Whats at risk
Here’s what we are working on.
We are a group of like-minded individuals focused on the environment who feel not enough is being done to clean up our water, restore and protect our troubled dunes, and bring accountability to all who enjoy this beautiful place we call home. We advocate and take positions on important water quality issues using available data from appropriate agencies.
Photo: James Kapsitis
View the beautiful well preserved Benson Beach Bathing Reserve from access point #20.
Opposition to the Benson Bathing Beach Reserve Habitat Restoration Project, which will destabilize the dunes, and reduce coastal resiliency.
CCOM initiated this project to remove some invasive plants using a combination of machines, humans and goats. Goats require the installation of barns (they don’t like rain) and fences to contain them. Reminder this is one of the most healthy reserves with no water quality issues in Montauk. The project is said to restore a lost coastal bird habitat and improve the vistas to the water from Old Montauk Highway. First and foremost, under the judicial order, the Benson Reserve, owned by the town, is burdened with covenants and restrictions. It is without the right to erect fences, berms, or other structures and is forever barred from claiming to erect such structures. This was affirmed at the appellate level. It was a significant land use case in the state of NY. Because there is a willingness to use goats to keep the cost down, the Town cannot allow CCOM or its consultants or contractors to install barns to shield the goats from the rain, fences to contain the goats or any such structures for the goats because the Town Board will be in direct violation of Judge Underwood's ruling.
From our research, the only habitat issue that will be disrupted is the “common bird,” which will be forced to relocate. The presenters use phrases such as “improve vistas” and “increased property values.” CCOM applied for a $649k DEC Grant (which has a 25% match of private funding of $200k from Dan Cahill, a property owner across the street from the Montauk Beach Property Owners Association (who declined this project on their reserve) and $30k from Jay Schneiderman, the owner of the Breakers across from the Benson Bathing Beach Reserve. This critical public NYS DEC Grant, whose goal is to improve water quality first and foremost, should only be used for urgent water quality issues and dune restoration projects in Montauk (scroll down) NOT for enhancing vistas for a few wealthy property owners while disrupting a historically stable dune system that survived Super Storm Sandy and is one of the most beautiful, widest, and whitest beaches in town. Read the independent Cornell University Weed Consultant on the Montauk Beach Owners Association reserve cautions on disturbing this important Micro-Ecosystem.
“A basic tenet of weed science that disturbance invites more invasion of unwanted plants, because that’s the nature of the ecology of weeds. So, that has to be definitely a huge factor in whether you want to start doing that, for the maybe dubious benefit of introducing some native plants that are may be native to Long Island but might not be native to this particular micro-ecosystem.”
Voice Your Opinion Town Board Public Work Session September 21, 2023 6:00pm
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Voice Your Opinion Town Board Public Work Session September 21, 2023 6:00pm 〰️
Read Speech from a Resident of Montauk, Member of Ditch Plains Association, and Member of Montauk CAC
Read a Letter to the Editor dated 8/17/23 (Stable Dune) in the EH Star, then read the one right after
Listen to the East Hampton Town Board Work Session dated August 8, 2023
The Issue with Goats and Invasive Species in Montauk
Goats in Montauk? Hold your Horses
Invasive Plants? Goats Can Fix That
Montauk Is Going to the Goats to Solve Invasive Plant Species
Goats Are Coming to Montauk To Eradicate Invasive Vines
Listen to the East Hampton Town Board Work Session dated July 17, 2023
Write a letter to the Town Board opposing the Benson Bathing Beach Reserve Grant and Project and the misuse of Important DEC Water Quality Funds.
Deadline for Letters: September 21, 2023, 6:00 pm
Email Letters to: Select all and copy and paste into your email
PVanScoyoc@EHamptonNY.Gov, KBurke-Gonzalez@ehamptonny.gov, DLys@ehamptonny.gov, SOverby@EHamptonNY.Gov, CRogers@EHamptonNY.Gov
Peter Van Scoyac, Town Supervisor
Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, Deputy Supervisor
Sylvia Overby, Town Board Member
David Lys, Town Board Member and Project Lead
Cate Rogers, Town Board Member
12+ Stormwater drains flow contaminated water into Fort Pond and little Fort Pond.
12+ Stormwater drains flow contaminated water into Fort Pond.
Fort Pond
Fort Pond is contaminated
2 Locations failed to meet water quality standards
This status is based on the latest sample taken on August 14th, 2023. Lake Ontario Waterkeeper updates the status of this beach as soon as test results become available. These results were posted to Swim Guide on August 15th at 5:35 PM.
This beautiful Pond is in trouble, and it’s not water contamination from the center of town. Old septics, cesspools, and the 12+ stormwater drains we identified contaminate it.
We are working on advocacy to remediate these storm drains. It is a complex multi-governmental initiative that includes the Town of East Hampton with jurisdiction over Second House Road and Industrial Road, Suffolk County with jurisdiction over S Edgemere Road and Flamingo Road, and New York State with jurisdiction over Route 27 Montauk Highway. The Installation of Bioswales with some diversion on the stormwater drains will dramatically clean up Fort Pond. The CCOM floating wetlands project should be abandoned as there is no data to support it that we have been made aware of, and the Suffolk County Grant of $25k received by CCOM to install them should be redirected and used for stormwater remediation using Bioswales.
Restaurants and Commercial
Restaurants and commercial establishments on Fort Pond must upgrade their large capacity cesspools and septics using grant money from the Town of East Hampton and Suffolk County. These grants are tax-free and will partially cover the cost of the upgrade. To lower the outflow of greywater, reverting to environmentally friendly, disposable, and compostable tableware should begin immediately and remain in place until the upgrade is made Learn More | Forms
Fort Pond is in a Harbor Protection Overlay District; please pump out as needed. A minimum schedule should be 4 times a year. We do not endorse any particular septic company but know that Hampton Septic Services service Montauk.
