The village of Mamaroneck’s Marine Education Center is set to return next week, boasting not just a bigger space, but one with more resources, programming, and even a full-time naturalist to boot.
While the center, which is located within Harbor Island Park, has been open since 2012, the next grand opening—Saturday, Aug. 20 from noon to 2 p.m.—marks a significant step forward.
Increased funding has allowed the center—which focuses on educating visitors about conservation in relation to the Long Island Sound—to expand not just its space, but also its resources, with new tanks, experts and new animals.
According to Village Manager Richard Slingerland, improvements to the building, which cost $31,500, required the center to remain closed through the summer when typically the facility opens in either April or May each year. The cost of the project is being split between the village and money raised through donations.
One addition to the center, according to Peter Lindroth, the chairman of the Marine Education Advisory Committee, will even allow visitors a hands-on experience.
“This year, we’re going to have a large touch-tank where visitors of the center will be able to hold and touch animals from the Long Island Sound,” he said.
The hope, according to Linderoth, who also works for Save the Sound, an environmental advocacy group, is to bring people closer to their natural environments.
“It’s incredibly important to educate people on what’s going on in the Long Island Sound,” Linderoth said. “People see this beautiful body of water, but people don’t always understand what’s happening.”
In the past two years, Save the Sound has taken a special interest in not just Mamaroneck’s waters, but also Westchester County, launching a multi-municipal lawsuit alleging violations of the EPA’s Clean Water Act in tributaries throughout 11 Westchester municipalities.
The lawsuit alleges that leaks in sewer infrastructure have contributed to the contamination of waterways across the county, which run into the Long Island Sound.
Through the Marine Education Center, Linderoth, who has a background in education, hopes to bring the importance of the Sound’s natural environment to the forefront of the region.
To help Linderoth, the center is offering a slew of new programming this year; squid dissections, bird walks, wetland tours and microscope programs that provide a closer look into the more minute life of Sound waters.
“Examining the plankton is a favorite,” Linderoth said. “You have a cup of Long Island Sound water and people are amazed at the diversity of life when you put it up on a microscope.”
To help bolster the center’s educational efforts, the marine committee is also in the process of hiring a professional naturalist who will help oversee volunteers and the direction of programs.
Village resident Katherine Desmond, who, with her husband Jim, spearheaded the center’s creation and its direction since 2012, said she’s thrilled to see the idea gathering steam.
“I am so pleased that my simple goal to find a little spot in the park for saltwater tanks filled with fish and other living marine animals from Mamaroneck Harbor has come this far,” she said.
