Environment DEC
From the July 2004 issue
Governor Announces Preservation of 60 Acres in Pine Barrens
Governor George E. Pataki has announced that the state has purchased 60 acres of land in the Core Preservation Area of the Central Pine Barrens Preserve on Long Island, using $1.77 million from the Environmental Protection Fund (EPF). With this purchase, about 6,700 acres in the Long Island Pine Barrens have been preserved since Governor Pataki took office.
The property, which includes two separate parcels, is located in the Hamlet of Westhampton in the Town of Southampton, Suffolk County. The parcels, 21.8 acres located on Route 31 across from Gabreski Airport and 38.2 acres straddling Sunrise Highway east of Route 31, will consolidate public ownership of dwarf pine plains and are prime habitat for the largest and most dense population of coastal barrens buck moths in New York State. The properties also contain nesting areas for the prairie warbler and brown thrasher.
A Unique and Valuable Ecosystem
The region is home to a significant
number of endangered, threatened
and special concern plant and
animal species
The dwarf pine plains are a unique ecosystem found only on Long Island. They comprise a small part-about 2,350 acres-of the Pine Barrens. The buck moth is a species of special concern in New York State and is imperiled globally.
Long Island's Central Pine Barrens encompass more than 100,000 acres in the central and eastern parts of Suffolk County, including parts of Brookhaven, Riverhead and Southampton. The center of this area contains pitch pine and pine-oak forests, coastal plain ponds, marshes and streams. The area provides deep-flow recharge to the aquifer, from which Long Island draws a significant part of its drinking water.
This region has one of the greatest concentrations of endangered, threatened and special concern plant and animal species in New York State. Acquisition of parcels within the Core Preservation Area of the Central Pine Barrens Preserve is a high priority in the New York State Open Space Conservation Plan, which guides the state's acquisition efforts.
