From Swanson: ‘few people…are as knowledgeable’ BY CYNTHIA BLAIR in The Village Times on December 31, 1998.
Larry Swanson’s long list of achievements reflects many years of involvement with environmental issues on Long Island, the New York metropolitan area, and even Texas and Louisiana. Yet in recent years he has literally focused his expertise on his own back yard. Swanson’s dedication to the local environment, particularly in the capacity of president of the Nissequogue and Head of the Harbor Coastal Management programs, has resulted in his being named this year’s Man of the Year in the Environment.
Swanson is currently the director of the Waste Reduction and Management Institute of the Marine Sciences Research Center at the State University at Stony Brook. The Maryland native’s background, however, is primarily oceanography, beginning with a Ph.D. from Oregon State University.
“Before [the Waste Reduction and Management Institute], he was with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Washington,” explained long-time friend and fellow researcher Joel O’Connor, also a Nissequogue resident and the Ocean Policy Coordinator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Region II, which includes New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. “He was a captain in an NOAA corps — quite an accomplishment in itself. He was an administrator within NOAA for four or five years.
“Before that,” O’Connor continued, “he was director of Marine Ecosystems Analysis Program on Long Island, doing a research study. I was involved with him for eleven years, beginning in 1973, looking at human-dominated impacts in the oceans of New York.” The area being studied, O’Connor explained, was called “New York Bight,” which refers to the waters south of Long Island and east of New Jersey.
“More recently,” he added, “since he’s been the director of the Waste Reduction and Management Institute, he did several studies on Long Island and the coastal waters.” O’Connor explained that they included pollution impacts, coastal erosion and changes in the bathymetry, or depth of the water. “He did a survey of Long Island Sound, measuring water depth to update the charts.” He noted that Swanson has also piloted recycling projects specifically, recycling plastic into lumber and ash into cinder blocks.
“He’s also a past president of Nissequogue and Head of the Harbor Coastal Management programs,” noted O’Connor, who is the current chair. “The program implements the Coastal Zone Management Act within Nissequogue and Head of the Harbor.”
In addition to being a champion for the preservation of our coastal waters, Swanson has made a point of sharing some of his involvement in other arenas with local residents. In September, for example, after testifying in a court case on the issue of whether Ellis Island belonged to New York or New Jersey, he gave a presentation on the dispute at the Three Village Historical Society’s monthly meeting.
O’Connor noted that Swanson is an expert on tides, a physical oceanographer, and an expert ecologist. “In terms of marine affairs, there are few people who are as knowledgeable or who have contributed as much as Larry has,” he said. “In my view, he’s an outstanding administrator. He gets all kinds of people to contribute.”
