Great news for Right Whales from Orsted and Eversource and various environmental groups that have come to an agreement to secure significant safety measures to ensure that the endangered North Atlantic Right Whales are protected during construction of the wind turbines to be located 35 miles off the coast of Montauk. North Atlantic Right Whales to have protection during construction of the South Fork Wind Farm. To read the complete article by Christopher Walsh of The East Hampton Star click on the tab below: EH Star: Protection for Right Whales
Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Molly Graffam and Ron Paulsen presented a plan to help mitigate the nitrogen in Hog Creek at a recent East Hampton Town Board meeting. This summer, they will apply to the town’s Water Quality Advisory Committee (WQAC) for funding for the project. Click on the tab below to read the full article by Christopher Walsh. The East Hampton Star
Sadly, the piping plover protected nesting area at Maidstone Park in Springs was discovered destroyed on June 15th by Marine Patrol officer Matt Zukosky who reported the damage to the cordoned off area and resulted in the death of two newly hatched piping plover chicks. The Town of East Hampton’s Department of Natural Resources dedicates each Spring to the protection of the annual nesting of the plovers on beaches and until the chicks are capable of being on their own, they are protected by Town signs and the area with stakes and string. Piping plovers are an endangered species. The
June 4th, 2022 – First Hamptons Pride Parade L-R Trustee Susan McGraw-Keber, Anna Skrenta, candidate for NYS Senate, Skyler Johnson, & Deputy Clerk Trustee Bill Taylor. Getting ready to join the parade – Susan and Bill Friends and Betty Smith Town of East Hampton board members – L-R Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, Cate Rogers, Suffolk County Legislator and candidate for Congress, Bridget Fleming, Arthur Graham, Rose Brown, Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc. Charlotte and Dante Sasso at the Hamptons Pride parade L-R Bill Taylor, Susan McGraw-Keber, Anna Skrenta and her daughter, Lizzie Skrenta. Lizzie and Anna Skrenta Founder of Hamptons Pride and organizer
Scholarship Awards Night: An outstanding student, Andrea Rivera Sagbay is the 2022 graduating student who was the recipient of the East Hampton Town Trustees scholarship award of $1,500. that will help her with her tuition expenses as she heads to college in September. Ms. Rivera Sagbay is looking forward to continuing her education and is focused on studies that will enable her to realize her dream to become a neurosurgeon. Ms. Rivera Sagbay’s high school counselor and science teacher gave her excellent recommendations and her essay to the Trustees was filled with thoughtful expression about her goals, community volunteer work,
North West Creek, May 14th 2022 “Team Garno” Every May kicks off the horseshoe mating season that lasts for roughly 2 months but is especially active during the May full moon. Trustees and other volunteers were out this week counting and tagging mating pairs. This was an especially robust count with many older horseshoe crabs returning with 2019 tags. Read more about this at the Cornell Cooperative. Full Moon Trustee Tim Garneau- Collecting Horseshoe Data Horseshoe Crab Mating Season May 2022 Horseshoe crab tagging during mating season May 2022
On Monday, May 9th, The Nature Conservancy‘s Dr. Nicole Maher organized the first of two meetings at the East Hampton TNC offices where she introduced a panel of experts in the first training segment of the restoration model and approach to the development of conceptual restoration designs for Accabonac Harbor’s salt marsh. Guest speakers included Suffolk County Vector Control director, Tom Iwanejko, Dr. David Burdick, the Research Associate Professor of Coastal Ecology and Restoration in the Department of Natural Resources at the University of New Hampshire, Dr. Susan Adamowicz, salt marsh eco-system scientist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
East Hampton Town Trustee Mike Martinsen is wearing our new great looking 100% cotton baseball cap- One size fits all. Navy blue 100% cotton with white embroidered stitching front and back. Available for a $20 donation. Please call 631-267-8688. Thank you! All proceeds to benefit the Trustee scholarship fund for higher education after graduation from EHHS. Please help support our young people in their pursuit of education- they are the future! Trustee Mike Martinsen with his new East Hampton Town Trustees baseball cap!
Invitation to the webinar and photo of Dr. Law Join Bennington College and Beyond Plastics on Wednesday, May 11 at 7 PM ET via Zoom for this Robert H. Woodworth Science Lecture with Dr. Kara Lavender Law, Research Professor of Oceanography at Sea Education Association in Woods Hole, MA. Click on the tab below to watch the presentation: A Global Look at Plastic in the Ocean
Beginning the week of May 16th, Cornell will commence the Spring trawl survey as part of the SFWF fisheries study as agreed to in the contract between the East Hampton Town Trustees and Town of East Hampton with Orsted, the developer of the wind turbine project. Cornell Bottom Trawl Survey Notice Cornell Cooperative Extension- Marine Program will be conducting a bottom trawl survey throughout NY state waters from Smith Point Inlet to Montauk Point on approximately May 16-22, 2022(See chart below). The East Hampton Town Trustees commissioned the study of fish migration near the proposed landing site of the South
First Hamptons PRIDE PARADE! To register and for more information: hamptonspride.org Email: hamptonsprideinc@gmail.com
Fisheries study – moorings As required by the terms of the lease agreement with the Trustees and Orsted the developer of the South Fork Wind Farm project, the Trustees secured a separate fund to study the fisheries before, during, and after construction to evaluate and determine if any possible nearshore impacts on the migratory fish and other marine species occurred. The study is being done over a five year period. The telemetry array covers the cable route in New York State waters, extending to seven miles offshore. “This is not new,” John Aldred of the trustees said. “This is the
Statement from Orsted Regarding Mooring System in Use
“As part of the fish monitoring study outlined in the SFW Fisheries Study Work Plan, the Stony Brook University team is conducting a regular visit to the sensor array off Wainscott today to collect data from sensors, replace batteries, and deploy new retrievable moorings alongside the previous moorings. As the Stony Brook team is deploying new moorings alongside the existing moorings there’s no change to the mariners briefing, our standard method for updating mariners on the presence of equipment in navigational waters. Members of the fisheries outreach team, in collaboration with the research team, have worked with the fishing community to select an alternative mooring, one that is smaller, lightweight and retrievable, and is more compatible with commercial fishing in response to the feedback we’ve received from the community on original deployment of cement moorings.”
Images of the mooring system and a diagram are shown below.
