The Beach belongs to everyone

We want Long Island to be a place where this, and the next generation can surf, windsurf, sail, swim, sunbathe, fish, kayak or just soak in Long Island's Natural Beauty.

Long Island is losing its waterfront and wet lands to private homes at an alarming pace. Beach Access is disappearing right along with it. In addition, many NYS laws concerning Beach Access are archaic at best.

It is not LIBAG's intent to take away any existing rights of NYS Beach users. Only to add to them.

We are fortunate, to be working with the Long Island Regional State Parks Commission towards solutions that would allow all beach user groups equal access to all NYS Parks Beaches, with out excluding or taking away any access rights from any user groups.

The Long Island Beach Access Group is most commonly known for its four core programs;

1- The Beach Access program whose research and advocacy programs support the maintenance and expansion of access to those remote beach locations on Long Island for all users.

2- Also, our Beach Preservation program works to sponsor, participate and encourage those activities that ensure the healthy maintenance of our beaches and barrier islands, such as beach grass plantings.

3- Our Beach Clean-up program works to sponsor, participate and encourage continual beach clean-ups in conjunction with the America Littoral Society. This includes the adoption of Gilgo Beach.

4- But also, Long Island Beach Access Group is known for our Beach Actions program which seeks to encourage and reward proper behavior when enjoying the beaches. This includes following the official rules and regulations of each of the beaches and areas that provide access to those beaches, promoting the “Carry in, Carry out more” philosophy, and in a more informal fashion, instructing people on safe enjoyment of our natural resources.


Remember: it is not LIBAG's intent to take away any existing rights of NYS Beach users. Only to add to them.

LIBAG is honored to work with New York State Park officials, as we continue to connect the Parks to the People.


We look forward to our continued work with New York State officials in order to implement solutions that encourage more diverse use of NYS’s Beaches.


CONTACT US email me libaginfo@gmail.com


Friday, December 6, 2013

FYI DEMO

Sent: Friday, December 6, 2013 2:03 PM
Subject: Alternative Four Wheel Drive Access at Robert Moses State Park
Due to  a sand moving project along the north side of the Robert Moses beach access trail, access to the off road area at Robert Moses State Park will be temporarily limited. Access east of the jetty and north of the primary dune will be totally restricted. Access to the oceanfront will be through the southwest corner of Robert Moses - Field # 2. This change will go into effect on the afternoon of Sunday Dec. 8, 2013. Staff will be placing out signage this weekend and putting the temporary closure into effect on Sunday. They will notify any individuals on the beach once the closure is in place.


Tim Byrne
Park Manager 3
Robert Moses/Captree State Parks

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone from LIBAG






Robert Moses State Park, Long Island announcement.

The tides and flooding appear to have receded and as of 5:00am this morning, November 28th, NYS parks have reopened access to Democrat Point. We thank you for your patience and understanding.


Members of LIBAG participated in THE PROPOSED SOUTH SHORE BLUEWAY PLAN. 
If you want to be a part of this process, visit …http://www.southshoreblueway.com

LIBAG Met withRonald Kluesener, Chief of Staff, from the town of Babylon last week. 

LIBAG met with Chip Gorman, acting Director of the NYS Parks, Long Island, this week.

Last week Nassau County Officials finally agreed to borrow nearly a half a billion dollars to fund the extensive repairs needed at Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant.
See:
http://www.longislandpress.com/2013/11/25/nassau-pols-ok-463m-for-bay-park-sewage-plant/?fb_action_ids=10200762312726108&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582   for more information.

It looks like everything is going well this season.
So whatever you do out there this Holliday: be safe and have a great time.


LIBAG wishes to thank everyone who participated this season. We are making a difference.

  • 1. Robert Moses State Park, Long Island; 
  • The tides and flooding appear to have receded and as of 5:00am this morning, November 28th, NYS parks have reopened access to Democrat Point. We thank you for your patience and understanding.


Sunday, November 3, 2013

Amid Superstorm Sandy's Havoc, A Win for Wildlife
A year after Hurricane Sandy smashed into the U.S. East Coast, some of the beaches and ocean areas are better for birds and marine life.

