PEP’s Biennial Conference 2021 – Peconic Estuary Partnership

The purpose of our conference is to drive ACTION towards combatting the challenges our estuary faces.

The health of the Peconic Estuary faces challenges – and that means our community does too. Excess nutrient loading from land causes water quality to decline, climate change causes sea levels to rise, and all of these issues combined with other human activities harm our wildlife and habitats. As a result – the natural resources we depend on and the real estate and recreational opportunities we enjoy suffer. The PEP’s Comprehensive Conservation Management Plan outlines goals and actions that guide the work of our partnership to combat these issues. This free virtual conference started discussions that put these goals and actions into MOTION!

Our conference posed the question,
“what are we going to do about it?”

Moderator:

Fred Thiele, New York State Assemblyman

Panelists:

Bridget Fleming, Suffolk County Legislator

Christopher Gobler, Professor at SoMAS of Stony Brook University

Jim Tierney, NYSDEC Deputy Commissioner – Water and Watershed

Ken Zegel, Suffolk County DOH, Office of Ecology-Chief, Public Health Engineer

Peter Scully, Deputy Suffolk County Executive

Watch the recording of our session on Water Quality.

Resources from our Water Quality session:

https://www.peconicestuary.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Water-Quality-Session-Links.pdf Download

Moderator:

Alison Branco, Director of Coastal Programs, The Nature Conservancy in New York

Panelists:

Al Krupski, Suffolk County Legislator

Catherine Kent, Riverhead Town Councilwoman
Mark Lowery, NYSDEC Climate Policy Analyst
Minghua Zhang, Professor at SoMAS of Stony Brook University

Peter Van Scoyoc, East Hampton Town Supervisor

Watch the recording of our session on Climate Change.

Resources from our Climate Change session:

https://www.peconicestuary.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Climate-change-links.pdf Download

Moderator:

Matthew Sclafani, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County Marine Program

Panelists:

Alexa Fournier, Coastal Resiliency Program Manager, NYSDEC Division of Marine Resources

Nicole Maher, Senior Coastal Scientist, The Nature Conservancy in New York

Brad Peterson, Associate Professor at SoMAS of Stony Brook University

Steve Tettelbach, Shellfish Ecologist, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County

Steve Schott, Habitat Restoration Specialist, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County

Watch the recording of our session on Habitats and Wildlife.

Resources from our Habitats and Wildlife session:

https://www.peconicestuary.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Habitat-and-Wildlife-Session-Links.pdf Download

Partners of the Peconic Estuary Partnership share why PEP’s new management plan will guide crucial work towards a brighter future as we all work together. Our partnership is our greatest tool to help us achieve our mission of protecting and restoring the Peconic Estuary and its watershed.

Watch our Partnership Video!