Mcshanebridge Scallops Cormaria garden Box turtle Child running on shore Cormaria garden

PEP Milestones


    The PEP has made tremendous headway in preserving and enhancing the Peconic Estuary system since the program’s inception in 1993.  The following timeline highlights some of the program’s most significant accomplishments:

    2009

  • Strategic Planning meeting held. Proceedings available at: http://www.peconicestuary.org/pdf/StratMeetingSummaryFinal.pdf
  • PEP Eelgrass Management Plan finalized and adopted by the Management Conference (will be posted to website shortly)
  • PEP Natural Resources Subcommittee updated the Habitat Restoration Plan Adopted by Management Conference (will be posted to website shortly)
  • “Paddle the River” events held to celebrate the successful eradication of Ludwigia peploides from the Peconic River
  • Installed 5 educational interpretive Ludwigia signs along the Peconic River
  • Initiated public watershed meetings to educate and engage homeowners and civic associations

    2008

  • Clean Sweep event held in Suffolk County. Unwanted, unused and obsolete pesticides and chemicals were removed from various agricultural and non-agricultural businesses within the Peconic Estuary for proper disposal
  • “A Local Law to Reduce Nitrogen Pollution by Reducing the Use of Fertilizer in Suffolk County” approved
  • PEP successfully passes EPA Triennial “Program Evaluation,”a review of progress in implementing CCMP
  • 125 volunteers spent 636 hours hand-pulling 6 cubic yards of invasive Ludwigia from the Peconic River
  • 2 additional eelgrass sites added to the PEP Long-Term SAV Monitoring Program

    2006

  • Finalization of PEP Pathogen TMDL
  • Completion of four Subwatershed Management Plans for Hashamomuck Pond Reeves Bay, Meetinghouse Creek and West Neck Bay
  • Stakeholder partnership formed to eradicate Ludwigia peploides, an invasive non-native aquatic plant, from the Peconic River complex
  • Completion of design for a rock ramp to be installed in Grangebel Park, Riverhead to aid in diadromous fish passage in the Peconic River
  • PEP hosts EstuaryLive – a virtual field trip broadcasted live over the internet to K-12 classrooms all over the country
  • Signage distributed to local pet stores and nurseries in support of the Habitattitude—a program which helps prevent the introduction of non-native species from man-made aquariums and ponds into the natural waterbodies
  • Outreach effort to educate the public about the No Discharge Zone designation in the Peconic Estuary launched; over 900 NDZ info packets were distributed to marine industry stakeholders
  • PEP Photo contest held encouraging citizens to capture the beauty, economic or recreational value of the estuary
  • PEP Natural Resources Subcommittee re-instated
  • Instituted an invasive Ludwigia peploides monitoring and eradication program. 122 volunteers spent 674 hours hand-pulling 60 cubic yards of invasive Ludwigia from the Peconic River

    2005

  • PEP State of the Bays Science Conference assembles 18 scientists to present the latest research in the Peconics
  • First PEP Environmental Indicators Report is released
  • North Sea Landfill, Southampton removed from the Federal Superfund List
  • Raised over $300,000 to restore diadromous fish passage over the lower two dams on the Peconic River
  • Brookhaven National Laboratory completed its clean-up of the Upper Peconic River
  • The U.S. Geological Survey mapped land use and impervious surface for the entire Peconic watershed
  • First round of PEP Mini-Grants resulted in a 5K race run by Southampton College students, a native plant garden at Oysterponds Elementary School, educational signage in East Hampton, and a stewardship brochure to educate East Hampton residents

    2004

  • Groundbreaking Suffolk County Agricultural Stewardship Program – a comprehensive program for maintaining a strong, viable agricultural industry in Suffolk County, while improving groundwater and surface water quality – is presented to the Suffolk County Legislature
  • 30 out of 34 East End golf courses sign agreement to alter their fertilizer practices so their contribution to groundwater is less than 2 mg/L total nitrogen
  • PEP passes EPA “Implementation Review,” a review of progress in implementing CCMP
  • Critical Lands Protection Strategy, which prioritizes all remaining vacant and subdividable properties in the watershed for acquisition purposes, is completed and shared with local governments
  • Peconics hosts EstuaryLive – a virtual field trip broadcasted live over the internet to K-12 classrooms all over the country
  • First issue of PEP Talk, the program newsletter, is released
  • National Atmospheric Deposition Program station becomes operational to monitor chemical and nutrient inputs from rain and dry air deposition
  • Clean-up work begins on the contaminated Peconic River sediments on Brookhaven National Laboratory property
  • The use, sale or importation of fuels containing the gasoline additive methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) is banned in New York State

    2003

  • Maps of submerged aquatic vegetation and hardened shoreline in the Peconic Estuary are inventoried and digitized
  • EPA, marine industry representatives and the PEP announce an agreement to ensure that, by 2005, 95% of the two and four-stroke marine engines sold on Long Island are low polluting

    2002

  • Entire Peconic Estuary is designated by EPA as a Vessel Waste No-Discharge Zone

    2001

  • Peconic Estuary Program Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP) is formally approved
  • Upgrade at Sag Harbor Sewage Treatment Plant results in tertiary treatment (nitrogen-removal) of all effluent

    2000

  • Upgrade at Riverhead Sewage Treatment Plant results in tertiary treatment (nitrogen-removal) of all effluent
  • A fish ladder is installed at the Grangebel Park dam in Riverhead to aid the alewives in their spring run upriver to spawn

    1999

  • Stormwater Phase II Final Rule is passed, requiring stricter stormwater runoff control programs and practices
  • The Community Preservation Fund (CPF) goes into force, establishing a 2% real estate transfer tax to support farmland and open space conservation in the five East End towns

    1998

  • Brown Tide Workplan is formalized to sponsor research on the causes of Brown Tide
  • The Characterization Report of the Living Resources of the Peconic Estuary identifies the plants and animals that are at risk and the human influences that could add to the risk

    1996

  • Seventeen Critical Natural Resource Areas, specific locations with significant biodiversity in need of extra protection, are identified

    1995

  • Brown Tide Summit

    1993

  • Peconic Estuary Program is established
  • The PEP Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) is formed as a continuation of the Brown Tide Comprehensive Assessment and Management Program CAC

 

 



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