Hello!

Happy Earth Day! Every year, on April 22nd, the world comes together to celebrate Mother Earth and our commitment and efforts to protect her. This year’s theme is “Invest in Our Planet,” and I ask you to pause and ask yourself - as an individual, family, business owner or employee - what steps or actions you can take to ensure you are investing in our planet.

Please join us for The Great Montauk Cleanup or one of our other upcoming events and help invest in Montauk! 

We are thrilled to report that the long-awaited Coastal Assessment and Resiliency Plan (CARP) for Montauk and East Hampton (developed by environmental experts, a committee of stakeholders and East Hampton Town and NY State) has been completed and can be viewed HERE.

As Laura noted, “CCOM’s leadership on coastal resiliency issues since 2015 has helped ensure the delivery of this plan which is an important first step toward implementing projects and policies aimed to reduce our vulnerability and facilitate sustainable adaptation to our changing coastal environment.”

The CARP assesses key coastal risks that our Montauk community currently faces, and points to the expected drastic increase in the severity of these risks including an anticipated 12-30 inches in sea-level rise projected for Montauk over the next 30 years. It assesses the relative merits of “protect, accommodate, or retreat” strategies needed to respond to flooding, shoreline erosion, and sea-level rise threats and calls for urgent implementation of resilience projects and policies.

Initiatives in the CARP include formation of a Managed Retreat Committee of impacted and relevant stakeholders, Transfer of Development Rights programs, updates in infrastructure, and the elevation of roads or railways. These are complex multi-year projects but it is imperative that we start now on proactive strategies that address the hazards we currently face, in addition to long-term plans to reduce the severity of future impacts from climate change. The plan will be scheduled for a public hearing and input prior to formal adoption by East Hampton Town.

Volunteers are needed once again this year to help install CCOM’s pilot floating wetlands system in Fort Pond. We need folks who are looking to play an active role in Saving Fort Pond and restoring its water quality.

In 2021 CCOM installed over 3,000 square feet of floating wetlands filled with native plants at two locations in Fort Pond. These native plants and their root systems absorbed excess nutrients in the water - nutrients that have fueled the proliferation of harmful algal blooms in late summer.

This year, we need the community’s help on Saturday, May 21st starting @ 9am. Volunteers are needed to plant 7,200 plants into reusable pots, stand in the water (preferably with waders) to install the pots into our floating wetland mats, and then tow and anchor the filled mats into the Pond.

To volunteer, please email: info@preservemontauk.org

CLICK HERE for more info about volunteering.

The future of science is looking bright! After a 2-year hiatus due to COVID-19 concerns, the Montauk School Science Fair returned on April 1, 2022, with over 100 student projects.

The projects were evaluated and scored by a panel of more than 20 judges representing regional science and environmental organizations such as CCOM, Peconic Estuary Partnership, The Nature Conservancy, South Fork Natural History Museum, East Hampton Town Shellfish Hatchery, and the Peconic Baykeeper.

The winners, who will be honored and awarded prizes from both CCOM and Montauk School later in April, can be found here.

“There’s nothing better than engaging with Montauk’s youth,” noted CCOM President Laura Tooman. “These kids are the future of Montauk, and it’s important we invest in creating true environmental stewards.”

Come join us on Thursday April 28th @ 12pm at Gurneys Inn Montauk for the Press News Group’s, “Rising Tide - Montauk 2024: A Changing Landscape at Island's End” Panel Discussion. This ticketed event includes lunch and will bring together a panel of six experts to help address what the future holds as temperatures and ocean levels rise and how the community must respond. CCOM President Laura Tooman will be on the panel. Purchase tickets HERE