Suffolk buys land for preservation

Suffolk County will buy 33 acres of open space under two bills signed by Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy.

Levy said in a news release Wednesday that the county will spend $3.7 million to purchase a 26-acre site known as the Lack property in Southampton Town. He said the move will preserve woodland and tidal wetlands in the Peconic Estuary, a watershed that begins with  the headwaters of the Peconic River in Brookhaven Town and extends east, draining into the bays between the North and South Forks.

Another $245,000 will be spent to preserve seven acres near the Beaverdam Creek watershed in Brookhaven Town, the release said.

“To preserve 26 acres of property anywhere in Suffolk is growing more difficult by the day, which makes the preservation of the Lack property that much more magnificent,” Levy said in the release. “Because Beaverdam Creek is an important tributary into Bellport Bay and the Great South Bay, preserving seven more acres in this watershed further preserves the quality of our creek and the bays.”