Residents
As many of the homes around Fort Pond predate conventional septic systems and are likely to have cesspools (holes in the ground) that leach directly into Fort Pond, all such residents of Fort Pond must upgrade their septics using the available grant money from the Town of East Hampton and Suffolk County. These grants are tax-free and will cover the entire upgrade cost. Learn More about the Grants | Grant Forms
Fort Pond is in a Harbor Protection Overlay District; please pump out as needed. A minimum schedule should be yearly.
The Town
Through the Community Preservation Fund, the Town should continue to purchase all available and willing-seller coastal properties and limit the development of dunes and further deterioration of our water quality to promote coastal resiliency. Learn More about the CPF.
History of Fort Pond
Fort Pond is 173 acres in size and as such, is the second largest freshwater pond on Long Island after Lake Ronkonkoma, a kettlehole pond in western Suffolk County. (Lake Montauk was the largest freshwater body on Long Island until it was permanently opened to Block Island Sound in the mid-1920's.). Fort Pond is one of the most popular fishing ponds on Long Island and, as such, is regulated by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. The department has recently expressed concern that the pond is in trouble from pollution and ecological problems. Over the past several years, the pond's waters have lost clarity, the bottom vegetation has thinned, and the perimeter wetlands have been impaired by human activities and the invasion of phragmites and exotic plants, one of which is purple loosestrife. Fish populations have become stunted, resulting in the canabalization, overgrazing of zooplankters, and undergrazing of phytoplankton.
While the pond has yet to experience a full-blown phytoplankton bloom, causing the water to discolor through the pond, it has experienced several localized blooms. The small extension of Fort Pond to the northeast “Little Fort Pond” does experience regular algae blooms: these frequently make the water so turbid that it is almost opaque. Such blooms are indicative of too much nutrition and too little phytoplankton grazing; the situation in Little Fort Pond could easily translate to the situation in Fort Pond proper unless aggressive steps are taken to preclude it.
Fort Pond was formed ca. 15,000 years ago in the aftermath of the final retreat of the Wisconsin glaciation from the Montauk Peninsula. The basin has the appearance of a meltwater lagoon that was gouged out by runoff from the departing ice sheet's melting and, subsequently, from the melting of the glacier that created the Harbor Hills moraine on the north side of Long Island. It is postulated that for a time after glaciation, Fort Pond may have served as a channel between Fort Pond Bay and the Atlantic Ocean (just as it is postulated that Lake Montauk was also a waterway connecting Block Island Sound with the ocean)…
South Lake and Lake Montauk
Commercial and Restaurant Properties
Lake Montauk's commercial and restaurant properties must upgrade their antiquated septic and high-capacity cesspools. Grants are available to fund these initiatives and should be done expeditiously. Until such upgrades occur, Suffolk County and the Town of East Hampton should mandate reduced occupancy, schedule necessary pump outs, and reduce grey water by ensuring they revert back to environmentally friendly, disposable, and compostable tableware. Learn More about the Grants | Grant Forms
Restaurants that successfully upgraded to a low nitrogen system. We are looking forward to everyone getting on this list.
Lake Montauk is in a Harbor Protection Overlay District; while awaiting your Grant, please pump out as needed, a minimum of 4 times a year. We do not endorse any particular septic company but know that Hampton Septic Services service Montauk.
Restaurants that successfully upgraded to a low nitrogen system. We are looking forward to everyone getting on this list.
Montauker 5-star clean water mark:
Crow’s Nest Restaurant 💧💧💧💧💧
Residents
The residents of Lake Montauk must upgrade their septics using the available grant money from the Town of East Hampton and Suffolk County. These grants are tax-free and, for the most part, will cover the entire cost of the upgrade. Learn More about the Grants | Grant Forms
Lake Montauk is in a Harbor Protection Overlay District; please pump out as needed. A minimum schedule should be yearly.
Surfside Outflow Pipe Polluting Ocean
Failed to meet water quality standards
This status is based on the latest sample taken on August 14th, 2023. Lake Ontario Waterkeeper updates the quality of this beach as soon as test results become available. These results were posted to Swim Guide on August 15th at 5:11 PM.
Stormwater and other debris have flowed through this pipe for centuries, and nothing has been done about it. Guess what? It’s time for a change. We must redirect this pipe and create a Bioswale.
Fort Pond Bay
2 Locations failed to meet water quality standards
This status is based on the latest sample taken on August 14th, 2023. Lake Ontario Waterkeeper updates the status of this beach as soon as test results become available. These results were posted to Swim Guide on August 15th at 5:37 PM.
Commercial and Restaurant Properties
Fort Pond Bay's commercial and restaurant properties must upgrade their antiquated septic and high-capacity cesspools. Grants are available to fund these initiatives and should be done expeditiously. Until such upgrades occur, Suffolk County and the Town of East Hampton should mandate reduced occupancy, schedule necessary pump outs, and reduce grey water by ensuring they revert back to environmentally friendly, disposable, and compostable tableware. Learn More about the Grants | Grant Forms
Fort Pond Bay is in a Harbor Protection Overlay District; please pump out weekly and as needed. We do not endorse any particular septic company but know that Hampton Septic Services service Montauk.
Residents
The residents of Fort Pond Bay must upgrade their septics using the available grant money from the Town of East Hampton and Suffolk County. These grants are tax-free and, for the most part, will cover the entire cost of the upgrade. Learn More about the Grants | Grant Forms
Fort Pond Bay is in a Harbor Protection Overlay District; please pump out as needed. A minimum schedule should be 4 times a year