Archive
Governor Hochul, Senators Schumer and Gillibrand Announce U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Approval of Emergency Repairs on Eastern Fire Island
Army Corps Approves New York’s Request for “Extreme Storm” Determination; $3.5 Million to Advance Project Engineering and Design Governor Kathy Hochul, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, and U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand today announced the approval of...
FIA Report on Winter Storms
Download the Report Here
Shoring Up LI ‘s Battered Beaches
Recent storms raise questions on how to repair erosion damage
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
Fire Island AIDS Memorial overlooking the ocean will be a fitting ‘tribute’ to honor those who died, organizers say
Eric Sawyer, who's involved in a project to build a Fire Island AIDS Memorial, in front of a New York City AIDS memorial on Wednesday. Credit: Ed Quinn By Brianne Leddabrianne.ledda@newsday.comUpdated January 28, 2024 7:10 am In the 1980s, Eric Sawyer...
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approves federal funding to address Fire Island coastal erosion
By CBS New York Team Updated on: January 26, 2024 / 11:30 PM EST / CBS New York OCEAN BEACH, N.Y. -- Fire Island could soon get federal help to deal with beach erosion. Gov. Kathy Hochul said Friday night that the the United States Army Corps...
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...
Fire Island fire chiefs: Washed-out beaches ‘ticking time bomb’ for first responders
Watch Now • 2:11 https://tv.newsday.com/watch/long-island/towns/fire-island-officials-urging-action-to-repair-storm-damage-to-beaches-steve-mmj-bdfbmg04 'The beach here is our roadway' Fire Island officials push for repairs to storm-damaged beaches. NewsdayTV's Steve...
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...
Shoring Up Fire Island Erosion
Schumer says Fire Island shores washing away from erosion, blames feds
Sen. Chuck Schumer warned that parts of Long Island’s prized beaches and nature reserves have been literally washing away and the Biden Administration has done nothing to replenish the beaches and stem the erosion. Schumer, the Senate Democratic majority leader from...
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,...
Ocean Safety Poster from FINS
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...
Rising ocean, bay tides could eventually reshape Long Island — and how we live, work and play, experts say
By Earth Day 2050, large swaths of Jones Beach could start to disappear. In 2080, the historic Montauk lighthouse and Orient Point may be on their own islands, cut off from the rest of Long Island by newly formed rivers. At the end of this century, Fire...
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...
Fire Island inlet created by Superstorm Sandy is closing, posing danger to water quality
A large Fire Island inlet carved out by Superstorm Sandy has filled up naturally with sand, prompting concern among baymen, environmentalists and others about increased pollution and greater risk of future “brown tide” algae blooms in nearby Bellport Bay. In...
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...
From Fire Island to Delaware River: Lindsey Kurnath named Superintendent of Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River Beach Lake
Kurnath says she aims to work “collaboratively and creatively” with the community and Upper Delaware Council to protect the area. The next superintendent of Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River, in Pennsylvania and New York state, is Lindsey Kurnath, National...
How Superstorm Sandy changed rebuilding waterfront homes on Fire Island
FIRE ISLAND, New York (WABC) -- It was 10 years ago this week that Superstorm Sandy hit the Tri-State and destroyed homes, washed away neighborhoods and changed the way many things are done. That includes the rebuilding of waterfront homes on Fire Island as the...
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...
Brookhaven Town grants Sayville Ferry a 10-year lease to Cherry Grove
The Sayville Ferry — which has taken beachgoers across the Great South Bay to Fire Island since 1894 — was recently approved for a 10-year lease for service to and from Cherry Grove. The Brookhaven Town Board unanimously voted 7-0 in favor of the resolution at the...
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...
Plover protector and social media influencer searches for plovers on Fire Island
Photo: Graduate student Sharon Dorsey carries her spotting scope and other equipment while searching for plovers on Fire Island, New York. One hundred years have passed since the first female undergraduates enrolled in Virginia Tech. To mark the occasion, the...
