The highly developed shoreline that surrounds Long Island Sound makes any remaining wildlife habitat especially significant and generally precludes public access and recreation by an underserved population. Only 20% of the shoreline is accessible to the general public. Those public facilities that do exist are so overburdened that the visitor experience is diminished and sensitive natural resources compromised. Improved stewardship of these parks as well as private lands could greatly enhance their habitat value, reduce pollution impacts, as well as provide more ecologically sensitive public access.
Thanks to the support of the New York Community Trust and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), RPA, Audubon New York and Save the Sound are partnering to promote the development of a Long Island Sound Stewardship System: A network of exemplary areas in the immediate coastal upland and underwater areas of the Sound. This system of protected sites will preserve the Sound's upland and estuarine natural systems while providing new recreation and public access opportunities for the 12 million residents of counties bordering Long Island Sound.
An early-on success of our efforts is New York State's recent acquisition of the Keyspan property in Jamesport, Long Island, the largest remaining expanse of open space on the Sound. Due to the advocacy of the Long Island Sound partners and others, 520 acres of open space has been preserved as a state park and working farmland - creating what could be a flagship site for the Stewardship System.
@RegionalPlan