April 2025 APC Newsletter
Welcome to Spring! The ospreys are back and rebuilding their nests, a good indicator that our efforts to protect Accabonac Harbor’s natural bounty is working.Here are some updates on recent APC activities and upcoming events around Accabonac:
On March 8 th , APC and Perfect Earth co-hosted a gathering of local environmentalists and concerned citizen gardeners at the Springs Community Presbyterian Church to listen to experts give tips on lessening our use of pesticides and other toxic chemicals in our gardens and lawns.
For specifics suggestions go to:
https://perfectearthproject.org
https://www.changehampton.org
APC is reaching out to the Latino community to explain our mission and engage with them on environmental issues. Specifically, APC has been in touch with OLA (Organizacion Latino Americana) and the South Fork Natural History Museum. Both have agreed to partner with us in after-school and summer camp environmental activities for Latino students. The initiative is being funded by a grant from Peconic Estuary Partnership (PEP). More details about the
summer program to come.
Molly Graffam of the Cornell Cooperative Extension Marine Program, told us that the pilot program set up with partial funding from APC in 2021-2022, continues to monitor groundwater seepage and the migration of pollutants into Accabonac Harbor around Pussy’s Pond and other areas of the creek. In 2023-2024, CCE installed monitoring wells around the Springs School and found nitrogen and ammonia plumes indicating potential septic influences. Water level data, influenced by the tide, has been collected and will be crucial for designing effective remediation strategies such as a planned permeable reactive barrier
(PRB, which is effective in removing up to 80 to 100% of nitrogen) on the Springs General Store property.
Save the Date: Join us on Saturday, June 14 for a paddle and harbor cleanup at Accabonac Harbor, hosted by APC and led by local SUP legend Evelyn O’Doherty. It’s a great way to enjoy the natural beauty of the harbor while helping protect its health and well-being. More details about this and other outdoor Accabonac activities coming soon!
The Mosquito Abatement Program will begin again this summer, just before Memorial Day. The program, spearheaded by East Hampton Trustee John Aldred, relies on volunteers to help monitor where mosquitoes are breeding around Accabonac, thereby drastically reducing the amount of pesticide dispersed by helicopter. Twice a month, after the new or full moon tides,volunteers using dippers and a phone app, walk along beautiful Accabonac meadow trails to find mosquito larvae in tidal pools. It takes about an hour and a half. You will not get wet and rarely if ever, get bitten by mosquitoes or ticks. It’s really very pleasant – but you must be able to commit to 1 or 2 walks a month for most of the summer. Let us know if you’re interested!
Nicole Maher informed us that The Nature Conservancy and fellow organizations are moving forward with the expansion of the marsh restoration designs onto publicly owned lands and will be meeting with regulators in May. It is hoped that with permits in hand, marsh restoration designs may be
implemented as soon as next winter.
The Louse Point Weather Station has been repaired and is back in service. Just click the links on the APC website to get live wind, rain, tide and other information. Once on the station site you can use the graphs tab to generate summaries of local weather data by day, week, month, year
etc.
Plans are being made to re-design the APC website. More on that later this season.
The East Hampton Nature Preserve Committee’s initiative to create a unified management plan for CPF funded conservation land along Gerard Drive (bought by the town in recent decades) has been paused while the town board considers changes/clarifications to chapter 182 in the town code that might better address community concerns about boat storage and other issues.
