Production Orientation

Fire Island is like an alluring woman. She is a complex mixture of personality, beauty and mystery. Her personality is reflected in the collective character assumed by each community. They range from reclusive, wealthy enclaves, to family devoted villages, to the first gay community in the United States. On summer weekends all pay some degree of homage to Bacchus.

The beauty of the island is most obviously represented by its beaches. Unfortunately, most visitors only see the beaches in summer. The other seasons are reserved those who know the island and for the determined. In winter, the islands beauty is dazzling but it extracts a tax with a frequently relentless wind and sometimes numbing cold. Spring is the season of rebirth. Recovery from winter storms may begin but sometimes spring storms do more to alter the island than at any other time of the year. The flowering of the beach plums and small ground covering plants is a welcome sign of things to come. And then there is the fall, perhaps the best time. The migration of the hawks and other birds and the temporary residence of the monarch butterflies is spectacular.

The most unique ecological feature of Fire Island, Sunken Forest, represents the natural beauty of the island is best. This is a maritime forest that rivals any in the world. The Otis Pike National Wilderness, the only one in New York State, shows what an untrammeled Fire Island is like. Although this area was once the location of a scattering of houses, since the formation of Fire Island National Seashore, the area has been allowed to revert to its former isolation and quiet and take on an aire of the wild.

The mystery of Fire Island is best seen in its history. Until the late nineteenth century, a trip to the island was a lesson in heartache. Most people went to the beach to assist in the rescue of unfortunate passengers and crew that were stranded or wrecked. Throughout the age of sail unforeseen storms were common and most dangerous when a ship approached a port. Even if help was available on the beach, storms were at times so violent as to preclude any attempt at assistance. There were times when rescuers were forced to stand by and helplessly watch people perish before their eyes.

Beginning in the late nineteenth century, people have attempted to construct permanent structures on a dynamic moving base of sand. Each storm brings alteration of that sand base. The sand moves and the structures do not. Disintegration is the price of inflexibility. The probability of global warming and the possibility of more frequent and ferocious storms aggravate the disadvantage of these structures.

In some ways, the human presence on Fire Island has increased its stability. Among the structures, trees have begun to develop where previously none could gain a foothold. This gives a misleading sense of security. Gardens and other non-native plantings among the structures provided a high-energy diet for the local fauna. As a result, the deer population on Fire Island has exploded in the last 30 years. In the off season, when the delicious tidbits are gone, the deer are undernourished and turn to devouring native plants faster than they can replace themselves. The result is severe over grazing on the island to the point where the normal successional sequences are in jeopardy.

This film will show Fire Island in all seasons, in all attitudes, in all personalities with the recognition that here is an opportunity for all those who love the island to work together to protect and preserve a National Treasure.

Mario Congreve, Media Production Specialist, Distance Learning
Television, CSUDH; electronic cinematography; Award-winning cinematographer and producer, whose works have appeared on television including History Channel and PBS. Produced "Crossing Borders: A Cuban Returns." This production in 1999 earned a Bronze Plaque at the 47th Annual Columbus International Film & Video Festival. Produced "Baymen," a documentary on the claming and fishing industry of Long Island, NY, and cinematographer on "A Farm Picture", "Victims of Another War",Academy Award consideration Short Feature Documentary,"Cuba a Lifetime of Passion";Sao Paulo International Film Festival and Boston International Film Festival.

Frank Turano Ph.D.
Research Assistant Professor, Department of Ecology and Evolution SUNY at Stony Brook State University of New York.
My primary research is concerned with compiling and understanding the Pre- and Post-European Contact Environmental History of Long Island. These studies utilize written cultural records as well as maps, art, graphics, photography, and oral history. This understanding is used to explore alternatives for contemporary environmental issues and produce documentary films.