyst for these conversations came much earlier.
Five years ago, Barshak said the congregation brought in a landscape architect to survey the property to propose sustainable land use ideas.
One of those projects proposed was a conservation easement.
But this environmental project is just one of several for the congregation.
At the center of this pursuit is the congregation’s innate reliance on principles, values and interconnectivity of all living things, Barshak said.
The congregation’s history of environmental justice and sustainability goes well beyond this pursuit, as evident in its establishment of a Green Sanctuary Committee and its other sustainability efforts.
Efforts include cultivating its meadow for wildflower growth and pollinators, removing invasive species and the plan to hire a land management ecologist in 2025.
“There’s a very strong emotional attachment to the woods, to the property, because it is so unique in this particular area,” Barshak said.
