March Newsletter 2023
Welcome Spring!
Dear Accabonac Protection Committee Members,
Accabonac Harbor seems ready to shake off winter and head into Spring. On a walk at Louse Point Sunday evening, saw a very large group (hundreds) of hungry Gannet’s diving for their dinner.
The Stormwater runoff and revegetation project the Town of East Hampton completed in the Louse Point parking area is a wonderful enhancement. Thanks to Kim Shaw, Mellissa Winslow and others for their efforts on this.
APC was busy this winter; composed and mailed postcards in our five-part series “What you do on your property matters”. The first three postcards have been mailed to all property owners in the Accabonac Watershed. The next two will be mailed as scheduled. Please look for them in your mail. We think you will find the suggestions and illustrations useful.
Upcoming events. New events on the 2023 event calendar on the APC website (https://accabonac.org/events-and-activities).
April 4: Dr Christopher Gobler from SOMAS will present the State of the Bays Symposium address at Duke Lecture Hall at the Southampton Campus or on Zoom. If you go in person, you will get to review the students’ posters and network. The flyer is an attachment to the event in our calendar.
May 27: APC will be at the Springs Farmers market. If you see us, please say hello.
June 1: APC’s Accabonac Harbor Update will be held at the East Hampton Library conference room. Start time is 5:30. Refreshments will be provided.Speakers include Christopher Gobler, SOMAS; Joyce Novak, and Jade Blennau of the Peconic Estuary Partnership (PEP), Nicole Maher, The Nature Conservancy, Molly Graffram and Ron J. Paulsen of Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE).
Water Quality Projects:
A new and very important project is the Springs School monitoring wells. Over the winter, CCE and APC collaborated on this project to install and monitor test wells near the athletic field. The Springs School Board approved this project. APC will fund the wells and monitoring plan, CCE will perform the work.
APC, along with the Town of EH, is funding the ongoing nitrogen evaluation project at the SW Harbor (Springs General Store vicinity) with a focus on nitrogen mitigation in that area.
We are also funding CCE in their multiphase approach to evaluate groundwater nitrogen flow and bacterial contamination in the NW area of the Harbor (Teak Lane vicinity) focusing on specific strategies which may improve water quality in that general area.
These projects will be discussed in depth at the June 1 forum.
In closing, a reminder that we have no salaried staff. We are volunteers putting everything we can into protecting and enhancing water quality in Accabonac Harbor and its watershed.
We are a 501(c) 3. Please consider a fully tax deductible donation to help fund these projects. One person’s donation allowed us to conduct the important “What you do on your property matters” mailing. Their donation had a big impact. Your donation will also have a big impact, it will be used to support water quality projects and public outreach.
Hope to see you around the Harbor!
Patrice Dalton, President
Accabonac Protection Committee
