{"id":343,"date":"2016-07-28T16:35:00","date_gmt":"2016-07-28T20:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/prorangerblog\/2016\/07\/28\/program-visit-fiis\/"},"modified":"2016-07-28T16:35:00","modified_gmt":"2016-07-28T20:35:00","slug":"program-visit-fiis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/prorangerblog\/2016\/07\/28\/program-visit-fiis\/","title":{"rendered":"Program Visit: FIIS"},"content":{"rendered":"

My second program visit began with a drive from Philadelphia to Fire Island National Seashore.  <\/span>Despite the fact that we were traveling mid-day on a Monday afternoon, the Long Island traffic was bad!   <\/span>I was joined on this visit by Junior (Pro)Rangers Finn and Aislin.<\/p>\n

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We were able to drive onto the island and park near the lighthouse and ranger station.  <\/span>But, beyond the state park on the very western tip of the island, no cars are allowed without a special permit (during the winter months) and not at all during the summer.  <\/span>There are no roads on the island \u2013 only boardwalks that connect some communities and sand.  <\/span>Visitors either park and walk to their destination or arrive at one of several ferry points and transport their supplies via carts.  <\/span><\/div>\n
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After meeting ProRanger Justen Williams for a tour of the ranger station and visitor center, we set off for Watch Hill which has another NPS Visitor Center and park housing.  <\/span> <\/span>It is accessible to rangers via a 45 minute drive down beach or from Long Island via a ferry.  <\/span>We set off down the beach and learned a lot about the park from Ranger Claire Formanski who has been visiting or working at the park since her early teenage years!  <\/span>We also saw another ranger making a law enforcement contact with some visitors as we passed by.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Original Coast Guard radar equipment in the rear section of the current ranger station<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n
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Checking out the Visitor Center at the Lighthouse<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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You never know what will wash up on shore!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

After some evening adventures and some early morning play on a rainy beach, we drove from the ranger station to park headquarters.  <\/span>This trip is about 30 minutes each way across the causeway and further east on Long Island. <\/span>At headquarters, we had the opportunity meet with Superintendent Chris Soller, Chief Ranger John Stewart and Ranger Claire Formanski.  <\/span>There was also an opportunity for the junior rangers to get started on their workbooks!<\/div>\n

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Superintendent Soller, ProRanger Williams, Chief Ranger Stewart and Ranger Formanski<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n
It was a pretty dreary afternoon.  <\/span>We spent some time at the ranger station talking with Ranger Luke DeDominici who supervised the intern last summer.  <\/span>We also played a little \u201cGuess that Park\u201d and the junior rangers completed their tasks and received their badges.<\/div>\n
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Justen and the junior rangers work on their badges<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n
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Ranger DeDominici congratulates the junior rangers<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

We returned to Watch Hill for a quiet evening.  <\/span>On our final morning, Justen was stationed at the Watch Hill Visitor Center so we met him there and engaged in some more activities. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Justen manning the desk at the Watch Hill Visitor Center<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Then we packed up and headed back to the lighthouse.  <\/span>What visit to a national seashore would be completed without climbing the lighthouse?  <\/span>So, we climbed all 192 steps to the top \u2013 stopping to take notice of step #100.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Fire Island Lighthouse Step #100 of 192.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
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So, on the first bright and sunny day of our visit, we bid goodbye to Fire Island N.S. and headed up the road to Boston!<\/div>\n
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Up next:  <\/span>Boston<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My second program visit began with a drive from Philadelphia to Fire Island National Seashore.  Despite the fact that we were traveling mid-day on a…<\/p>\n

Continue readingProgram Visit: FIIS<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,98,63],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-80","category-fire-island-ns","category-vicki-lewis-mcgarvey","entry"],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Paul Paire","author_link":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/prorangerblog\/author\/paire\/"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/prorangerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/prorangerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/prorangerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/prorangerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/prorangerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/prorangerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/prorangerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/prorangerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/prorangerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}