Citing hot, dry weather in the forecast, Riverhead Town Supervisor Laura Jens-Smith issued a request Monday for residents and businesses to conserve water for the foreseeable future. READ
Environment
The push for local restaurants to do away with plastics straws is growing on the East End, with Suffolk County officials calling on business owners to voluntarily ditch single-use plastic straws in favor of eco-friendly alternatives. READ
A drainage project at the Suffolk County-owned North Fork Preserve that started last Monday has sparked controversy with local conservationists. READ
The owners of a former sand mine in Calverton must pay $5,000 in fines and $15,000 to the Long Island Groundwater Study under the terms of a consent order issued recently by the state Department of Environmental Conservation. READ
In the early morning of April 16, Mike Bottini received a call about a dead animal in the turning lane on Route 58 in Riverhead, between Pulaski Street and Osborn Avenue.
That animal turned out to be a river otter, a species once thought not to inhabit Long Island at all but which has been seen in the area increasingly in recent years. The dead animal in the road was as good an indication as any that the otters have indeed moved out to the North Fork. READ
The southern pine beetle has ripped across Long Island and is now a major threat to the Pine Barrens.
The Suffolk County Parks Department received three grants totaling $225,000 to tackle the problem in January 2017, but the threat continues to spread, officials said during a press conference at Hubbard County Park in Flanders. More than 20,000 trees have died as a result of the beetle across the county, officials said. READ
Group for the East End unveiled a website last Thursday that’s designed to get the public more engaged in conservation efforts. READ
Suffolk County offered a tour Wednesday of local homes where advanced onsite wastewater have been installed.
It’s part of the county’s effort to encourage homeowners to update their septic systems to significantly reduce nitrogen output, which puts the health of ecosystems and humans at risk. READ
