Interpretive_Experience_Plan_LINWRC.pdf

Interpretive Experience Plan Long Island National Wildlife Refuge Complex

Site Overview

Long Island National Wildlife Refuge Complex

Within the Department of the Interior, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) administers the National Wildlife Refuge System. The Refuge System is a diverse collection of lands and waters throughout the United States selected and managed specifically for the benefit of wildlife and their habitats and represents the most comprehensive wildlife management program in the world. The Refuge System includes more than 568 National Wildlife Refuges which are located in every state of the union as well as several U.S. Territories. The character of the refuges is as diverse as the nation itself.

Included within the Refuge System is the Long Island National Wildlife Refuge Complex (Complex). The Complex includes ten units across Long Island consisting of over 6,800 wildland acres. Major habitat types across the Complex include pine barrens, saltwater and freshwater wetlands, coastal dunes and grasslands.

Wertheim National Wildlife Refuge

Wertheim refuge is the second largest Complex unit and is located within the Town of Brookhaven (Shirley) in western Suffolk County, New York. Wertheim serves as the headquarters for the Complex due to its central location among the refuge units and its accessibility to/from major public roads. Approximately 45 miles from New York City, the 2,550-acre refuge contains an even mixture of aquatic and upland habitats. Given the diversity of Wertheim’s habitats, most wildlife species known to exist on Long Island have been documented at the refuge. Portions of Wertheim are open for public use, and visitors can engage in all six priority public uses at this location.

Wertheim refuge was established in 1947 by the donation of 1,804 acres of wildlands from Cecile and Maurice Wertheim who had maintained the area as a private reserve for duck hunting.

The refuge protects the lower half of the Carmans River, one of the last undeveloped estuaries on Long Island. Additional lands for the refuge were acquired under provisions of the Migratory Bird Conservation Act (MBCA) “...for use as an inviolate sanctuary and for any other management purposes for migratory birds...” and the Refuge Recreation Act.

The founding purpose of Wertheim refuge in 1947 was specifically to preserve the high quality marshes for the benefit of wintering and migrating waterfowl, especially American black ducks.

In 1974, the first year the refuge was staffed, efforts to achieve that purpose were initiated.

Since that time, specific objectives have been expanded to protect endangered and threatened species, conserve native flora and fauna and provide for wildlife-dependent public use activities.

Project Aspirations

Products should be eye-catchingly artistic, fun, inviting, and memorable with a cohesive design, font, and color schemes that tie all the Long Island refuges together. The interpretive messaging should transcend refuge specifics and focus on overall themes of legacy, sustainability and costal resilience. Products should include little to no technology, and should employ the senses, be able to be touched, interactive, and durable. Products should maximize the space and flow of the area used by visitors with little to no maintenance required. The products should make the most use of all the space, drawing visitors’ eyes up and around, providing engaging content and ultimately encouraging the visitors to want to explore the refuge(s). Products should be fabricated with accessibility as a priority. Products should effectively translate the interpretive experience to visitors with a variety of abilities., When visiting the Long Island refuges and the flagship Visitor Center, visitors should feel welcomed and safe. They should be encouraged to explore the refuge trails and/or activities in every season. Visitors should walk away knowing that these lands are essential for wildlife and open for recreation, and that they too play a part in conserving nature and wildlife.

Audience

Visitors to the refuge(s) come from all age groups and demographics, however those visitors that will spend the most time in the exhibits area will likely be K-12 students, youth groups, families with young children, and tourists who have not visited before. As such, exhibits should be designed in a way to engage with these audiences. Some ways to do this would be to incorporate interactive elements lower to the floor for young children, limiting exhibit text, and ensuring that text that is included is at an appropriate reading level.

Project Content - Interior

Exhibit Areas

When incorporated within the building, realistic models of plants and wildlife should reflect the habitat of the refuges. With most of these habitats, visitors may only experience them from a distance, so the exhibits should recreate that experience and feeling of being out and interacting on the refuge(s), bringing the outside in and making an up-close, intimate look accessible for visitors. Examples of interactive components could include, but are not limited to: kid-friendly lifting flaps, doors, windows to reveal something in the panel or wall, touchable fur, scales or feathers, or scent packets that reveal a certain refuge smell. Exhibits that enable visitors to participate in a particular educational activity (i.e. becoming a biologist and conducting a survey using exhibit animals) or engage the visitor in a particular storyline from beginning to end are encouraged.

Consideration should be given to add varying levels of height interests and dimension such as wildlife in the tree canopy, below the water’s surface, on the ground, in the marsh, in the grasses, etc. The use of scale in an interpretive way (i.e. looking at the salt marsh from a salt marsh sharped tail sparrow’s perspective, or providing oversized models of locally important animals like the horseshoe crab and red knot) is welcome.

Beyond the information already shared, the following items are unique to these exhibits:

i. Night Room

The night room provides an multi sensory immersive experience that completely envelops the visitor. Current features include a LCD projector, a multi audio track system with surround sound, and a twinkling night sky on the ceiling. Since its inception the night room has only featured a simulated bird survey.

Refuge staff would like to expand this experience to include cultural themes such as indigenous use and a virtual tour of the Wertheim cabin, additional biological monitoring activities beyond the bird survey and/or virtual tours of closed refuge units.

ii. Voices of the Future

The corner cabinet exhibit features a large television screen whose video can be activated by visitors. The current video showcases a variety of youth describing their personal perspectives and experiences with the natural world. Closed captioning is also available.

Refuge staff envision a more interactive visitor experience for this space, ideally including an interactive touch screen through which visitors could explore additional refuge content not addressed elsewhere in the exhibit hall. Possible themes could include geologic history, indigenous communities, landscape use over time, and/or coastal resilience restoration projects.

iii. Green Building solar interface

The wall-mounted exhibit previously featured a NUC-connected touch screen with a live internet feed to the solar panels located on the Visitor Center roof. Visitors could explore the web site’s features, including energy levels currently generated by the panels and an overview of energy generation over time.

Refuge staff envision incorporating updated content that explores the coastal restoration and resilience projects that have taken place across the Complex since Hurricane Sandy.

Possible themes could include saltmarsh integrity, sea level rise and associated storm surge, and the role of healthy marshes in protecting Long Island homes and businesses.

iv. Ecological Footprint

The wall-mounted exhibit encourages visitors to consider sustainability when making personal choices. The exhibit includes a touch screen Climate Quiz featuring questions and answers relating to energy conservation actions, beneficial to both people and biodiversity.

Refuge staff envision updated content which integrates exit messaging encouraging visitors to make sustainable choices. Possible themes could include gardening with native plants, storm water management, and reducing waste.

Messaging and Topics for Interpretive Elements

The Visitor Center interpretive exhibits focus on the topics of Coastal Ecosystems; Habitat Management; People Connections; and Wildlife. Ultimately, the exhibits will allow visitors to know why these lands and waters on Long Island are special places worth conserving for wildlife and people locally, as well as to the larger National Wildlife Refuge System nationally; what Complex staff and volunteers do to actively conserve this area’s habitats; what wildlife calls these refuges home; and encourage responsible stewardship, wildlife conservation and exploration of the refuge lands and waters.

Updated exhibits should complement these existing themes as well as additional messaging on how visitors can take steps in their own lives to protect and conserve wildlife and their habitats.