The Town of North Hempstead offers a variety of sustainability programs. With spring around the corner, consider taking part in these programs, which aim to engage and inspire residents, businesses, and municipalities, throughout the Town of North Hempstead, to participate in actions that will foster ecological balance, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and help North Hempstead adapt to a changing climate, ensuring a healthy, resilient community now and in the future.
Native Plants
Native plants are those that historically and naturally occur in an area and tolerate the climate of the local environment. They also have important evolutionary relationships with the wildlife in that area. This section provides resources on planting with native plants in any type of landscape.
Climate Action
The Town of North Hempstead recognizes the detrimental impact of climate change on our community. In an effort to do our part, Supervisor DeSena and the Town Board are committed to implementing policies to reduce the Town’s carbon footprint in its own operations and increase resiliency, as well as to assist residents and businesses in their sustainability efforts through education, legislation, and other measures.
Protecting Pollinators
Did you know that native insects are vital to the pollination and reproduction (producing fruit and seeds) of flowering plants, including wildflowers, trees, garden plants and cultivated crops? Many native pollinator species worldwide have been in decline over the last few decades and several species of bumble bees. Pollinators need plants that they evolved with, meaning that they need the plants that historically lived in this geographic area and can tolerate our climate, weather and soils. Planting a pollinator garden or even a container (if you’re short on space) with native plants that contain nectar and pollen will provide resources that bees, butterflies, flies and other pollinators need to feed themselves and their young. Invasive plant species are those that are not native to our area and harm the environment or human health in some way. These plants often out-compete native species and take over so that humans and wildlife can’t utilize the benefits of the native plants that should be there. Take the Pollinator Pledge and help protect local pollinators!
Rain Barrel and Composter Sales
Composting involves the breaking down of yard and kitchen waste into a nutrient rich soil amendment. It provides many benefits including reducing the amount of waste that ends up in landfills or combustion facilities, providing valuable plant nutrients, improving soil structure, adding beneficial soil organisms, suppressing plant diseases, reducing the need for fertilizers and pesticides, and helping to prevent soil erosion and nutrient runoff.
Rain barrels are containers that collect rainwater from roofs that can be used for irrigation of lawns and gardens. One of their main benefits is conserving water that comes from Long Island’s underground aquifers, which provide 100 percent of Long Island’s potable water. They also allow users to save money and reduce stormwater pollution.
Composting and using a rain barrel are two great ways to help the environment in your own backyard. The Town of North Hempstead provides compost bins and rain barrels at a discount to Town residents.
Tree Conservation
The Town has taken many actions to conserve and increase trees as well as educate its residents about their value. The Town was first designated a Tree City USA by the Arbor Day Foundation in 2011 and has been designated one every year since. This designation is given out to towns and cities that have a viable tree management plan and program. The Town also recently amended and strengthened its Tree Code, which includes updated legislative intent detailing the importance of preserving existing trees, including environmental and aesthetic benefits trees provide, the establishment of a Tree Preservation Fund to be spent on tree plantings and other tree related initiatives and the re-establishment of the Tree Advisory Committee that will include members of the public and an arborist.
Long Island Green Homes
The Town of North Hempstead is a proud partner of the Long Island Green Homes Initiative, a non-profit collaborative partnership of Long Island Towns, community-based organizations and Molloy College. Long Island Green Homes makes it easy for homeowners to accomplish the goal of energy efficiency and lower energy bills by offering a free home energy assessment that helps to make affordable improvements to their homes. Join thousands of Long Islanders and homeowners around the state who have lowered their energy bills and enjoy year-round comfort in their homes.
Stormwater Management
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has a program for the control of stormwater discharges entering to the ground waters and surface waters of the United States; this program is known as the State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System or SPDES.
The Town of North Hempstead is required to comply with the Phase II SPDES General Permit for discharges from small municipal separate storm sewer systems, which is known as the MS4 Storm Water Discharge permit. In simpler terms, in order to operate the storm water drainage system we must make every effort to reduce and control the amount and type of pollutants which end up discharging into our waterways.
The Town has developed a Storm Water Management Plan (SWMP) which includes both local laws contained in the Town code as well as other steps to reduce pollutants in our daily operations. This may drastically reduce the amount of pollutants which enter into our storm drains and ultimately the creeks, streams and coastal waterways.
For more information on any of these topics — and more — visit https://www.northhempsteadny.gov/sustainability.
