YETI students restore trails, oyster reefs in Southold Town
From restoring walking trails to helping rebuild oyster reefs, members of the Youth Environmental Taskforce Initiative — YETI — are proving that environmental stewardship doesn’t have to wait until adulthood.
The student-led group, known as YETI, brings together students from eighth grade through high school seniors who want to give back to their communities and help make their hometowns better places to live.
“I thought it would be good to join because I want to go into environmental science in college, it’s something that I’m very passionate about and I’m always looking for new opportunities to get involved on Long Island,” said rising Southold senior and YETI leader Phoebe Faint. “I thought it would be a great way to meet other like-minded students on Long Island and to really make a real-world impact.”
YETI was created in December and has grown to about 15 to 20 members. Phoebe leads the group along with Mattituck seniors Trevor Fitzgerald and Caden Nieves.
The group is advised by Carol Brown, chairperson of Southold Town’s Conservation Advisory Council. Ms. Brown said the idea grew out of conversations with Trevor about bringing younger voices into local environmental work.
“The two of us were talking and saying that we absolutely had to get the youth involved,” Ms. Brown said. “I’ve been in education my whole life, and this is very important to me, to have the kids involved.”
Since its first meeting, the group has focused on three main efforts: trail restoration, oyster shell collection and reef restoration, and student-written environmental articles called “Advice from the YETI,” which are published in a local outlet.
“It’s really important to have our young people take responsibility and understand what’s happening in a region that is so susceptible to sea level rise and flooding, that they understand what’s going on,” Ms. Brown said. “This is their work. If they own it, then they will feel prouder of it. They also know that they’re part of the decision-making, that they’re not being told what to do by parents and grandparents and teachers, that they’re making the decisions, and that their decisions matter. They matter a lot.”
On June 17, students completed trail restoration work at Arshamomaque Preserve in Greenport, spreading mulch to make the trail easier to access. During an earlier visit, Phoebe said, members collected garbage from the trail to help reduce pollution.
“We’ll be doing projects, trail restorations and the articles over the summer,” Phoebe said. “We’re helping to reconstruct oyster reefs on Long Island with local businesses. That’s important because oysters filtrate the water. By collecting the shells from businesses and putting them on these reefs, we can help protect the populations of oysters, which therefore helps to filter the Sound and the bay.”
YETI partnered with Cornell Cooperative Extension’s marine program at Cedar Beach in Southold through the Back to the Bays initiative. As of June 25, the oyster shell collection project had officially started. The shells will be cleaned and used next year to support future oyster reef production.
“The first bucket is going to be delivered to Suhru Wines today because they have an end-of-month wine and oyster program,” Ms. Brown said. “There’s a couple of other restaurants that are going to get involved as well.”
YETI won’t stop while school is out for summer, as members plan to continue working on local environmental projects.
“I think what they’re doing for the community, their schools and their families is so important, especially in these environmentally changing times, that we have to find solutions,” Ms. Brown said. “These kids want to be a part of the solution.”
Ms. Brown said the group is open to new members.
“We are not closed to anybody,” she said. “We are open and are always going to need new people joining to take part in protecting our town and looking out for the environmental issues that our town is facing.”