Dan Vergano
PUBLISHED OCTOBER 29, 2013
Hurricane Sandy's waves arrived at high tide, destroying 650,000 homes, flooding lower Manhattan, and inundating coastal wetlands. In a few places, however, the storm's fury appears to have wrought positive changes in the landscape.

In one Long Island bay, it turned the tide on decades of increasing pollution.

"Bellport Bay was as far as you could get from an inlet to the ocean, so it had the worst water quality," says Charles Flagg, a marine scientist at New York's Stony Brook University. "Now that's changed."
When Sandy made landfall on October 29, 2012, millions lost power and at least 147 people were killed. One year later, some communities are still rebuilding from the storm, the second-most costly hurricane to hit the U.S. since 1900, with damage of more than $50 billion.
Marshes, beaches, and wetlands also suffered. On Thursday, October 24, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell rolled out a $162 million plan to help 45 federal wildlife sites recover from the storm.
But amid the devastation caused by Sandy are a few places where the storm has improved wildlife habitat.
Better Bird Beaches
On the National Park Service's Rockaway beaches, part of New York'sGateway National Recreation Area, vegetation has been encroaching for years on nesting grounds for shorebirds, forcing them to nest closer to the surf, where flooding and high tides threaten the nests.
"Shorebirds need sand to build their nests, not too close to the water and not too close to vegetation," says Hanem Grace Abouelezz, a National Park Service biologist. "Our big concern is with the piping plover, which is a federal threatened species." (See "Hurricane Sandy Aftermath: What Happens to the Birds?")
On that October night last year, Superstorm Sandy ripped out 59 acres of beach grass and goldenrod on Rockaway's beaches, offering an almost 100 percent increase in shorebird nesting habitat. In 2012, NPS biologists reported that 54 percent of piping plover eggs were lost to flooding; in 2013, none were.
"Not only that, the storm scoured the sand and bared seashell deposits, which the birds prefer for nesting," says Abouelezz. The shells likely provide camouflage, confusing feral cats and other predators that hunt for shorebird eggs.
There are only 17 piping plover couples on the Rockaway beaches, so every egg counts. "They are very sensitive birds. They're just frail," Abouelezz says. "My house was knocked around pretty good by Sandy," she adds. "So, if I can see a bright side, anyone can."
Off the coast, Sandy's surge overtopped five-foot berms and floodgates along the Hackensack River. A Meadowlands Environmental Research Institute report found complete inundation of wetlands as well as parts of several nearby towns, which saw some residents fleeing their homes in boats and dead fish littering parks.
But one year later, the dousing seems to have benefited the 8,400-acre (34-square-kilometer) Meadowlands, the reed-covered wetlands west of New York City famed for its long history of abuse at the hands of polluters and developers. (See "Swamps of New Jersey: The Meadowlands.")
"The storm actually moved a lot of debris out of the marshes that had been lodged there a long time," says Captain Bill Sheehan of Hackensack Riverkeeper, a private advocacy group for environmental cleanup of the region. The junk, lumber, trash, and reeds piled up five feet high in places along the New Jersey Turnpike, according to news reports.
"That really opened up a lot of the marshes for new growth," Sheehan says. Dirt and sand piled into some ponds that had been widening, he adds, filling them with sediment that served as a seedbed for fresh marsh grass stands.
"Nature moves things around," Sheehan says. "Wetlands are meant to handle those changes. Towns aren't."
Fire Island Surprise
Nowhere did Sandy move things around more dramatically than on Fire Island, a barrier beach between the Atlantic Ocean and Long Island's Great South Bay. Sandy blasted three breaches in the barrier islands along the south shore. Two of them were immediately filled in by the Army Corps of Engineers, as mandated by a Breach Contingency Plan put in place in 1997 by New York State's Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC).
The third breach, across from the town of Bellport, was within the federally protected Fire Island National Seashore. Responding to the pleas of south shore residents, who blamed the breach for increased flooding in the months following the storm, politicians from Suffolk County Executive Steven Ballone to U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer called for that inlet to be closed as well.

