The first of the Suffolk County department of health’s nature walks will take place at Inlet Pond County Park in Greenport. The walks make up part two of the Department of Health Services’ ‘Active People, Healthy New York’ action plan.

Entitled “Exploring Health & Conservation,” the new pilot program encourages physical activity while introducing residents to some of the natural wonders of Suffolk County. The nature walks will include a chat with a local health provider, guided birdwatching, and discussions with experts about the natural habitat of the Long Island Sound. There will be no cost for the walks, entrance fees, or parking fees.

This program is the second in a three-part series being presented in collaboration with multiple organizations across Long Island. The first program, a discounted parking pass for county parks that is available at participating libraries, had its soft opening this summer. The third part hopes to enhance pedestrian safety, creating safe spaces for residents to exercise safely outside.

“It’s kind of a three-pronged approach to try to approach physical activity, from giving access to people via the passes, as well as creating an actual event that they can go to that they don’t actually have to plan themselves. And then trying to do inter-departmental collaboration to make it safer for people to walk in different areas, and so that can hopefully create an environment where, as a whole, residents of Suffolk County can have an optimal situation to do physical activity within towns, but also within the parks that everybody pays taxes for.” Said Dr. Danielle Gregg,  the medical program administrator for the division of patient care at the Suffolk County department of health.

According to the recently released Long Island Sound Environmental Justice Needs Assessment Report, knowledge of the Long Island Sound is lower in minority groups when compared to the population as a whole. The report says that disadvantaged groups have used the Sound at much lower rates than those who are not disadvantaged.

The Suffolk County Office of Minority Health has worked with many community-based organizations in underserved and under resourced communities to provide education, resources, connection/community access to affordable medical providers through many community initiatives.

“You have to remember, a lot of our communities are dealing with so many other concerns around their social determinants of health. You’re dealing with maybe comorbidities. They’re dealing with housing insecurity, food insecurity, and so sometimes environmental health takes a back seat.” Said Adesuwa Watson, director of the office of minority health at the Suffolk County department of health. “You need to go out and build relationships with communities, and the way that we can do that is holding a program in their community promoting and supporting our county parks to get folks to come out for an enjoyable family fun community-centered activity.”

Commissioner of health Gregson Pigott praised the effort to engage with people in their communities.  “We haven’t gone out to Greenport before and done a program like this. So it’s great that we’re actually doing an outreach to communities of color and helping them see the vibrant nature that we have here in our beautiful Suffolk County parks.” 

The first walk is scheduled for October 12 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Inlet Pond County Park in Greenport. Participants should dress appropriately for the weather; wear light-colored clothing, long pants and long sleeves; use bug repellents, walk along the center of trails, conduct frequent tick checks, and carefully inspect themselves for ticks. Bring drinking water, wear sunscreen, and consider wearing a brimmed hat, and comfortable, supportive shoes. The nature walks will take place rain or shine, unless notified otherwise. 

Ms. Watson herself was surprised by the number of natural places she was unaware of before implementing this program. “There are so many beautiful parks on Long Island that so many community members are not aware of, including myself. I grew up here, and in doing this project, I was also better informed about the parks that in Suffolk County. It was eye opening for me. I’m just hoping that we can continue this, because I know community members want to have programming like this.”

To register, residents may contact the Suffolk County Department of Health Services Office of Minority Health at 631-854-0378 or email [email protected].