The Long Island Pine Barrens form a diverse set of natural habitats that include dry uplands as well as wetlands.
Pitch Pines (
Pinus rigida) at Sandy Pond on February 11, 2007
According to The Nature Conservancy:
A diverse mosaic of pitch pine woodlands, pitch pine-oak forests, coastal plain ponds, swamps, marshes, bogs and streams, the Long Island Pine Barrens are one of the most important factors contributing to the health and purity of Long Island's treasured drinking water.
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http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/newyork/preserves/art10990.html (Accessed May 22, 2008)
According to the Central Pine Barrens Joint Planning and Policy Commission:
A rich concoction of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, interconnected surface and ground waters, recreational niches, historic locales, farmlands, and residential communities, this region contains the largest remnant of a forest thought to have once encompassed over a quarter million acres on Long Island. The Central Pine Barrens overlies one portion of Long Island's federally designated sole source aquifer for drinking water.
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http://pb.state.ny.us/ (Accessed May 22, 2008)
The Long Island Pine Barrens are named for the Pitch Pine (
Pinus rigida), a small-to-medium sized tree with thick needles that occur in groups of three. The cones are prickly, and become mature in two years. In most locations within the Long Island Pine Barrens, the cones open upon maturity, however, in the Dwarf Pine Plains, most of the Pitch Pines bear cones that are serotinous, and require fire in order to open and release their seeds. In this sense, these trees are fire-adapted. Many other species of plants and animals in the Long Island Pine Barrens are fire-adapted as well, with mechanisms for either avoiding being killed by fire, or for reproducing after a fire.
Pitch Pine with serotinous cones in the Dwarf Pine Plains on October 8, 2006
From the Central Pine Barrens Joint Planning and Policy Commission:
In 1993, New York State's Long Island Pine Barrens Protection Act defined this region at the junction of the Towns of Brookhaven, Riverhead, and Southampton. The 1993 Act created a five member Central Pine Barrens Joint Planning and Policy Commission, an Advisory Committee, and mandated the production and implementation of the Central Pine Barrens Comprehensive Land Use Plan, adopted in June 1995.
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http://pb.state.ny.us/ (Accessed May 28, 2008)
For regulatory purposes, the Central Long Island Pine Barrens region is divided into two zoning classifications:
1) the core area, where development is strongly discouraged, and
2) the compatible growth area, where limited development is permitted.
The attached kmz file outlines these zones.
Round-leaved Sundew (
Drosera rotundifolia),
Sphagnum Moss, and Pitch Pine needles at Sandy Pond on May 10, 2008. Sundew is insectivorous.
Links to additional information on the Long Island Pine Barrens
The Nature Conservancy: Central Pine Barrens - Long Island Central Pine Barrens Joint Planning and Policy Commission: New York State's Central Pine Barrens Long Island Pine Barrens Society Wikipedia: Long Island Central Pine Barrens Suffolk County Government: Dwarf Pine Plains Preserve Wikipedia: Pitch Pine The Nature Conservancy Partners with State, County, Town to Preserve 308-Acre Rare Forest New York Times: From Pines' Ashes, a Different Landscape Foundation for Ecological Research in the Northeast Google Earth Community: The Calverton PondsGoogle Earth Community: Fire Management at the David A. Sarnoff PreserveGoogle Earth Community: Dwarf Pine Plains of WesthamptonGoogle Earth Community: Classic Map of Long Island Geology as an OverlayGoogle Earth Community: Long Island Digital Elevation ModelGoogle Earth Community: Long Island's Aquifer SystemGoogle Earth Community: Eastern Box TurtlesGoogle Earth Community: Sears Bellows County ParkGoogle Earth Community: Suffolk County, NY Town BoundariesGoogle Earth Community: Old Places in the New Jersey PinelandsGoogle Earth Community: Large Anthills in the Long Island Pine BarrensGoogle Earth Community: Swan Lake Golf ClubGoogle Earth Community: Leisure Village Wastewater Treatment PlantGoogle Earth Community: Dumping in the Pine BarrensGoogle Earth Community: All Terrain Vehicle Damage on Hiking TrailsPhotographs from the Long Island Pine BarrensSome of these photographs have been geotagged and placed on Flickr maps. To view a geotagged photograph's location on Google Earth, open its photo page, click on
map under
Additional Information, copy the latitude, longitude coordinate pair, and use it in Google Earth's Search pane to fly to the location.
Preston Ponds and Calverton Ponds AreasDwarf Pine Plains - October 2006Northwest Quadrant of Dwarf Pine PlainsEastern Box TurtlesRocky Point - July, 2006Calverton Ponds February 2007Calverton Ponds - June 2007Calverton Ponds - August, 2008Sears BellowsSears Bellows - MarchHubbard County ParkWestern Sarnoff PreservePeconic River Pine BarrensPine Barrens East of Brookhaven National LaboratoryRocky Point in April, 2008Pine Barrens Trail near RiverheadDumping in the Pine Barrens
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