Environmentalists and fishermen protested, inspired by data compiled by Flagg showing that the increase in flooding in the Great South Bay was no greater than in other communities along the eastern seaboard. They were even more excited by the effect of an influx of clean ocean water into a bay that in the 1970s supplied three-quarters of the clams sold in the United States. That industry collapsed due to overfishing and groundwater polluted with sewage and lawn fertilizers seeping into the bay.
The NYSDEC decided to wait and see whether the inlet would close on its own. Over the summer it only increased in size, becoming a popular spot for fishermen catching fluke, striped bass, and bluefish that have also been taken in larger numbers farther into the bay. Seals and small sharks, rarely seen in Bellport Bay for close to a century, are now frequent visitors. Calls to close the inlet are fewer, and bay advocates have asked Senator Schumer to reconsider his position on having it filled in.
"You can see the bottom of the bay. It's clear," says Flagg, whose team had monitored the water for eight years prior to the storm. "That hasn't happened here in years."
Excess nutrients that had been trapped in the bay were diluted and flushed out by the influx of ocean water. As a result, "brown tides" caused by overgrowth of algae have not occurred in Bellport Bay this year, though they continue to plague other parts of the Great South Bay. Eel grass that was starving for sunlight in the murk may regrow, providing better habitat for juvenile clams. Already clammers are reporting "firmer clams" in the bay, Flagg says.
The last inlet that formed in this part of Fire Island, in 1760, stayed open for 60 years before closing naturally. How long the current inlet stays open, and whether it has any lasting effect on the health of Great South Bay, in anybody's guess.
"What we don't know are the long-term effects," says Flagg. "But what we can say objectively is that the water quality is improved."
Follow Dan Vergano on Twitter.

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

What are you waiting for?


Reminder: If you have not filled out your Mid-Atlantic Survey, you need to do it soon. Stand up and be counted!
The Surfrider Foundation, in partnership with Ecotrust, Monmouth University’s Urban Coast Institute, and The Nature Conservancy, and in close coordination with the Mid-Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean (MARCO), is conducting an online survey of recreational uses such as beach goers, swimmers, beach wildlife viewers, surfers, kayakers, windsurfers, and divers.
Participation is simple: go to 
and enter your email address.
Recreational uses are poorly mapped in the Mid-Atlantic and better information is needed. The information collected in this survey will be incorporated into an online data portal operated by The Mid-Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean, or MARCO. MARCO is an arrangement by the Governors of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia to improve the health of Mid-Atlantic ocean and coastal resources, and ensure that they continue to contribute to the economic vitality of coastal communities
The survey will be online until the end of December 2013. 

What are you waiting for?

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Fall Beach Access.


Fall Beach Access.

The Fall Surf Parking Permit is available at the Robert Moses State Park office. This allows you to park in RM Fields 2,3,4,& 5, daytime, when they are closed.

The permit must be displayed on your dashboard. [not your visor]. As always; Surfers to the west, Fishermen to the east of each field.

The good news is that if you already have a State 4X4 Surfing Permit for Democrat Point, The State will honor that as a Fall parking permit. You do NOT need to buy a Fall Parking permit. [If you already bought one, I’m sorry, there are no refunds.]

This season; more than ever you are going to need a Fall Surf Parking Permit for closed fields at Robert Moses State Park. Tim Byrne, The Park Director; has promised to try and keep Field 5 open. He will also try to keep field 2 open as long as funding allows. With everything going on in Government right now...we have no accurate timetable as to when they will close.


The dredging of Fire Island Inlet has begun again. This time they are expected to increase the hight, length, and depth of both the dune and beach. The plan is to do this from Overlook within Gilgo State Park, to Jones Beach Field 6. That means sometime soon your favorite town beach is about to be buried. There will be all kinds of heavy machinery to stay clear of; both in and out of the water.

Robert Moses field 2,3,4,& 5 may be your only access at times this Fall. So stay safe and clear of the workers.

The State 4X4 Surfing Pass and the Fall Surf parking Pass allow you to Surf, SUP, or Windsurf from all RM parking fields. So remember regular surfers have the right of way.

In addition, While the Parks director has made it clear that Windsurfing and SUP’ing are allowed at Ocean beaches, not everyone reads the memo. So we suggest you keep a copy of the State parks letter dated June 1, 2012 [below] with you, or on your dashboard.



If you have the State 4X4 Fishing Pass you can only use that for fishing; not surfing.

Buy your Fall Pass or risk a ticket and a tow.

