Saturday, January 12, 2013
Fuchs Pond Preserve
Fuchs Pond Nature Preserve
by
Bill O'Brien, Park Steward
THE FUCHS POND PRESERVE RESTORATION PROJECT
Crab Meadow and Fuchs Pond - Recent Events
The
purpose of the article is to inform you as much as possible, about most
of the events leading up to the adoption of the Crab Meadow Watershed
Resolution passed last April 13, 2010 by the Huntington Town Board and
the subsequent activities designed to assess and protect the entire
Crab Meadow Watershed including Fuchs Pond.
For
many of us, who drive down Waterside Avenue to go to Crab Meadow Beach,
just before the bend in the road as one approaches the Golf Course
signs, one might see a glimpse of water and what appears to be many dead
trees poking their grey spires into the sky. Those of us who have lived
in Northport and go down on Waterside, know this area as Fuchs Pond,
a kind of hidden oasis and tiny Pond providing nature lovers with small
trails where folks have hiked, walked their dogs, watched birds (or
recently deer) or just photographed a tiny bit of nature over the
years. Back in the 70's, I would take my own small boys with our
Labrador for a nature walk and we would crawl on our stomachs through
the giant ferns up to the Pond's edge...peering into the crystal clear
water to watch big brook trout finning over gravel bottoms. A wondrous
sight! More conversations with folks of all ages seem to reveal how the
Pond held a special place in their memories and even now, as they grew
up in Northport…swinging out over the pond on that 30 ft rope (still
there) to drop into its waters or spring time lovers walking among the
newly scented blooms, or watching the wide variety of birds whether they
be ospreys or warblers...lots of memories. Do you have any of these
cherished memories?
A Little History - Back to 1650 and the Cranberry Bogs
Well
the fact is this spot has been a historic jewel over the years…many,
many years. The Northport Historical Society records activity on the
Pond going back to when the area was first settled in the 1650's. Post
revolutionary settlements by farmers occupied most of the Waterside
Avenue area. Additional housing followed in the 1800's and in 1836 a
farm owned by J. Lewis (205 Waterside - still standing) was notable for
starting cranberry bogs. (The early bogs were in operation thru the
1930s.) Walter Scherer purchased the land in 1911 to develop lily ponds
(Scherer's business still flourishes). In 1920 Lewis died and Rudolph
Reimer purchased the bog and decided to create a freshwater lake as a
possible trout pond (current site of Fuchs Pond). The lake project
failed because the bog swallowed up everything which tried to excavate
it. At one point, a team of horses used to cut marsh grass sank and
almost perished. Later the property was purchased by Sophie and Betram
Fuchs. However early building maps don't reveal the Pond until 1924. So
what has been done to save this historic jewel?
A $3,874,000 Fuchs Pond Nature Preserve Purchase in 2003…A flooded pond and a pipe repair 7 years later!
Now
let's skip ahead a bit. In 2003, Suffolk County Legislator Jon Cooper
introduced legislation to preserve the Fuchs property as a key
component of the Crab Meadow Watershed in order to maintain the local
environment. Kudos Legislator Cooper! Originally, acquisition of the
Fuchs property was included in a previous omnibus bill for the County's
Greenways Open Space Program. The 20.7 acres of the Fuchs property had
also been a Huntington Town preservation goal for over 30 years. As
proposed, the acquisition of this site also enabled the creation of a
nature center which would be surrounded by 680 acres of protected
public open space. The freshwater system at the pond drains into and is
immediately contiguous to the Town of Huntington's Jerome Ambro Memorial
Wetlands Preserve, a tributary flowing into the Long Island Sound. The
purchase proposal finally became a reality when Huntington Town
expended $1,000,000 from the Environmental Open Space and Park (EOSPA)
Fund. The County added $2,874,000 to complete the purchase. The Town and
County closed on the property on August 13, 2003. The official name was
changed to the Fuchs Pond Nature Preserve.
Five years later, on August 25, 2008, Suffolk County completed a Fuchs Pond Restoration Site Plan and Location Map
by Savil & Murray Consulting Engineers, which described a repair
to be done by replacing the Pond weir and collapsed outflow pipe. Well
according to a biologist I spoke with, it takes up to 10 years to kill
hardwoods by flooding. There had to have been knowledge of the broken
pipe prior to the plan design. By law, the County has jurisdiction
over the water in both the Pond and Crab Meadow. Despite my inquiries, I
could not obtain information as to when the flooding was identified,
when the broken pipe was discovered, and who ordered its repair.
Needless to say it wasn't finally repaired until this past December
2010…seven years after the purchase of the property! ( That's when many
of you saw all that construction machinery at the Pond road entrance.
By the way, engineers did a great job and finished in two weeks!). If
you are interested, a photo documentation of the repair is available by
e-mailing a request to wsobrien@suffolk.lib.ny.us. In any
case, the damage has been repaired. We will see in the future if the
Pond can be restored.