Trust And Science: What Parks Can Learn From Fire Island National Seashore
By Michael Sparks When Hurricane Sandy opened a breach in Fire Island National Seashore, some residents wanted it closed. Thanks to long-standing community relationships and smart science, it stayed open. A punishing storm ran up the Eastern seaboard in...
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,...
Brookhaven agrees to take part in $1.5B FIMP shoreline protection project
By Carl MacGowancarl.macgowan@newsday.com@CarlMacGowan Updated June 20, 2021 7:00 AM Brookhaven Supervisor Edward P. Romaine wrote a June 11 letter to Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) raising concerns about some aspects of the $1.5 billion Fire Island-to-Montauk shoreline...
For Lease: Windmill Space in the Atlantic Between Long Island and New Jersey
The proposed lease sale is part of the Biden administration's push to develop 30,000 megawatts of offshore wind power by 2030. WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Friday announced that it would begin the formal process of selling leases to develop offshore...
At Home on Fire Island All Year Round: The Joys and Challenges – Newsday
Brendan Reynolds summered for a decade on Fire Island before giving in to his love for the sea. He moved into Lonelyville, an idyllic beach community on the western end. "It was very nice not to have to lock your doors and be able to sleep with windows open and hear...
Cuomo Announces Deployment of Rail Cars to Fire Island to Bolster State’s Artificial Reef Network
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced the deployment of 32 rail cars to the Fire Island and Twelve Mile reefs during the third year of New York's historic expansion of artificial reefs off the shores of Long Island. The Governor directed this strategic deployment...
Appeals court upholds plan to cull white-tailed deer population on Fire Island
A federal appellate court on Monday ruled in favor of Fire Island National Seashore’s plan to control the white-tailed deer population with hunters and euthanasia, upholding a lower court decision. Officials at Fire Island National Seashore released a...
Asian Longhorned Tick Species Confirmed in Suffolk County and Fire Island
The National Park Service and Suffolk County Department of Health Services have confirmed the findings of Asian longhorned ticks (Haemaphysalis longicornis) in Suffolk County at Lloyd Harbor, William Floyd Estate, and Ocean Beach on Fire Island. The Asian longhorned...
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...
Saltaire Forum on Drinking Water and Marine Mammals – 8/16/19
Join us for an educational forum on Fire Island drinking water and the return of marine mammals on Saturday, Aug. 16, 2019, at 11:00-12:30am at the Saltaire Library. See flyer for more information on this free event. FLYER
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...
FIA Meeting: July 27, 1pm, in Ocean Beach
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
U.S. Judge Scraps Trump Order Opening Arctic, Atlantic Areas to Oil Leasing
A federal judge in Alaska has overturned U.S. President Donald Trump’s attempt to open vast areas of the Arctic and Atlantic oceans to oil and gas leasing. Read more.
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...
Photos and Video: Old Inlet Wilderness Breach
Mid Winter Update Part I - by Mike Busch for FireIslandandBeyond See video
Long Island is looking for volunteers to help track migration patterns of alewives and blueback herring
See flyer. See flyer
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...
View a video on the FI breach
This video was created by the National Park Service's Harper's Ferry Center. view video
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...
History of Life Saving in FI Presentation June 11
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Tourism to Fire Island National Seashore Creates $23.5 Million in Economic Benefits — Report shows visitor spending supports 218 jobs in local economy
Tourism to Fire Island National Seashore Creates $23.5 Million in Economic Benefits -- Report shows visitor spending supports 218 jobs in local economy Patchogue, NY - April 29, 2016 - A new National Park Service (NPS) report shows that 441,999 visitors to Fire Island...
National Park Service Approves Fire Island National Seashore White-tailed Deer Management Plan
Patchogue, NY - May 3, 2016 - Fire Island National Seashore Superintendent Chris Soller announced today that National Park Service (NPS) Northeast Regional Director Michael Caldwell approved the Seashore's White-tailed Deer Management Plan through a Record of...
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...