Scenic Significance and Managing Louse Point

by Eileen Catalano

Last fall New York State held public hearings in consideration of naming certain areas in East Hampton, including Accabonac Harbor, Scenic Areas of Statewide Significance. The results were resoundingly positive and the motion was adopted by the Town of East Hampton. This will hopefully soon be followed by adoption by the State. On a local level this translates to the recognition of Accabonac Harbor’s scenic significance as being part of our Town Comprehensive plan. This is extremely exciting as it sets further standards in place to protect the health and beauty of the harbor.

These two concerns are at the core of the APC mission. With that in mind we recently met with The East Hampton Town Nature Preserve Committee to propose the creation of an official management plan for Louse Point. The Nature Preserve Committee is a tremendous asset to the town as it brings together expertise from many diverse departments and committees including Natural Resources, The Town Trustees, The Trails Preservation Society, Waterfowl USA as well as an attorney who specializes in land use and a Town Board liason, Brad Lowen, who is himself a bayman. It is our hope that such a management plan will create protocols and allocate responsibility for the care and maintenance of Louse Point, which has suffered a combination of overuse, natural erosion and lack of attention.

After APC had individual discussions with departments of Parks & Recreation, Highway and Natural Resources recently, we were pleased to see asphalt removed from the beach, the fence pulled back from the new “road end”, and some long-dead trees taken down, (in addition to the ongoing heroic efforts of Natural Resources and Group for the East End in fighting invasives). However, there are numerous worn out and damaged signs, a crater filled parking lot and other problems that we feel would be best handled by employment of a well-thought out (and utilized!) plan.