Partners and speakers at the Suffolk County Long Island Sound Coastal Erosion Forum held May 10, 2023, at the Port Jefferson Village Center. (L-r) Tom Mohrman (Maidstone Landing Association), Corey Humphrey (Suffolk County Soil & Water Conservation District), Kathleen Fallon (NYSG), Suffolk County Legislator Stephanie Bontempi, Elizabeth Hornstein (NYSG), Village of Port Jefferson Trustee Rebecca Kassay, Mark Lowery (NYSDEC), Suffolk County Legislator Sarah Anker, Suffolk County Legislator Kara Hahn, Suffolk County Legislator Al Krupski, Barbara Kendall (NYSDOS), Ryan Porciello (NYSDEC), Alexa Fournier (NYSDEC), Sarah Schaefer-Brown (NYSG)

Contacts:

Elizabeth Hornstein, NYSG Sustainable and Resilient Communities Specialist, Suffolk County, E: eeh78@cornell.edu, Phone: (631) 632-8730

Sarah Schaefer-Brown, NYSG Sustainable and Resilient Communities Specialist, Nassau County, E: scs292@cornell.edu, Phone: (516) 832-2591

Kathleen Fallon, NYSG Coastal Processes & Hazards Specialist, E: kmf228@cornell.edu, P: (631) 632-8730

Stony Brook, NY, May 16, 2023 - Two forums — one held at Locust Valley Library in Nassau County on May 4th and another at the Port Jefferson Village Center in Suffolk County on May 10th — brought together a total of 90 attendees (including state and local decision makers, municipal state, and other stakeholders) working to address coastal erosion along the Long Island Sound shoreline. 

View and download presentations from each of the forums: Nassau County (pdf) and Suffolk County (pdf).

Participants shared information on best practices, discussed challenges, and identified opportunities to increase resilience, all in an effort to enhance coordination across communities.

Panelists highlighted strategies and options to address coastal erosion, discussed the Coastal Erosion Hazard Areas Program, local codes, updated New York State sea level rise projections and more. 

During small group discussions, attendees delved into:

• how to better educate private property owners who live on the shore or who are buying property on the shore

• how county, state and federal agencies can better support municipalities and communities who are dealing with shoreline erosion

• how to balance protecting coastal habitats with protection of coastal communities and infrastructure. 

Over the next few months, organizers will review the feedback from the small group discussions and follow up with partners on next steps.

Hosted by New York Sea Grant and Long Island Sound Study, these forums were made possible thanks to partnerships with Nassau and Suffolk Soil and Water Conservation Districts and Suffolk County Legislators Sarah Anker, Stephanie Bontempi, Kara Hahn, and Al Krupski.


Sarah Schaefer-Brown welcoming attendees to the Nassau County Long Island Sound Coastal Erosion Forum held May 4, 2023, at the Locust Valley Library.


More Info: New York Sea Grant

New York Sea Grant (NYSG), a cooperative program of Cornell University and the State University of New York (SUNY), is one of 34 university-based programs under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Sea Grant College Program.

Since 1971, NYSG has represented a statewide network of integrated research, education and extension services promoting coastal community economic vitality, environmental sustainability and citizen awareness and understanding about the State’s marine and Great Lakes resources.

Through NYSG’s efforts, the combined talents of university scientists and extension specialists help develop and transfer science-based information to many coastal user groups—businesses and industries, federal, state and local government decision-makers and agency managers, educators, the media and the interested public.

The program maintains Great Lakes offices at Cornell University, SUNY Buffalo, SUNY Oswego and the Wayne County Cooperative Extension office in Newark. In the State's marine waters, NYSG has offices at Stony Brook University in Long Island, Brooklyn College and Cornell Cooperative Extension in NYC and Kingston in the Hudson Valley.

For updates on Sea Grant activities: www.nyseagrant.org has RSS, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube links. NYSG offers a free e-list sign up via www.nyseagrant.org/nycoastlines for its flagship publication, NY Coastlines/Currents, which is published quarterly.