by Mindy Block
Poxabogue Field (adjacent to Poxabogue County Park) is an eight-acre open field. It was purchased by Southampton Town’s Community Preservation Fund for agricultural purposes. Yet it also falls within the hydrological boundaries of the Long Pond Greenbelt. The Friends of the Long Pond Greenbelt's position is to further protect it from any sort of development, including agricultural use. They want it to be re-designated as open space, restoring the old field to a grassland instead, akin to their management of Vineyard Field.
Poxabogue Field (adjacent to Poxabogue County Park) is an eight-acre open field. It was purchased by Southampton Town’s Community Preservation Fund for agricultural purposes. Yet it also falls within the hydrological boundaries of the Long Pond Greenbelt. The Friends of the Long Pond Greenbelt's position is to further protect it from any sort of development, including agricultural use. They want it to be re-designated as open space, restoring the old field to a grassland instead, akin to their management of Vineyard Field.
I signed the petition they posted in favor of the Long Pond Greenbelt's position to urge the town board to change this recently purchased property status from agricultural land to open space. We needed to convince them. However, I got to thinking and got curious about where the parcel actually was, and started investigating. The first thing I did was map the parcel in question (see below).
It seemed to me that once land was purchased for its agricultural protection, it would be a hard sell to re-designate it as open space. I offered a compromise to the Friends of The Long Pond Greenbelt, and informally discussed it with someone from Southampton Town. Why not use part of this 8 acre acquisition to create a natural areas buffer between the pond and agricultural use. The agricultural use should be regenerative and organic because of the nearby pond. I'd like to see the natural buffer as wide as possible -- like a 50/50 split.
And indeed by December, the Friends of Long Pond Greenbelt (FLPG), though steadfast in an open space re-designation, were willing to be part of the compromise developed by the Peconic Land Trust in conjunction with Cornell Cooperative Extension. "It’s a demonstration project with two primary goals: first, to showcase vegetative buffers for use on shorelines to curb nutrient-rich surface water runoff into adjacent waterways and second, to demonstrate regenerative agricultural practices that improve soil health and the ability of the land to absorb nitrogen and other nutrients before they enter the groundwater. "
I would think that I played a small part in moving FLPG to this compromise. The next step is a presentation to the Town of Southampton. And yet, the Long Pond Greenbelt has never achieved enough regulatory protection as other well known entities like the Albany Pine Bush, the Adirondack Preserve, the Central Pine Barrens, the New Jersey Pinelands. From this perspective, I realized that the greater environmental good was to favor more open space preservation for the Long Pond Greenbelt.
I would think that I played a small part in moving FLPG to this compromise. The next step is a presentation to the Town of Southampton. And yet, the Long Pond Greenbelt has never achieved enough regulatory protection as other well known entities like the Albany Pine Bush, the Adirondack Preserve, the Central Pine Barrens, the New Jersey Pinelands. From this perspective, I realized that the greater environmental good was to favor more open space preservation for the Long Pond Greenbelt.
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