Friends of the Bay to celebrate estuary plan

Environmentalists will join government officials Thursday to mark the completion of a watershed protection plan for the Oyster Bay-Cold Spring Harbor estuary.

The 2 p.m. gathering at the WaterFront Center in Oyster Bay will celebrate the blueprint for initiatives to protect water quality through greener development, septic system and stormwater treatment standards, wetland restoration and other projects.

"It's a framework for the actions needed to protect and restore the resource," said Patricia Aitken, executive director of Friends of the Bay. The environmental group proposed creation of the plan in 2006 and has overseen the project funded by foundations and the Town of Oyster Bay.

The $58,000 plan prepared by a consultant for the 6,000-acre estuary lists 10 top priorities, some of which could be controversial and expensive. It calls for strengthening local septic system standards and requiring periodic inspections and maintenance. It proposes establishment of a public shellfish spawning sanctuary. It suggests developing a strategy to reduce pathogens and promote greener development and stormwater treatment methods. It urges alternatives to building bulkheads along the shoreline.

There is already action on three of the priorities. The plan calls for local governments to form a joint protection committee, and the 18 municipalities that border the watershed are doing that.

It calls for stream, pond and wetland restoration and creation of buffer zones around them to limit runoff. Friends of the Bay has received a $40,000 grant from the Long Island Sound Futures Fund to plan a Mill River-Beekman Creek restoration project. The creek runs into Oyster Bay Harbor underneath the parking lot at Beekman Beach. The project would rehabilitate the creek to prevent the banks from crumbling, open it to daylight and make it easier for trout to swim up and down it.

The plan calls for protecting open space and increasing public access in part by creating a waterways trail to increase recreational opportunities. Huntington and Oyster Bay are creating Blueway Trails.

The plan is posted at friendsofthe bay.org.