"Working Together for Healthy Soil and Clean Water"

Nassau County Soil & Water Conservation District is one of 58 county districts in NY State that provide “on the ground” assistance for soil and water resources, preservation of wildlife, and promote the health, safety, and welfare of residents in their respective communities.

Our purpose is to protect, preserve, restore, and enhance natural resources through education and technical assistance. We provide programs and technical services to all Nassau County residents and municipalities to manage our precious natural resources. The mission of conservation districts is to coordinate assistance from all available sources, public and private, local, state and federal, in an effort to develop solutions to local natural resource concerns. We help foster coordination among municipalities, schools, protection committees and county residents. There is an amazing array of projects that The NCSWCD is doing in our own backyard. 

Please explore our website and consider becoming an active member of your local Conservation District.

The Nassau County Soil & Water Conservation District office is located in the Muttontown Preserve 

Address: Nassau Hall, 1864 Muttontown Road, Syosset, NY 11791 

History 

Soil and Water Districts are political subdivisions of the state. Conservation districts began with an Act of the President in 1937 called the “Standard Soil Conservation Districts Law” allowing each state to organize conservation districts. The Nassau County Soil & Water Conservation District was formed and authorized by the county in 1977.  Over 70 years since the first district was formed, there are over 3,000 conservation districts in the United States working on many aspects of resource protection and preservation.

 

The NCSWCD recieves funding through the NYS Environmental Protection Fund (EPF) that is set by the govenor and state legislature annually.

Click Here to read more about our funding and active projects

Nassau County at a Glance

Nassau County is a unique place to live and work. While it may seem sprawling with people in close proximity to New York City, it has some of the world’s best beaches, parks and preserves.  The Atlantic Ocean helps moderate temperatures bringing warm afternoon sea breezes to the south shore in the winter months. 

 

The Native Americans, the island's first inhabitants, lived here for the great climate, abundant marine life, and its forests and soil for growing crops. The first Europeans to discover Long Island stayed because of the same reasons. Nassau County was close enough to New York City to ship them agricultural goods, fish and oysters and lumber. After World War II, the open treeless farmland made for perfect building conditions for housing for the returning veterans. 

There are many more historical highlights that should be explored about Nassau County and Long Island, so take the time and see what it has to offer.

Natural Long Island

Long Island is a wonder of geology and natural resources and should be treated as such. From the south shore plains to the hills of the north, it contains a unique diversity of natural features created over the thousands of years of glacial activity.  Pre-glacial geologic events in the Long Island include the formation of the over 400 million year old metamorphic bedrock that forms the foundation upon which Long Island rests, and the deposition of sand and clay on this bedrock 70 million years ago during the late Cretaceous period.


The two most recent glacial events that most greatly affected the land surface of Long Island was the advance of a massive continental glacier into this region during the Wisconsin stage of the Pleistocene Epoch. The Ronkonkoma and the later Harbor Hill are two sub-stages, or positions, of this ice sheet which occurred on Long Island. The accumulation of rock debris formed two prominent ridges called terminal moraines, leaving the rocky North Shore beaches we know today. As the glaciers receded, the flow of the sediments created the outwash plains of the south shore, barrier islands and the Hempstead Plains supporting one of the few natural praries to exist east of the Appalachian Mountains. 


A few perennial streams drain the county. Most of the longer streams run from the north to the estuaries in the south. A few of them are Valley Stream, Mill River, East Meadow Brook, Bellmore Creek and Massapequa Creek. The north shore drainage is mostly intermittent. Two of the longest creeks are the Glen Cove Creek and Mill Neck Creek. Much of the runoff between Route 25 and 25a enters the ground water through land locked ponds and natural depressions.

Long Island’s water supply is underground aquifers. The contour of the aquifer system is roughly the same as the land surface. The water table is closest to the surface at the terminal moraine and deeper at the coasts. The upper glacial is the closest to the surface and made up of sand and gravel from the last glacier. The deeper aquifers are the Jameco, Magothy and the Lloyd. The Lloyd is the deepest and rests on bedrock.

 

The information for this section was gleened from the Soil Survey of Nassau County developed by the USDA Soil Conservation Service, now the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Nassau County At a glance

Seeking Volunteers

Interested in protecting your local resources? Looking for a chance to give back to your community?

 

The Nassau County Soil and Water Conservation District is currently seeking volunteers to help implement various environmental projects. No experience required. Weekend opportunities available.