If you haven’t been keeping up with the Long Island Pine Barrens Society’s “The Best of the Rest” initiative, you may have missed that the Initiative’s webpage has received updates in the last few weeks. These changes reflect first and foremost the steady progress being made to preserve several parcels we’ve marked for the initiative. Perhaps the most gratifying change was noting that over one-third of the Initiative’s 3,800 acres are at some stage of preservation, as compared to one-quarter a few months ago. While progress has, perhaps, been slower than some of you attentive followers might like, it is happening, and with these various updates it seemed to be as good a time as any to clear up some misconceptions about the Long Island Pine Barrens Society, The Best of the Rest, and the process(es) by which the land is preserved.
Who Preserves the Land?
Given that the Pine Barrens Protection Act of 1993 was a piece of New York State legislation, meaning the land preserved by the Act was protected against development by the State, it would be logical to assume that the same would be true of the 3,800 acres in The Best of the Rest initiative. However, while the DEC is currently considering several properties, and is in active negotiations regarding the preservation of the Shoreham Forest – the largest parcel by far at 850 acres – other parcels have been or are in the process of being preserved by other levels of government. Suffolk County, for example, is currently in the process of acquiring the 65-acre property just off of Fresh Pond Road, in Calverton, and has recently received a grant to purchase its companion property, totaling 111 acres. The largest piece of preserved Best of the Rest land, totaling 152 continuous acres, was purchased and preserved by the Town of Brookhaven, while a handful of other parcels have been preserved by the Peconic Land Trust, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving land. With all of these different groups in play, it might be hard to see the bigger picture. But despite the various players involved, the fact is that each of the parcels included in The Best of the Rest initiative is a valuable piece of Pine Barrens land, which will fill in gaps left behind in 1993.
What Role Does the Long Island Pine Barrens Society Play?
Every so often, we receive a cantankerous comment on our social media pages that can best be summed up by one example (which has since been deleted by the commenter): “stop wasting my money.” Leaving aside the fact that using tax dollars to fund clean land and water is more than worthwhile, there is a simple misconception here that’s worth clearing up: the Long Island Pine Barrens Society does not purchase the land. Land isn’t cheap! The aforementioned grant for the 111-acre property is around $5 million. Purchasing land for the purpose of preservation is something that is usually done with the power of the public purse, either with money that local government has on hand, or else provided by grants from higher levels of government like the State.
So, if we’re not buying the land, what are we doing? Well, most obvious of all, we’re the ones who led the charge for the creation of the Pine Barrens Protection Act and created The Best of the Rest initiative! It was the LIPBS that identified these parcels and have been loudly proclaiming their value for years. We meet with members of the government to inform them about the Initiative, the parcels we’re looking to see acquired, and the various reasons why that’s a good idea. We also bring this information to you, the folks at home. You are all advocates for the Pine Barrens, too. Whether that’s through supporting the LIPBS through monetary donations, voting for things like the Drinking Water Protection Act, or simply by letting your voice be heard (or read) on social media, you’re contributing to the effort to preserve The Best of the Rest. It’s a tired cliché, but none of this work could be done without the support of all of you reading this. Land preservation is something that benefits all Long Islanders, whether that’s by improving the purity of our drinking water supply, by reinforcing public health, by creating new avenues for recreation, or simply by preserving natural beauty in its purest form. Since it’s an act that benefits all Long Islanders, it is thus only fitting that all Long Islanders have a role to play in it.
By Travis Cutter, Long Island Pine Barrens Society
