Long Island, NY - April 22, 2016 - More than 20 parks across Long Island will hold volunteer events as part of the fifth annual I Love My Park Day on Saturday, May 7. I Love My Park Day is an exciting statewide event to improve and enhance New York’s state parks and historic sites and bring visibility to the entire state park system and its needs.

Volunteers at 110 state parks and historic sites across New York will participate in cleanup, improvement, and beautification events at New York State parks and historic sites. Volunteers will celebrate New York’s state park system by cleaning up park lands and beaches, planting trees and gardens, restoring trails and wildlife habitat, removing invasive species, and working on various site improvement projects. 

New Yorkers love their parks. With a surge in visitation to over 65 million people annually, grassroots Friends groups and volunteers are more important than ever to keep parks beautiful, clean, and welcoming for all to visit and enjoy.

To help celebrate the fifth anniversary event, I Love My Park Day has expanded to include additional public lands, including Fire Island National Seashore managed by the National Park Service.

I Love My Park Day is coordinated at the statewide level by Parks & Trails New York in partnership with the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. At the park level, Friends groups and park staff oversee cleanup, improvement and beautification projects and work with volunteers.

The following is a list of I Love My Park Day events happening on Long Island on May 7:

• Bayard Cutting Arboretum State Park – 11:00 am - 2:00 pm
• Belmont Lake State Park – 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
• Bethpage State Park – 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
• Caleb Smith State Park Preserve – 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
• Captree State Park – 9:00 am - 02:30 pm
• Caumsett State Historic Park Preserve – 9:30 am - 12:00 pm
• Connetquot River State Park Preserve – 9:00 am - 1:00 pm
• Fire Island National Seashore – 9:00 am – 2:00 pm
• Hallock State Park Preserve – 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
• Heckscher State Park – 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
• Hempstead Lake State Park – 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
• Jones Beach State Park – 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
• Montauk Point State Park – 10:00 am - 1:00 pm
• Nissequogue River State Park – 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
• Orient Beach State Park – 10:00 am - 2:00 pm
• Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park – 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
• Robert Moses State Park – 9:00 am - 02:30 pm
• Sunken Meadow State Park (Alfred E. Smith) – 9:30 am - 2:00 pm
• Valley Stream State Park – 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
• Walt Whitman Birthplace State Historic Site – 9:30 am - 4:30 pm
• Wildwood State Park – 9:00 am - 12:00 pm

For more information on I Love My Park Day and to register, click here!