an attempt to prevent robert moses and new york state from constructing a highway across the length of fire island. robert moses was a polarising urban planner in new york city. he was instrumental in the rapid construction of highways after the great depression. because the island is so narrow, a road across it would have completely reshaped the landscape. it would ve threatened unique habitats like the sunken forest. in order to protect these towns, each one with their own really unique history and culture, they turned fire island into a national park so that future generations could come here and enjoy it for themselves. fire island national seashore became a national park in 1964. the biggest pleasures of working out here is just having this intimate knowledge of the space that i can then share with other people. i think that nature is something that i want to commune with often, especially when i m feeling somewhat disconnected from the world. it s really nice to be
before homosexuality was decriminalised, living an openly gay life was difficult in some states. isolated towns like cherry grove became safe havens for america s marginalised lgbt immunities. i was pretty young the first time i visited the sunken forest. i was a volunteer. i was maybe 13, 14 at the time. and i think pulling in on that ferry, i saw these two flags. one was an american and next to the american flag was this big, beautiful rainbow flag, and i think it was the first time that i encountered a queer environment, queer space, queer community. eventually, i started leading programmes and actually, when i was 16, i started working as a park ranger. i ve worked at fire island national seashore now for over ten years. there was this really significant grassroots effort that dates back all the way to the 1930s to actually create a national park, a national seashore, here at fire island. part of that was actually just
i grew up in mastic beach, which is sort of a lower income community on the south shore of long island. fortunately, mastic beach also happens to be one of the only places that you can walk onto fire island. it was a space i returned to every single summer. it s shifting landscape as a barrier island. every single day i come out here, it s a little bit different and i think that s all really inspiring because sometimes, we think of nature as this immutable, sort of unchangeable thing, but nature is really dynamic. i sort of came to my identity as a queer person later in life towards the end of college. i sort of had to admit to myself that i was trans in some way. i identify now as trans feminine and non binary. my pronouns are they/them. so at kind of a young age, ifound myself inspired just walking through this community. i did not really know why i was so jazzed up. i knew about the lgbt history.
charm. so, don t go away. we are off to the us where around 50 miles orso to the us where around 50 miles or so from the heart of new york city is a little known national park fire island national park fire island national park fire island national park told. 52 miles of shoreline, forest but it is a faith that occupies the lgbt community. we went there to find out why. fire island national seesaw is a national park, barrier of £17 50 away from new york city and many of them are known for their long standing lgbt communities. the sunken forest is a globally rare ecosystem, very uncommon habitat, the fact that these are trees growing as close to the ocean and in such higher density as they do right here that makes this place you knees
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