River preservation's a job well done

I must applaud Brookhaven Town Supervisor Mark Lesko for his foresight in seeking to preserve the Carmans River ["Politics & Power: Delicate deal for Carmans River," News, Feb. 13]. Together with Richard Amper, I am confident that they will work out a plan that will allow future generations to appreciate its beauty.

As an avid canoeist, I can say that the unspoiled beauty of the Carmans River is one of Long Island's hidden gems. Some of the other rivers, such as the Connetquot, the Nissequogue and the Peconic, while having their own charm, do not match the pristine state of the Carmans.

Paddling a canoe along its current puts you in touch with nature at its finest, both flora and fauna. Many types of flowers, as well as muskrats, turtles, frogs and various types of birds and waterfowl, grace a serene journey down the river. It often provides a much needed break from our busy modern world.

For this, I thank those involved with preserving this treasure.

Tony Korec

Medford

The ink hadn't dried on the landmark Carmans River Watershed Protection and Management Plan when Mitchell Pally, new chief executive of the Long Island Builders Institute, charged that the plan proposed some preservation solely to prohibit development ["Watershed plan stirs dispute," News, Feb. 10]. How wrong.

Environmentalists don't promote land preservation just to prevent development any more than developers build just to destroy the environment. Developers build to make big bucks. They compromise water quality and habitat incidental to that goal, but not solely to harm the environment.

Approval of the Carmans River Plan will benefit Long Island's environment and economy by protecting drinking and surface waters while redirecting construction out of the watershed and residential communities and into downtowns. This noble goal is not advanced by false charges of spiteful motives.

Richard Amper

Ridge

Editor's note: The writer is the executive director of the Long Island Pine Barrens Society.

Regarding the editorial "A plan to save the Carmans" [Feb. 10], it is worth noting that the Carmans River is getting the attention it surely deserves as a magnificent Long Island resource due to a strong and committed constituency that has evolved over many years advocating and working for its protection and wise management. The river is an iconic system that clearly represents the inherent struggle between ongoing human activities and the natural function of a complicated ecosystem, which we are striving to understand and better manage as best we can.

While the Carmans River clearly deserves this attention, it is but one of many tributaries that provide a critical freshwater component to our beautiful and diverse coastal estuaries like Long Island Sound, Peconic Bay and the South Shore Estuary. Many tributaries to these bodies of water are in a sorry condition and need a strong and committed constituency like that for the Carmans River.

Protecting and improving the quality of all of our tributaries must be a priority for residents and government in order to heal our estuaries.

Jeffrey D. Fullmer

Farmingdale

Editor's note: The writer is the watershed and regulatory services coordinator for Fabco Industries, a wastewater filtration company.