A
little earlier in 2009, as part of the initial proposal, the Town
Board entered into a license agreement with the Cornell Cooperative
Extension to provide the Pond's first specialized environmental
on-site education program starting in the summer under Cornell's
Kristin Colvito, educator in charge, and continued into 2010. A very
popular program as you might know if you have kids participating in it.
The thing is, did you know about any of these events?
Well here's what I did when I found out about Fuchs Pond “with a little help from my friends”...
In
May of 2009, I was heartbroken to see the Fuchs Pond's flooding and
tree devastation and was compelled to bring it to the attention of both
the County and the Town officials. Consequently I enlisted the support
of both local conservation and environmental groups and wrote a
proposal. "The Fuchs Pond Reclamation Project" presented on May
20, 2009 at Town Hall at the offices of Councilmen Mark Cuthbertson and
Stuart Besen. I pointed out that three of the prime supporters of the
proposal were the L.I Chapter of Trout Unlimited, Stella Miller,
President of the Huntington Oyster Bay Audubon Society and Kristin
Colavito Cornell's lead educator at the Fuchs Summer Education Project.
Councilman Besen recommended a follow-up meeting with these supporters
in the summer to further explore its recommendations. The meeting
finally took place February 22, 2010 at Huntington Town Hall. At my
invitation, fourteen Town and Environmental representatives attended to
hear my proposal to reclaim Fuchs Pond from the flooding and tree
destruction and to consider their recommendations.
Environmental Reps:
- Bill O'Brien, Meeting Chair / Presentor
- Stella Miller, President Huntington / Oyster Bay Audubon Society
- John Fischer, L.I. Trout Unlimited
- Kristin Colivito,Lead Educator, Cornell Co-op Summer Program
- Alice Delbosco, EUSPA Committee
- Brent Bonkamp,Youth Rep. Audubon Society
- John Turner, Huntington / Oysterbay Audubon Society
- Richard Meyer, Huntington Town Conservation Board
County Reps:
- Lora Gellerstein, Suffolk County Legislative Office representing Jon Cooper
- Alex McKay, Suffolk County Parks Trustee
Town Reps:
- Mark Cuthbertson, Huntington Town Councilman
- Margo Myles, AICP, Coordinator of Open Space Conservation
- Lynn Ruvulo, Town Council Amin. Asst.
- Harry Acker, Director of Maritime Services
Their
participation, support and recommendations culminated in their request
for Councilman Mark Cuthbertson to offer a resolution at the next
Huntington Town Board meeting to re-assess and protect all 680 acres
of the Crab Meadow Watershed including Fuchs Pond. The resolution
presented by Councilman Cuthberston and adopted by the Huntington Town
Board on April 13, 2010 mandated the appointment of the above Crab
Meadow Watershed Advisory Committee to accomplish the task.
The Crab Meadow Advisory Committee
Of
the 14 present at the Feb, 22, 2010 meeting 12 were appointed by
Councilman Mark Cuthbertson to the resolution's Crab Meadow Watershed
Advisory Committee (CAC) along with Daviid Tonjes, of the Huntington
Conservation Board and home owners association representatives such as
Waterside Park, SSBPOA and Makamah Beach Association. Harry Acker,
Director of Huntington's Marine Services, was appointed Committee Chair
but he has since retired and the Committee awaits a new Chair. The Committee last met December
9, 2010 and will be a year old this coming April 2011. Information on
scheduled meeting dates might be obtained at Huntington Town Hall.
The Committee's Progress
Meanwhile,
there has been some progress. This past December 2010, as previously
mentioned, the County replaced the old weir and broken outflow pipe
from Fuchs Pond. The Pond level was finally lowered (almost immediately)
by 14 inches, completing the first objective of the Fuchs Pond
Reclamation Project Proposal and strongly recommended at the February
22, 2010 Huntington Town Hall meeting by John Fischer of Trout Unlimited
(TU) to address the Pond flooding. In addition, through the hard work
of Margo Myles, the Town's Coordinator of Open Space and a CAC member, a
much needed grant for $4,000.00 was secured from Iroquois Gas
Transmission System which will be used toward a hydrology study, in
conjunction with the purchase of data loggers for a stream study to be
done by Trout Unlimited under Mr. Fischer and additional proposed PR
and educational activities. This was a prime recommendation at the
February 22, 2010 meeting from all CAC participants and the Town,
which had to be done on the watershed to assess damage done to fresh
water flows over the years. Further grant raising efforts by Margo
Myles are also being pursued and she is to be congratulated for her
professional accomplishments.
Other
than the low profile Town website stories and a December 2010
Northport Observer article reporting the outflow repair, many folks
never new what was happening at Fuchs Pond. This article is an attempt
to fill you in on the details so to speak and invite your
participation, response and support needed to maintain this vital
Watershed.
Feel
free to join us in our attempts to protect this vital natural site and
create a positive approach in environmental conservation for both Crab
Meadow, Fuchs Pond and the entire Watershed.
Photos by Bill O'Brien
Photos by Bill O'Brien
Bill O'Brien,
Fuchs Pond Nature Preserve Park Steward
March 16, 2011
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