Daniel R. Davis Sanctuary

The 1.4 miles worth of trails are open for hiking and observing nature from dawn to dusk. The sanctuary is a great place for hiking and exploring Long Island’s glacial legacy and its rare and fascinating community of plants and animals.

Many adaptations necessary to survive in this harsh ecosystem are on display the pitch pine. Like many pine barrens plants, the tree produces flammable oils, waxes and resins that actually help promote wildfires. In fact, a pitch pine will literally explode when resin pockets are ignited during an intense fire. Look for trees with charred bark, evidence of a recent fire. A severe fire will kill the upper branches but only char, not burn, a pitch pine’s thick, insulating bark. Many of the trees have a gnarled appearance, the result of losing and resprouting their crowns following fires. If periodic wildfires did not occur, tall oaks would take over and the pine barrens plants would not be able to survive.

Pine barrens animals have their own strategies for surviving this environment’s dry soil and periodic fires. Look for dirt mounds, which may be places where small mammals and reptiles burrow underground to seek shelter from the forest’s hot microclimate and wildfires. In the pine barrens, you’ll also find moss-like colonies growing on the forest floor. Although these plants are called reindeer moss, they are actually shrubby lichens. If you examine them closely you’ll find that their ashy gray stems look like little antlers.

What you won’t find in abundance at the sanctuary is bird life. Pine barrens lack the ecological variety necessary to support a diverse population of birds. However, this helps maintain the unique ecosystem—birds are important seed disperses, and so their scarcity reduces the likelihood that new plant species will be introduced.