"Closer to the water's edge": The Shinnecock's efforts to restore its eroded shoreline

The town of Southampton on Long Island surrounds the Shinnecock Indian Reservation. // Photo courtesy of Eric Munson.

Shavonne F. Smith, the director of the Shinnecock Environmental Department, spoke to students and faculty on Wednesday, Nov. 10 as a part of Hofstra’s “Science Night Live” series. The event, entitled “Protecting Shinnecock Homelands,” was hosted by the Office of Intercultural Engagement & Inclusion (IEI) in the Helene Fortunoff Theater located in Monroe Lecture Hall. 

Smith began her presentation with a brief introduction about the Shinnecock tribe, including their history, culture, language and geography. 

The town of Southampton surrounds the Shinnecock Indian Reservation and is “actually on the ancestral lands,” according to Smith. 

“At one point in time the Shinnecock Indian land went from East Hampton Township all the way to Brookhaven,” Smith said. “Today there’s roughly about 1,000 acres left.” 

Smith said that her focus is addressing the climate change issues facing the Shinnecock lands, such as shoreline erosion, sea level rise and harmful algal blooms. 

“I had worked with a GIS consultant and he helped me identify, along our shoreline, [that] at some points there was up to 150 feet of loss of sand,” Smith said. 

Smith also talked about the importance of oysters, both as a food source and as an important part of the environment. Part of the Shinnecock restoration work involved the construction of what Smith called “oyster reefs.” 

The oyster reefs consist of numerous massive bags filled with fossilized shells that were taken to a local hatchery. The oyster larvae were released onto the bags in the hopes that the oysters will “live, thrive and continue to grow,” Smith said. 

“Originally, when this project ended, the oyster reef was 150 feet long and it was about three or four stacks high,” Smith said. “Ever since that project has ended, we just continue adding bags.” 

However, local surf clams are used in place of the fossilized shells. According to Smith, the Shinnecock Indian Reservation has about 200 homes and about 50 of them are close to the shoreline. “Originally some of the homes weren’t as close to the shoreline as they are now,” Smith said, “but due to erosion and continued loss of land, they’re getting closer and closer to the water’s edge.” 

Algal blooms have been appearing more frequently in the news across the country. According to Smith, there is a species of algae that can cause “paralytic shellfish poisoning” if filtered through shellfish and then ingested by humans. 

Smith said that the Shinnecock Environmental Department fluctuates between three and five staff members and usually lacks the necessary manpower for its initiatives and projects. This is why the organization has to work with other groups.  

Jase Bernhardt, an assistant professor of geology at Hofstra, found the event fascinating and relevant to his work as the director of sustainability. 

“It’s just great to hear different perspectives,” Bernhardt said. “You just don’t necessarily speak much with the Native American nations here around New York and the Northeast, so it’s great to hear what they’re working on.” 

Natalie Correa, a sophomore sustainability studies major, said she wanted to learn about the different areas that sustainability can be applied to. 

“I could really see how this is something that we should bring to the American perspective and truly recognize that this is our environment,” Correa said. “This is where we’re living and it’s important to take care of that, not just for ourselves, but for our youth and for the organisms around us.” 

Triniti White, a senior health science major who serves as the diversity peer educator for IEI, helped to coordinate the event. 

“If you think about just the names of towns on Long Island, a lot of them are [related to] Native American tribes,” White said. “So we were trying to figure out where we could reach out to do something in honor of this month and commemorate those certain parts [on] Long Island.” 

White said that she enjoyed Smith’s lecture and although the focus of the lecture was climate change, she really enjoyed the culture, history and heritage of the Shinnecock. 

“I definitely believe that the whole aspect of climate change is of importance,” White said, “but carrying down [Native American] history and knowledge is also important.”