Le's be safe out there.

Thank you

LIBAG


Sunday, September 22, 2013

Great effort everyone!











Between the ASAT’s, The AWT, ABK, and just life in general; The Coastal clean up could not have picked a more difficult weekend for you to attend...
Which is why I am so very grateful to those of you that did. It would have been nice to see us all together at RM5. But that just wasn’t practical yesterday.
So I really want to thank Ray, Ron, Jack, Steve, Chris, Dima, & Phil who made an extraordinary effort to be at RM5.
WE had over 40 volunteers at Gilgo, and 25 at RM5. At RM 2 we saw old friends; in Oyster Bay, we rubbed elbows with Billy Joel; in J-Bay, LB, and the East End; we made new friends.
I’ll post the data once we are done counting all the trash.
Great effort everyone!

Saturday, August 31, 2013

Fall lineup.


This just in...State Beach Passes on sale Tuesday.


NYS 4x4 Surfing and Fishing permits will be on sale at both Regional Headquarters and Robert Moses State Park beginning this Tuesday, September 3, 2013.  The hours for Regional Headquarters are 9:00 AM – 4:45 PM and Robert Moses State Park the hours are 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM.

George Gorman, Jr.
Deputy Regional Director
New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


LIBAG.ORG   http://libeach.blogspot.com  Will be holding two Beach Clean Ups on Saturday, September 21, 2013. 10:00 AM

As we have done every year; 

LIBAG will be having two beach clean up’s in September. 

Working in cooperation with the American Littoral Society. http://www.littoralsociety.org/index.php/programs/nystatebeachcleanup ...Saturday, September 21, 2013, at 10:00 AM, LIBAG will be cleaning Gilgo Town Beach and Robert Moses State Park field 5. 

The Beach at Robert Moses 5 can really use your help. 
I hope to see you lending a hand.

Thank you in advance to everyone who shows up to help.

LIBAG.ORG



Saturday, August 24, 2013

We need; or rather the beach needs your help.






As we do every year; LIBAG will be having two beach clean up’s in September, in cooperation with the American Littoral Society. http://www.littoralsociety.org/index.php/programs/nystatebeachcleanup

Saturday, September 21, 2013, we will be cleaning Gilgo Town Beach and Robert Moses State Park field 5
[details will be on our website].
We could sure use your help at RM 5.

Thanks for visiting our website. I hope we get to meet you at our September beach clean ups.
Keep visiting LIBAG.ORG for details.
LIBAG

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Open

Demo opens August 5th. 5:00 PM
The ocean front access to the jetty will reopen as of 5:00 pm today. Please advise LIBAG of this opening.
Tim Byrne

Monday, July 22, 2013

Postponed

Tim Byrne, Robert Moses Manager, has informed LIBAG that the State will be reopening Demo oceanfront soon.
BUT NOT MONDAY as was originally reported.

Saturday, July 20, 2013

Adopting Gilgo Beach

 Hey Everyone!

LIBAG had a Great day last Friday 7/12/2013. A large turnout, @ 25+ people of all ages attended our Gilgo Beach Clean-up. And all of this despite it being a Friday with funky weather.

State Senator, Phil Boyle, and Councilperson Jackie Brown of the TOB Board thanked us profusely for stepping up to accept this challenge to help make and keep Gilgo a beautiful and clean place.

We owe a Big Thank You, to our new friend Florence Findley from the T/O Babylon, as well as Gordon Canary.  If Florence had not approached us about adopting Gilgo Beach, we never would have had such a great day!

While we will always continue our work with the T/O Babylon, and the NYS Parks; it really felt good to be appreciated. And honestly, we picked up a lot of trash! 






Sunday, July 7, 2013

FRIDAY JULY 12TH, 2PM :GILGO BEACH ADOPTION CEREMONY AND CLEAN UP

FRIDAY JULY 12TH,  2PM :GILGO BEACH ADOPTION CERIMONY AND CLEAN UP.


Hey folks, we know we have asked a lot of you this season.
We at LIBAG are truly touched and impressed with the way ya’ll have stepped up.

