A History Lesson on the Hempstead Plains

On Friday, Feb. 4, at 1:30 p.m. in the Garden City Library, the AAUW of Garden City will present a program about Long Island’s unfamiliar and historic prairie land.

Guest speaker will be biology Professor Emeritus, Betsy Gulotta, from Nassau Community College. She is currently working as conservation project manager for Friends of Hempstead Plains at Nassau Community College.

In her PowerPoint presentation about the Hempstead Plains, which covered over 60,000 acres of land across Nassau County, Professor Gulotta will discuss the tall grass prairie habitat of the past with the present day tiny remnant that remains.

The Plains shaped Long Island’s history in many ways, including agriculture, horse-racing, aviation, housing development and natural history. The program touches on the historical significance of the Hempstead Plains and focuses on the importance of the ecological characteristics and education potential of the prairie.

Professor Gulotta has had 40 years of teaching college biology, which includes field courses in the Rain Forest of Costa Rica.