Celebrating Arbor Day – and Earth Month – with the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation
April 24, 2025
By Yvette DeBow-Salsedo
Planting Trees at New Preserve on Conscience Bay in East Setauket
On Thursday, April 24, we commemorated Arbor Day with the NYS DEC by planting trees and celebrated the conservation of land along Conscience Bay and Little Bay in East Setauket.
We were excited to join the DEC’s Acting Commissioner Amanda Lefton, Brookhaven Town Supervisor Dan Panico, County Legislator Steven Englebright, and members of the Setalcott Nation to celebrate the conservation of environmentally-sensitive and historically-significant land fronting on Conscience Bay and Little Bay in East Setauket.
Since 2014, the Trust has worked with the DEC and the Town of Brookhaven to protect, restore, and preserve six parcels within the broader Conscience Bay Watershed. The last of these projects was finalized in February -- illustrating the power of collaborations between land trusts and our public partners.
“As we celebrate Arbor Day along Conscience Bay, we are reminded of why we work so hard every day to conserve land in our communities – here the Peconic Land Trust pre-acquired an assemblage of environmentally sensitive and historically significant parcels along the causeway to Strongs Neck in partnership with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation,” said Peconic Land Trust President John v.H. Halsey.
“Together these parcels contribute to the health of Conscience Bay and Little Bay by protecting tidal wetlands as well as providing habitat for wildlife. In addition, these parcels represent the history of this place as Setalcott ancestral land and the home of the Culper Spy Ring, which was so helpful to General Washington during the American Revolution,” John added.
We thank Governor Hochul, our representatives in the New York State Senate and Assembly, and in the Town of Brookhaven, and the team at the DEC for their commitment to protecting the places we know and love on Long Island. We look forward to future collaborations.
Yvette DeBow-Salsedo
Vice President
ydebow@peconiclandtrust.org