As a result, the beaches have a lot to show for it. All of Robert Moses and Jones Beach is open: Joe’s Beach Field 7 at Heckscher opened last weekend: Democrat Point now has a 4x4 surfing pass: and the Great South Bay Kayak “Blue Water Trail” is open.
None of this would have been possible with out your efforts. All those clean ups; all those meetings, make your voices heard.
  
LIBAG, The Long Island Beach Access Group is officially adopting the T/O Babylon’s  Gilgo Beach on Friday July 12th.  This is LIBAG's first official clean-up as the new Adopt-A-Beach sponsors at Gilgo.

We will start the clean-up at 2:00 PM; then get together with the garbage, the new signs, and the dignitaries for the photo shoot at 3:00PM. If you can take a half day at work and bring the kids, friends and relatives, etc. this will go a long way in ensuring current access, and securing future access.

Of course tell the gate that you are there for the Gilgo adoption, clean up, and ceremony. Just print out the VOLUNTEER PASS, place it on your dashboard, and you will get in for free.
Meet up with us at the "Grassy Knoll" area near the board wash and showers (next to the tunnel entrance).


We want to thank everyone of you that are going to take the time off work, or out of your busy schedule to come on out and help on this one.

From the bottom of our hearts.
Thank you,

LIBAG, the Long Island Beach Access Group

FRIDAY JULY 12TH,  2PM :GILGO BEACH ADOPTION CERIMONY AND CLEAN UP.

Oh and don’t forget to fill out Surfrider’s Mid-Atlantic spatial and economic survey.





Saturday, June 1, 2013

LI Sail Magazine’s June 2013 Digital Edition.



The LI Windsurfing Group and LIBAG were recently featured in LI Sail Magazine’s June 2013 Digital Edition.
Click this link to view http://go.epublish4me.com/li_sail_june_2013/10025018
If that doesn’t work you can cut and paste the link:
http://go.epublish4me.com/li_sail_june_2013/10025018

We at LIBAG and the LI Windsurfing Group appreciate you giving us the opportunity to help.




Last Thursday, May 23rd at 11:00 AM members of LIBAG attended the “Ribbon Cutting Ceremony” marking the official opening of Robert Moses State Park.

The Park has been closed since Hurricane Sandy. This Park, and all of Long Island’s barrier islands sustained considerable damage. Governor Cuomo is allocating a tremendous amount of resources towards restoration. State parks commissioner Rose Harvey, praised everyone’s efforts to overcome what she called "this tremendous obstacle."

George Gorman, Regional Director for Long Island, and Timothy Byrne, Director of Robert Moses State Park presented Commissioner Harvey with an engraved plaque. The plaque was engraved on a piece of Ipe, a sustainable Brazilian hardwood that was used to re-build the Park’s Boardwalks.

Even as we watched the dignitaries make speeches and cut the opening day ribbon, there was heavy machinery moving sand in the background. Crews have been working 24 hours a day 6 days a week preparing for Memorial Day, and its influx of visitors.

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Beach Fence Installation Robert Moses State Park, May 18th, 2013


Photo’s courtesy of Rich Simmons & Dima Vadalazhski


Yesterday, May 18th, members of the Long Island Beach Access Group, and the Long Island Windsurfing Group worked at Robert Moses State Park, Field 4.

Under the leadership of Tim Byrne, the Director for Robert Moses State Park, we installed “Dune Fencing” at Field 4. The dune fence is set up in a zigzag pattern, on the ocean side of the existing dune. The goal is to keep sand ON; and people OFF the fragile dunes. The zigzag pattern of the fence holds existing sand, and captures new sand. This will build and add strength to the dune, in an attempt to protect the storm battered beach.




We appreciate that Director Byrne took the time to discuss with us how we hope to deal with the many changes we will face this year at Robert Moses State Park.  

 For many of us it was the first time we had been allowed on Fire Island since “Sandy” rolled through last Fall. We are immensely grateful to the NYS Parks Staff, the United State Coast Guard, all the contractors, and Volunteers who are working to get this park open to the public for Memorial Day weekend.
 



Again: thank you, George “Chip” Gorman, NYS Parks Long Island Regional Director, David Auguste, Heckscher State Parks Director, and Tim Byrne, Robert Moses State Parks Director, for the opportunity to help.

See you on the Beach!





