State awards grants to two Long Island companies for their work with native trees

Two Long Island businesses are receiving a total of more than $4 million from the state to support the salvaging and growing of native trees.

Landscaping by Country Gardens Inc., based in Eastport, received $3.8 million, the third-largest award in the state, while Sound Designs New York Inc., based in Glen Cove, received $260,000.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation last week announced $45 million in grants to tree initiatives statewide. The 44 projects chosen promote “forest resilience and climate mitigation through sustainable forest management and reforestation,” according to a news release. The projects also contribute to a state goal of planting 25 million more trees, the release stated.

The grants represent an investment in the state’s “forest-based economy,” DEC Commissioner Amanda Lefton said in a statement.

“This funding will strengthen markets for low-grade and locally sourced wood, expand processing capacity, and improve the efficiency and competitiveness of forest product businesses across the state,” Lefton said.

Effort to grow more native trees

Landscaping by Country Gardens also does business as Long Island Natives. President Matt Gettinger told Newsday the grant money will be used for two initiatives, one of which will ramp up production of trees native to the region, such as red maple and white oak.

The company has 100 acres where it grows trees, and the grant money will help increase its production of native trees from 10,000 to 35,000 next year, Gettinger said.

The funding will allow the company to hire more qualified personnel and begin marketing efforts to educate people — including municipal officials and developers — on the importance of native trees and "get native trees into the ground on projects as they come along," Gettinger said.

The second initiative would use the grant money for a tree discount program, he said, where consumers could purchase native trees at a discounted price and the company would be reimbursed 75% of the costs.

Gettinger said the company started its native division in 2010, including plants, shrubs and grasses.

"It really is going to allow us to have enough inventory that we'll be able to sell directly for large-scale projects where we otherwise might not have had the capacity or resources," he said. The grant also will allow the company to "shift our production focus to native trees" rather than ornamental trees. 

Gettinger said the money is particularly helpful for a Long Island business. 

"Our wages are higher than out-of-state growers, our taxes are certainly higher — there's a lot of costs here on Long Island that make it more costly to operate. This will be a great equalizer," he said.  

Keeping furniture production 'in-house'

As for Sound Designs New York, founder and owner Joe Ferrara said his company takes fallen and cut-down trees and turns them into furniture. The multiyear process involves milling the wood, drying it out and using kilns.

Ferrara said that while he uses a local sawmill, he has had to go off Long Island to complete the process and would like to keep more aspects “in-house.” He said the grant money will be used to buy a kiln and other equipment that can be used for the larger projects his company has undertaken.

“We want to maintain all the production of the furniture in Glen Cove at our shop,” he told Newsday. “We’re building a lot of tables now that are 50 inches or wider and they’re needing special equipment to flatten and surface them properly.”

Ferrara said he wants to increase his company’s ability to take in more trees, particularly ash trees, many of which have been cut down in recent years due to an infestation of the emerald ash borer, an invasive beetle species that destroys the trees.

“A lot of time the insects only do damage to the outside parts of the tree and the rest of the tree is recoverable,” he said, adding that the trees have to be cut down due to the danger of falling limbs. “Rather than go to waste, we think, 'OK, what can we do with that material?'”

Ferrara said he began collecting logs in 2018 and incorporated the business in 2021.

He estimates that 60% or more of the furniture pieces he creates consists of local trees.

“People don’t want to see these trees go to waste, so we want to be prepared and ready to go when we get calls,” he said. “We want to find the gems that are out there and make something beautiful from it.”