Legislator Steven J. Flotteron recognized The Fire Island Lighthouse Preservation Society as they celebrate their 60th Anniversary with a gathering of community members at The Fire Island Lighthouse. Fire Island National Seashore was established by Congress on September 11, 1964, following a long history of preservation efforts, most with grass-roots support. In 1908, part of Fire Island that had been the site of the Surf Hotel, just east of the Fire Island Lighthouse, was preserved for public use by New York State. Governor Charles Evans Hughes signed a bill authorizing Fire Island State Park, the first state park on Long Island. This park was expanded in 1924, and was later renamed Robert Moses State Park. That portion to the east of the Fire Island Lighthouse was transferred to Fire Island National Seashore on November 10, 1978. One of the first portions of Fire Island to be protected from development was the Sunken Forest.
In the 1950s, a concerned group of private citizens designated a 50-acre stretch of beach, dunes and ancient holly forest just east of Point O’Woods through a fundraising campaign spearheaded in 1952 by the Wildlife Preserves, Inc., and The Nature Conservancy. Sunken Forest Sanctuary was officially dedicated as the Sunken Forest Preserve in 1960. In May 1966, the Sunken Forest Preserve, Inc. donated the property to the recently established (1964) Fire Island National Seashore, under the condition that the property shall always be maintained in its natural state and operated as a sanctuary, and that no public road or highway shall be built through it. The Wilderness Act was passed on September 3, 1964. Fire Island National Seashore’s enabling legislation refers to a zone between Davis Park and Smith Point County Park for which access shall be provided by ferries and footpaths only and no development or plan for the convenience of visitors shall be undertaken therein which would be incompatible with the preservation.
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