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Environment

Scallop Die-Off Tanks Harvest Again

It was news that nobody wanted to hear. For the third summer in a row, there has been a massive die-off of adult bay scallops in the Peconic Bay estuary system. If they had survived, the scallops would have been ready for harvest in early November, when the five-month season opens.

Sep 2, 2021
A Law to Protect Suffolk's Honeybees

In a unanimous vote, the Suffolk Legislature has passed a local law to preserve honeybee colonies in the county. The resolution is expected to take effect in a few weeks, according to Bridget Fleming, its co-sponsor with Al Krupski of the North Fork.

Sep 2, 2021
Threat of Sea Level Rise Is Even Greater

The threat of sea level rise is greater than that presented in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's own dire reports on climate change, a renowned and controversial scientist told a small group in Sagaponack last week, but similarly divisive proposals to combat anthropogenic climate change would be both safe and effective, he said.

Aug 25, 2021
Water Report: Blue-Green Algae Bloom in Bridgehampton, High Bacteria Levels Elsewhere

Last week the number of water bodies in Montauk and Amagansett with harmful levels of enterococcus bacteria increased, according to Concerned Citizens of Montauk, and a harmful blue-green algae bloom was in Kellis Pond in Bridgehampton.

Jun 28, 2021
South Fork Wind Gets Rhode Island Okay

The Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council formally concluded on June 2 that plans for the South Fork Wind farm, including its 12 turbines and a $12 million fisheries compensation package, are consistent with the state's Ocean Special Area Management Plan.

Jun 10, 2021
An Ocean Friendly Garden Comes to East Hampton's Methodist Lane

An environmental remediation project designed in part to showcase sound and sustainable landscaping practices is taking shape in East Hampton Village. Called a bioswale, it is a veritable meadow of trees, plants, and grasses native to Long Island that is designed to absorb road runoff, filter pollution from stormwater, and provide native habitat while beautifying a public space. 

Jun 3, 2021
Weed Harvester Is a Go for Georgica Pond

The East Hampton Town Board is expected to approve use of an aquatic weed harvester in Georgica Pond on Thursday. Used in the pond in the summers of 2016, 2017, and 2018, and on a limited basis last year, the harvester is part of a multifaceted effort to alleviate conditions that have promoted blooms of toxic cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) that have fouled the pond every summer for almost a decade.

Jun 2, 2021
Town to Help Fund Peconic Estuary Partnership

A request from State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele and environmental advocates that East Hampton Town allocate 2 percent of funds it receives from the Peconic Bay Region's Community Preservation Fund to the Peconic Estuary Partnership was endorsed by the town board on Tuesday.

Apr 22, 2021
Bad News for Water Bodies in Annual Report

Summer water temperatures are rising in East Hampton, stressing organisms including bivalves and seagrasses. Meanwhile, the water quality in Wainscott Pond is rapidly worsening, with 2020 measurements of a toxin "unlike anything we'd ever seen," the town trustees were told on Monday.

Apr 15, 2021
State of the Bays? It's Not Good

"The effects of climate change are obvious and go beyond scallops," Christopher Gobler of Stony Brook University's School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences said in a lecture last week. "Locally, things are collapsing." Excessive nitrogen loading, too, poses a threat to both coastal ecosystems and human health.

Apr 7, 2021
Peconic Land Trust Buys Il Mulino Site on Georgica Pond

The Peconic Land Trust has acquired a 1.4-acre commercially developed property on Georgica Pond in Wainscott and plans to restore it to its natural state.

Sep 17, 2020