Sunday, May 12, 2013

Love My Park Day




This last weekend [May 4th, 2013], the Long Island Beach Access Group, LIBAG; teamed up with The Long Island Windsurfers Group,  the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP), local Friends groups, and Governor Cuomo, to participate in  Parks & Trails New York’s, Love My Park Day.

This was a statewide event, however; LIBAG & the LI Windsurfers Group concentrated our efforts at Jones Beach State Park Field 2, and Heckscher State Park Field 6.

Some of our many tasks included rebuilding picnic tables, clearing brush and debris, erecting dune fence, planting dune vegetation, screening sand for debris then replacing it on the beaches, cleaning and painting garbage cans, and general beach clean up.
In addition we marked the underwater reefs at field 6 that were discovered during our “Water-walk” back in March. We wish to thank Heckscher State Park Manager David Auguste, for letting us adopt Field 6 while repairs continue at “Joe’s Beach”: Field 7.

We would also like to thank everyone who participated in this event; no matter what park you helped out at.


Next week; May 18th, we will be working with Park Manager Tim Byrne, at Robert Moses State Park. The work will be a combination of clean-up and putting up erosion fencing. We are excited to help out, and do our part. 

Robert Moses State Park is not scheduled to open until Memorial Day weekend.

Finally, we want to thank George “Chip” Gorman, OPRHP Long Island regional Director for easing surfing restrictions at Robert Moses this season.







Saturday, May 4, 2013

Good News for you 4x4ers!!





Good News for you 4x4ers!!  LIBAG, the Long Island Beach Access Group, has been lobbying the NYS Parks for a number of years now; and have gained significant beach access at NYS Parks for parking lot access for windsurfers and SUPs but we just received some exciting news last  evening!

Democrat Point has now officially become a surfing location for legal 4x4 access. No more hiding, running and hoping you don't get kicked off the beach. We've been asked to spread the word to the Surfing community and that's what we are doing.

Please read the PARK USE PERMIT, for 4x4 Beach Vehicle Access for Surfing Only, at  Robert Moses State Park – Democrat Point Only [Above]; and the following note from George Gorman, the Deputy Regional Director(Long Island) of NYS Parks.[Below]

The permits are only being sold at Belmont Park headquarters starting this Monday, May 6th, through Friday, May 17th, for a price of $ 40.00. If you already have the 4x4 Fishing permit, ($ 65.00), you will need this permit in addition to be legally surfing at Demo.



Regional Permit Office Contact Information

625 Belmont Ave

West Babylon, NY 11704
Phone: (631) 669-1000
exit # 37North on SS Parkway
Monday through Friday 9-4
 
If you do not have the 4x4 Fishing Permit, you can buy the Surfing Permit for $ 40.00. Reminder that Demo is the ONLY location (at this time) that will be a legal spot for 4x4 surfing. If you want to go on any other NYS 4x4 Beach, you will need to buy the 4x4 Fishing Permit. The 4x4 Fishing permit now allows you to carry your surfboard in your vehicle, but you are NOT allowed to use it.

We at LIBAG know this all sounds crazy, but that's the way it is. For now, we need your support.

So, please, pass the word, buy your permits, follow the rules, be good citizens, clean up the beach every time you go, even if it isn't your mess, always Air-Down, share the beach and the waters with the surfcasters, communicate with the people on the beach, and agree to share the ocean.

We feel that this is a trial year and we're being watched. It is important that we do the right thing every time we hit the beach. So, let's have fun.

Write back to us with your thoughts and questions. libaginfo@gmail.com

Also, we're waiting for word back from Parks about LIBAG helping out with Robert Moses' new Manager for NYS Parks clean-up on or around the 18th of May. So, please put that date (and maybe the 19th) on your calendar. I'll get back to you as soon as we have a firm date and time and location. 

Today most of us will be working at Heckscher State Park with the LI Windsurfing Group, Dave Auguste, the Director, and Governor Cuomo.

Thanks for listening, and see you at Demo!!

"From: Gorman, George (LI) <George.Gorman@parks.ny.gov>
Date: Fri, May 3, 2013 at 5:42 PM
Subject: PARK USE DEMOCRAT POINT SURFING PERMIT-
To: "libaginfo@gmail.com" <libaginfo@gmail.com>


Attached you will find a copy of the permit that will be available beginning Monday, May 6th 2013.  As you will note this permit authorizes 4-wheel drive access at Democrat Point within Robert Moses State Park for Surfing.



