Archive

The East Coast Is Sinking

New satellite-based research reveals how land along the coast is slumping into the ocean, compounding the danger from global sea level rise. A major culprit: overpumping of groundwater. Click here for more

A Powerful Storm Hits Fire Island

Last week an unnamed storm event came out of the Gulf and raced up the east coast, leaving trees blown down, power outages affecting thousands, and causing major coastal and inland flooding on its way north. By the time it arrived on Fire Island, the storm’s barometer...

Ophelia Inflicts Major Damage to Parts of Fire Island

As you can see above, we have a difficult time ahead for our island, and it’s only October. Ophelia battered Fire Island’s east end more seriously than elsewhere, but island-wide we have great challenges facing us. This report is lengthy, but conditions warrant...

https://www.fireislandassociation.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/FIG-article_V2_GREEN.pdf

FIA RESPONSE TO THE NY TIMES ARTICLE

Dear Fire Islander,Welcome to this first issue of FIA Update. From time to time, we receive important information from FINS, New York State, Suffolk County, our two Towns, or our three ferry companies. These updates could relate to anything from emergency alerts,...

For Fire Island’s Kismet, outrageous house names spell good times

By Tom SchlichterSpecial to NewsdayUpdated May 17, 2023 4:20 pm Getting around in Kismet really isn't hard. Just step off the ferry and head south toward the ocean until you see Pasta Sunday. From there, make a right and continue until spotting Island Hopper. Turn...

A New Way to Grow Eelgrass

Fire Island News By Karl Grossman A new way to grow eelgrass is being pursued off Barrett Beach on Fire Island. The concept is that of Robert (Rob) Vasiluth. And its development originates with 9/11. Vasiluth, an operating engineer from Suffolk County, was in...

Potential for Wave of Ocean-related LI Jobs

Commercial and research activities tied to the ocean — such as boating, tourism, ferries, fishing and wind farms — could create as many as 60,000 jobs on Long Island by 2051, according to a new report. The economic sector, called the "blue economy” by the...

A Whale of a Mystery

Newsday Editorial: https://www.newsday.com/opinion/editorials/dead-whales-offshore-wind-long-island-ijy7ye2r A dead humpback whale on Lido Beach on Jan. 31. Credit: AP/Seth Wenig By The Editorial BoardFebruary 5, 2023 4:00 pm There are lessons to be...

Fire Island Inlet to Montauk Point dredging contract for GLDD

Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Co. (GLDD) has won a $24,498,050 firm-fixed-price contract for construction of the Fire Island Inlet to Montauk Point dredging Moriches and Shinnecock Inlets. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received, the U.S. Department of...

Saving the History of the Pines on Fire Island

Bobby Bonanno created the Fire Island Pines Historical Preservation Society, collecting photographs and documents and conducting interviews. By Julie Lasky April 29, 2022 Erosion is a theme of the Pines, with its wind-tortured dunes and combustible wood buildings. But...

10 Years After Sandy, Fire Island’s Fragile Beaches Are Holding Up

A $170 million effort by the federal government helped the island recover in the aftermath of the 2012 hurricane, but residents recognize that another storm could wash all the progress away. By Gregory SchmidtApril 29, 2022 After Hurricane Sandy ravaged the Eastern...

Hidden in a Fire Island House, the Soundtrack of Love and Loss

By Julie Lasky April 29, 2022 Erosion is a theme of the Pines, with its wind-tortured dunes and combustible wood buildings. But Bobby Bonanno, 65, who works as a hairdresser in Bellport, N.Y., and has visited the Pines for more than four decades, was concerned about...

Coastal storm splits island and brings communities together

In 1992, Joseph Vietri, then a coastal engineer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District, was walking with a colleague and a coastal researcher around Westhampton Beach, a barrier island located on the south shore of Long Island, New York. A barrier...

An Island of Off-the-Grid Homes, Just 50 Miles From Times Square

On Oak Island, where “doing it yourself” is basically the only option, residents have their own version of Brigadoon. By Stacey StoweOct. 5, 2021 When evening comes, it is fatigue that pulls the blanket of darkness over the homes of Oak Island. Most lights wink out by...

The Cost of Insuring Expensive Waterfront Homes Is About to Skyrocket

New federal flood insurance rates that better reflect the real risks of climate change are coming. For some, premiums will rise sharply. Florida’s version of the American dream, which holds that even people of relatively modest means can aspire to live near the water,...

Suffolk Health Officials Release Historic Water Quality Plan

Taking an historic step forward in ongoing efforts to better protect both groundwater and surface waters, the Suffolk County Department of Health Services has released the County’s long-awaited Subwatersheds Wastewater Plan [SWP], a rigorous scientific blueprint for...

Suffolk Co. Releases Subwatersheds Wastewater Plan

A Roadmap to Reclaim Our Water -- Turning the tide on nitrogen pollution Suffolk County is taking an historic step forward in ongoing efforts to better protect both groundwater and surface water through the development of a countywide wastewater upgrade strategy. In a...

FIMI Update

Final FIMI Contract for Sand Placement is Proceeding in Brookhaven Communities Contract 3B2 – Dune and berm construction This contract calls for the placement of 2.3 million cubic yards of sand, and construction of 34 crossovers, two ADA accessible walkovers, and...

FINS Presentation Prominent at LIU Symposium

The Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation has funded the Palmer School of Library and Information Science at LIU, and they are in the midst of their six-year project to digitize materials provided by 28 participating historical societies. The project has gathered and...

