The Sunken Forest Tour: Trailhead

The Sunken Forest Trailhead

NPS/Sucena

You are about to enter the Sunken Forest, a globally rare ecological community and home to a diverse array of wild animals and plants. It is one of just two forests of its kind on the entire planet.

 

The process of succession which led to this climax community likely began over 300 years ago, when a large set of both primary and secondary dunes made this environment habitable to the trees which make it unique. The Sunken Forest is, more specifically, a maritime holly forest meaning that it is an ocean-side forest predominantly made up of American Holly trees. It’s sister forest is also preserved by the National Park Service, and is located in Sandy Hook New Jersey at Gateway National Recreational Area.

 

First protected from development in the early 1950s by a concerned group of private citizens, a roughly 50-acre tract of beach, dunes and ancient holly forest just east of Point O'Woods was gradually cobbled together through a fundraising campaign spearheaded in 1952 by the Wildlife Preserves, Inc, and The Nature Conservancy. The Sunken Forest Sanctuary was officially dedicated as the Sunken Forest Preserve in 1960. The entrance plaque can still be seen along the western trail entrance.

 

In May 1966, the Sunken Forest Preserve, Inc. donated the property to the recently established 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.

 

As a globally rare ecosystem, the Sunken Forest is an astounding example of biodiversity. As you walk through the forest take care to listen for migrating songbirds, stoic box turtles, slithering black racer snakes, and grazing deer. These are just some of the creatures that make their home in this sanctuary.