This permit will continue to be on sale, until May 17th 2013 from our Regional Headquarters in Babylon (Permit Office).  Please get the word out regarding the availability of this permit.



Thanks,

 

George Gorman, Jr.
Deputy Regional Director
New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation
Telephone number: 631.321.3403
Fax number: 631.422.0173




Saturday, April 27, 2013

Pick a Park. Any one will do.





Show NYS Parks and Historic Sites Some Love

Register today for I Love My Park Day: May 4, 2013 http://www.ptny.org/ilovemypark/

Join Parks & Trails New York, the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP), local Friends groups and Governor Cuomo in celebrating New York's magnificent state parks and historic sites.

Parks & Trails New York organizes I Love My Park Day, in partnership with OPRHP, to improve and enhance state parks and historic sites; boost volunteerism; and raise the visibility of the entire state parks system and its needs.

Join us on Saturday, May 4 for I Love My Park Day and show your parks some love!




LIBAG’s members will be participating at their favorite Parks.
If you can’t make it this weekend, we have more grass plantings and clean ups later this month. Detail to follow...

Saturday, March 16, 2013

The Breach at Old Inlet, Meeting

Join in on an exchange of perspectives
  and receive the latest information regarding
The Breach at Old Inlet (Part II)

Saturday, March 23, 2013
12:30 pm
Bellport Middle School Auditorium
37 Kraemer Street
Bellport, NY 11713
Be informed
 
Guest Speakers

Christopher Soller,  Superintendent Fire Island National Seashore
 
Mr. Soller will  provide a brief update of the Seashore's involvement in the implementation of a 1997 multi-agency Breach Contingency Plan (BCP). This plan calls for the immediate filling of breaches on Fire Island which do not occur in federally-designated wilderness. For a breach within the Otis Pike Fire Island High Dune Wilderness, a more conservative response is prescribed,and includes inter-agency monitoring of the behavior of the breach, while initially allowing it to close naturally. If the breach is determined to have adverse impacts on water levels in surrounding communities, it will be closed immediately. Supt. Soller will share data gathered by the National Park Service and partner agencies at the breach at Old Inlet. FINS
 
Kevin McAllister, President, Peconic Baykeeper
  
Mr. McAllister, president of Peconic Baykeepers, will provide a perspective with regard to the ecological advantages of additional sustained flow between the ocean and Great South Bay.
Peconic Baykeeper is the only independent not-for-profit advocate solely dedicated to the protection and improvement of the aquatic ecosystems of Peconic and South Shore estuaries of Long Island. As sprawl development continues to harden the island's landscape, pollution  threatens the vitality and health of our bays. Their recovery depends on kinds of enlightened costal management policies and responsible development practices that can be adopted when citizens and communities are informed and engaged in decision making. 

Charlie Flagg, Ph.D, Research Professor, School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences(SoMAS) at Stony Brook SoMAS
  
Prof. Flagg will share his perspective as a research scientist and will provide a slide presentation of images of the breach at Old Inlet taken during his numerous observation flights over the area. Mr. Flagg has been studying the circulation of the costal lagoons of southern Long Island using a combination of numerical modeling and observation. Currently, he is looking at the impact that breaches in Fire Island might have on circulation, sea level, and salinity distribution in Great South Bay. Pof. Flagg will share data collected at the Bellport marina and by the SoMAS research buoy in Great South Bay that show some noticeable changes since Sandy. Most Recent Report
 
Joseph Gagliano, Chairman, Bellport Village Waterfront Commission 
 
Mr. Gagliano will share his perspective as it relates to the actual effects being experienced along the Bellport Village shoreline post Sandy. Bellport Village lies directly opposite the breach on Fire Island less then two miles away.

Additional guests include:
 
Representatives from shoreline communities, municipalities, and organizations who will share their perspectives with regard to the actual effects that the breach is having on the shoreline post breach.
 
Shoreline residents and property owners are urged to attend and will have an opportunity to share their perspectives during the public comment period (60 seconds each)
 
Please arrive 25 minutes early if you wish to sign up for the public comment period.