Environment DEC
From the May 2005 issue
Governor Celebrates Earth Day on Long Island with Preservation of 300 Acres of Pine Barrens
In celebration of Earth Day 2005, Governor George E. Pataki announced that the state has entered into a partnership with Suffolk County, the Town of Southampton and The Nature Conservancy to acquire the largest remaining privately owned parcel in the core preservation area of the Central Long Island Pine Barrens Preserve-the 309-acre WJF Realty property.
"As we celebrate Earth Day, this acquisition represents an important victory for the people of Long Island and for the future of New York's unique and precious natural resources. Together with our local partners, we've made a commitment to ensure that the core pine barrens would be forever protected from development," Governor Pataki said. "We're proud that our efforts are helping to protect these environmentally significant lands and Long Island's critical underground water resources for future generations."
Under the agreement, which was negotiated with the assistance of The Nature Conservancy, the state will utilize $3.67 million from the Environmental Protection Fund (EPF) to acquire 154 acres of the property. Suffolk County will acquire the remaining 154 acres. The agreement also settles long-standing litigation between WJF and the Town of Southampton arising out of various development proposals over several years.
State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Acting Commissioner Denise M. Sheehan said, "Protecting open space in the pine barrens core helps protect the water upon which millions of Long Islanders depend. This acquisition will also create new public access in an area where public ownership is currently fragmented, and help connect state lands to Suffolk County lands, creating greatly expanded opportunities for hunting, hiking and other passive outdoor recreational opportunities."
Comprehensive Land Use Plan
From the left, Doris and Gil Foster,
past president of the Southampton
Township Wildfowl Association (STWA);
Governor Pataki, and Margaret
Caraher, President of the STWA
In June 1995, Governor Pataki signed the historic Central Pine Barrens Comprehensive Land Use Plan to protect the 100,000-acre pine barrens. The plan established a core preservation area of 52,500 acres where development is strictly limited, and a surrounding compatible- growth area of 47,500 acres where economic development activities are allowed only under strict controls.
The plan set a goal to protect 75 percent of the 15,000 acres in the core area that were not protected. Since the signing, 11,364 acres have been preserved through state and county efforts, surpassing the 75 percent goal. New York State has invested more than $50 million to acquire and preserve approximately 6,700 acres in the core preservation area and has helped finance the county's efforts through the state Environmental Facilities Corporation.
Central Pine Barrens Preserve
Pine barrens are home to rare
plant and animal species
The Central Pine Barrens Preserve is made up of a globally rare and imperiled forest community of dwarf pitch pine and scrub oak. Dwarf pine barrens are characterized by a canopy that is generally less than six feet in height; soils that are sandy, excessively well drained and nutrient poor, and a shrub layer dominated by huckleberry, bearberry, blueberry and wintergreen, with some hudsonia and a little bluestem. This community exists in only two other places in the world-the Shawangunk Ridge in New York's Hudson Valley, and the New Jersey Pinelands.
Long Island's dwarf pine forests harbor several rare plant and animal species, including tick-trefoil, low sand-cherry, and Houghton's umbrella sedge, as well as the largest population of coastal barrens buck moth in New York. A breeding population of at least three pairs of northern harriers has been observed in the area, important because breeding populations of this ground-nesting raptor are declining elsewhere in the region. The property is also habitat for pine and prairie warbler and several declining migrant songbirds, such as the whip-poor-will. Large populations of deer, fox, rabbit and other small mammals also are known to benefit from wildlife habitat on the parcel.
