http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/16/nyregion/amid-a-sunken-forest-fire-island-reveals-its-wild-side.html 2016-10-14 17:36:21 Amid a Sunken Forest, Fire Island Reveals its Wild Side When the summer parties end and the crowds thin out, the island’s flora and fauna take center stage in a centuries-old forest. === In autumn, the poison ivy is ablaze in reds and golds on Fire Island, in keeping, perhaps, with The three-leaf menace aside, conditions are ripe for an off-season day trip to this 32-mile-long spit of land, parallel to Long Island. Temperatures are moderate, migratory monarch butterflies flit and tree swallows warble their way along the Atlantic Flyway. In the rainbow-flag-flying community of Cherry Grove, the season is over for Floyd’s serves only until noon on weekdays and 1 p.m. on weekends, so it should be the first stop after the 20-minute ferry ride from Sayville, Long Island. Afterward, stroll through the Grove, an enclave knit together by boardwalks lined with beach bungalows, some appointed with fountains, garden statuary and signs warning that the property is patrolled by Peek-A-Boo Watch Service. Follow Lewis Walk (and a GPS device) to a homemade “Dead End” sign and a gate that opens onto a windswept, roughly half-mile path leading to the jewel of Fire Island, the Salt spray naturally prunes the forest’s American holly, sassafras, black cherry and shadblow trees into a gnarled canopy. Nourished by freshwater bogs, a carpet of poison ivy, Virginia creeper and prickly cat-brier helps anchor the trees’ roots in the sand. Catbirds meow in the wilderness and the scent of bark and bayberry leaves mingle with the ocean breeze. Wildlife includes red foxes, rabbits, turtles and black racer snakes, but they are tricky to spot. “We sound like Godzilla coming, so they flee,” said Ruth Krc, 24, an interpretive park ranger. She added that the exploding deer population is devouring the saplings, putting the old-growth holly forest in danger of dying out. New black cherry trees, however, are popping up all over; those must be tougher to chew. Ticks are a danger. Ms. Krc advised sticking to the boardwalks and not brushing against the beach grass, where the parasites lurk and could latch onto clothing. Lyme disease is a risk and ticks do not die out in the cold, as mosquitoes do. The “I love it even more in the winter when it stays white after a snowstorm,” said Theresa Macri, 56, a permanent resident of the island who said she finds sanctuary in the forest. “Because you don’t have cars or roads, there’s nobody sanding or salting or plowing. The lack of noise is so peaceful, you end up hearing every bit of nature and it heightens your vision, your hearing, even your sense of smell.” If only for a getaway of a few hours, Fire Island is unquestionably a change of scenery.