Preservationists honored

Story and photos by Larry Austin
Grand Island Dispatch, September 21, 2007

Town of Tonawanda Supervisor Ron Moline gestures to Strawberry
Island behind him during a ceremony dedicating a new interpretive
kiosk at Beaver Island State Park on Wednesday.

An interpretive kiosk at Beaver Island State Park will not only provide information about ecologically vital Strawberry Island, but will send a lasting thank you card to the two families that helped save the island from disappearing.

Wednesday at the park, representatives of the state and towns of Grand Island and Tonawanda unveiled a kiosk that will provide visitors a lesson on the history and ecology of Strawberry Island. They also praised Frank and Jeannette Levin and Anthony and Mary Cimato for their support of initiatives that saved the island from eroding away forever.

“Today belongs to the Cimatos and the Levins,” said Commissioner of New York State Parks Carol Ash. “Look at the legacy they have left us.”

Also in attendance were State Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, D-Buffalo, Grand Island, and Town Supervisor Peter McMahon, and Town of Tonawanda Supervisor Ron Moline.

Mary and Anthony Cimato and Frank and Jeannette Levin display plaques
presented to them from the State Office of Park Recreation and Historic
Preservation for their efforts to save Strawberry Island.

In the 1990s, attorney David Brody, a legal representative for builders and developers, received a phone call from the state asking if he knew someone who could provide funding to try to save the island from erosion that had split it in two.

Brody said the impact of erosion on the island would have destroyed a major fish hatchery in the river and caused millions of dollars of damage and dredging costs to harbors downstream from soil deposition.

Through the support of Levin and Cimato, contractors repaired a breech in the island and stablilized the shore and wetlands.

“The island, had not it been for that phone call, and the subsequent follow up, the island would probably not be there today,” Brody said, calling the repair work an example of public and private partnership.

“Strawberry Island is very important to the ecology of the upper Niagara River,” Ash said. “The generosity of the Levins and the Cimatos underscores the need to educate the community on why we must continue to protect this delicate ecosystem.”

“We are developers, but still believe in conservation,” Cimato said. He estimated his company has donated 250 acres in Amherst, and stocked retention ponds because, “We believe in preserving.”

An educational kiosk at Beaver Island State Park teaches the history of Strawberry Island.