Cuomo signs New York offshore drilling ban alongside Billy Joel

The bill would prohibit state agencies from processing applications for pipelines or any other transportation and distribution services needed to facilitate offshore drilling.https://www.newsday.com/long-island/politics/cuomo-joel-offshore-drilling-1.30428460

Fire Island Breach Stable 5 Years After Sandy, Study Says

Five years after Sandy breached Fire Island, the new channel between the Atlantic and Great South Bay is shifting, but stable and unlikely to increase bay-front storm flooding, a new study found. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) made the findings in what the federal...

Register to Vote in Fire Island by 10/12

All Fire Island homeowners and their families, as well as permanent residents, are allowed to vote from Fire Island regardless of where they also live or own property. But you must register to vote six weeks prior to the election and then you can vote by absentee...

Alexcy Romero Named FINS Superintendent

By Ellen Yan ellen.yan@newsday.com @NewsdayAtNite Updated August 19, 2018 7:52 PM The blue skies, the water slapping the boat, the wooden walkways on the sliver of sand — former Long Islander Alexcy Romero will never forget the moment, more than 25 years ago, when he...

On Fire Island Ferries, Aging Mariners Seek Successors

New York Times, By Corey Kilgannon, Sept. 2, 2018   BAY SHORE, N.Y. — With a smooth spin of the heavy iron steering wheel, Capt. Ernie Villing backed the Fire Island Belle out of its ferry slip and set course for a thin, gauzy strip on the hazy horizon across the...

Lecture on 6/9 by ACOE Senior Engineer Lynn Bocamazo

Lynn Bocamazo, the Army Corps Senior Engineer for FIMI, will be the speaker at the Sayre Lecture in Point O Woods this year. SATURDAY, JUNE 9th at 3:45pm Lynn is extremely familiar with the shore management issues facing Fire Island now and in the future. Her lecture...

Old Inlet Flyover Update from Dr. Charles Flagg 4-27-18

Reprinted with Permission from Dr. Charles Flagg Charles Flagg / School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook University This is a quick note on the status of the breach after the series of nor’easters we have had over the past month and a half.  In the past...

FI Cabin Sale Incites Rebellion

NYTimes  By COLIN MOYNIHAN  MARCH 25, 2018 ATLANTIQUE, N.Y. — John Maier stood inside the Appalachian Mountain Club’s Fire Island cabin recently and described waking up there during the summer. “It’s amazing to get up, go right outside and see egrets or great blue...

FINS Superintendent Chris Soller Retires

News Release Date: March 22, 2018 Contact: Elizabeth Rogers, 631-687-4766 Patchogue, NY - The National Park Service (NPS) announced today that Fire Island National Seashore Superintendent Karl “Chris” Soller will retire on March 31, 2018. In his 41 years of service,...

DEC adopts terrapin excluders for crab traps

Good News for NY Terrapins By Carl LoBue On Friday March 16th The Commissioner of NYS DEC signed off on The Certificate of Adoption of regulatory requirements for terrapin excluders in crab traps in most parts New York that are preferred habitat for diamondback...

FIA Letter to Dept of Interior about Off-Shore Oil Drilling

March 2, 2018 Secretary Ryan Zinke Department of the Interior 1849 C Street, N.W. Washington DC 20240 Re: National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program Draft Proposed Program (DPP) Dear Secretary Zinke, My name is Suzy Goldhirsch, and I am the President...

Offshore drilling hearing should be moved to LI, officials say

The federal government has scheduled the hearing in Albany, but Long Island officials argue it should be held closer to those impacted by the proposal. By Carl MacGowancarl.macgowan@newsday.com @CarlMacGowan Updated February 7, 2018 6:08 PM Long Island officials have...

Inside a Fire Island School

The Woodhull School, located in Ocean Beach, is one of the best schools in the country. With fewer than 25 students in grades Pre-K through Sixth, students learn with a high student-to-teacher ratio and a concentration on the ocean environment. Plus, kids get to ride...

Wind Power Comes to Long Island

Only a few years ago, the long-held dream of harnessing the strong, steady gusts off the Atlantic coast to make electricity seemed destined to remain just that. Proposals for offshore wind farms foundered on the shoals of high costs, regulatory hurdles and the fierce...

Wind tunnel tests Jersey Shore sand, grasses for dune strength

WARETOWN — Inside an old vo-tech garage tucked deep in the New Jersey Pinelands is a Willy Wonka-esque contraption of plywood, plexiglass, and a few high-tech components that may help engineers understand just how coastal dunes – and the dune grass upon them – are...

On Fire Island, a Scar From Hurricane Sandy Is Seen as a Good Thing

By LISA W. FODERARO OCT. 3, 2016 The New York Times BROOKHAVEN, N.Y. — For all the devastation wrought by Hurricane Sandy on the New York region four years ago, there were a few places that stood out, becoming symbols of the storm. There was the image of a roller...

FIMP (Fire Island to Montauk Point) General Re-Evaluation Report

The long-awaited FIMP General Re-evaluation Report (GRR) and EIS was FINALLY released today by USACE for a 60-day public review and comment period. Attached you will find: (1) the text of the USACE press release (2) the link to the GRR/EIS report, and (3) information...

Proposed Suffolk County Hotel/Motel Tax Update

There is a Suffolk County law stating that a tax must be collected from all persons occupying hotel or motel rooms in the County. Specifically, the law requires every facility providing overnight lodging to charge their guests at the rate of 3% of the per-diem rental...

FIMI Project Update

Please remember that this information is provided by the Suffolk County FIMI team, and reflects current conditions and assessments. The estimates, especially regarding the construction timeline, are of course based on many complex variables and therefore subject to...

Comment Period for FINS General Management Plan Ends 9/17

The FINS Draft General Management Plan (GMP) has been released for public review and comment period. The NPS Preferred Alternative as outlined in the GMP (Management Alternative #3) recognizes the important role that the communities play as advocates and stewards of...