LI's Last Stand Status 2006 (/last_stand_status_2006.pdf) The Nature Conservancy in New York Press Releases Search All Press Releases Kara Jackson Phone: (631) 329-7689 x20 Email: kjackson@tnc.org

One Year Later  -  Will “Long Island’s Last Stand” be a Success?

Bottle Bill Resolution Pivotal to Long Island's Last Stand

East Hampton, NY — March 29, 2007 — In January 2006, The Nature Conservancy, with over 100 partners, announced “Long Island’s Last Stand,” a 10-year action plan to save the most significant remaining open space and farmland, and to restore and protect our bays, harbors, and public parklands across Long Island. One year later, how does it fare?

The initiative has made significant headway toward meeting its goals, with hundreds of millions of dollars earmarked for land preservation and habitat restoration across Long Island. It is funding land acquisitions in important areas such as the Pine Barrens and coastal wetlands. Long Island’s Last Stand is also making possible the restoration of degraded marshes and the expansion of innovative shellfish restoration efforts across our bays and harbors.

Among the highlights of the past year, we note:

• Passage, at the Nov. 2006 ballot, of a $100 million conservation bond act in Nassau County
• Passage, at the Nov. 2006 ballot, of a 10-year extension of the landmark Community Preservation Funds of the five East End towns of Long Island, worth more than $500 million to local conservation goals
• Passage of the Seagrass Task Force law by the New York State legislature
• Protection of nearly 2000 acres of open space, critical wildlife habitat and farmland for future generations.

But Long Island is far from reaching the financial goals needed to protect the 25,000 acres of open space and 10,000 acres of farmland outlined in Long Island’s Last Stand. New York State must play a major role in helping Long Island reach these conservation outcomes.

The closing year of the last Administration in Albany delivered only 9 of the 2000 acres saved Island-wide. The State is poised to honor contracts for the protection of 125 acres on Long Island this year. But with a steady investment of $65 million a year, the State of New York can help reach the goals of Long Island’s Last Stand.

“From 1980 to 2000 alone, Long Island lost more than 40 percent of its open space. Despite current preservation efforts, our natural landscapes and seascapes need additional protection if they are to remain healthy and thriving,” said Nancy Kelley, Executive Director of The Nature Conservancy on Long Island. “We look for the continued commitment from government at all levels in order to preserve and protect our natural areas for our children and grandchildren.”

“Saving the best of what remains in Nassau County is critically important to residents in western  Long Island. And Long Island’s Last Stand has been a powerful organizing principle behind our successes. Voters last fall overwhelmingly supported continued efforts to protect their quality of life through timely land protection by passing an historic $100 million conservation bond act” said Lisa Ott, Executive Director of the North Shore Land Alliance, a group dedicated to protecting quality open space and farmland near the Long Island Sound. “We are very grateful to County and local governments for their continued commitment to preserving local quality of life.”

“Long Island’s Last Stand has already shown its relevance and the strength of its messages in its first year. We celebrate that progress, even as we hoist the banner calling for greater achievements in the next year,” said Adrienne Esposito, Executive Director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment. “With revitalized participation from the State of New York, we should make even greater progress toward our total funding goal next year.”

“Conservation on the East End of Long Island has taken a giant leap forward, thanks to the passage of the CPF Extension last November,” said Bob de Luca, Executive Director of the Group for the South Fork. “That new funding, a corner stone of Long Island’s Last Stand, makes it possible for the five East End towns to meet their 10 year conservation goals – so long as State and County Funds are available to match them over the next few years.”

“My highest priority is to protect and restore to abundance the natural systems that sustain the life of our bays and harbors,” said Kevin McAllister, Peconic BayKeeper. “Over the last year, Long Island’s Last Stand has helped launch actions essential to the restoration of productivity in our coastal waters. We’ve already seen good progress, and we’ll see more in the years to come.”

The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 15 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at www.nature.org.