SPECIAL END-OF-YEAR CALL FOR NEW MEMBERS

Won’t you help us close out FLPG’s 25^th anniversary year with the largest number of members ever! To honor this landmark year, we set our sights high, but we’re not quite there yet. Luckily we have two months to go. Being an all-volunteer organization, every FLPG membership dollar goes straight into stewardship projects, educational programs, guided hikes, and conservation advocacy. As a year-end bonus, if you join or renew a lapsed membership (or give a gift membership) during November or December, you will be included in both the 2022 membership year and your membership will extend through 2023 as well. The same applies to gift memberships. Join today! Be counted twice! And help close out our anniversary year with a bang!! Click here to join up.

REMEMBER TO VOTE “YES” ON NYS PROP 1

On November 8th (or in early voting), it’s important that you turn over your ballot to VOTE YES on Prop 1, the Clean Water, Clean Air, and Green Jobs Bond Act (also known as the Environmental Bond Act). 

If passed, the New York State $4.2 billion bond will provide urgently needed funds to:

• protect clean drinking water for millions of New Yorkers;
• conserve wildlife habitats, protect local farms, and increase access to parks;
• support 100,000 local, family-sustaining jobs;
• upgrade roads, bridges, and storm water infrastructure to reduce flood risk;
• expand renewable energy and increase energy efficiency;
• help school districts ensure their school buses are all electric by 2035, which the state mandated earlier this year; 
• and more.

Don’t miss this extraordinary opportunity to vote for this this critically important environmental bond act – a significant investment in clean water and climate resiliency.  

Final Sundays at Two Lecture of 2022

Highlights of the Fall Sky

with Hamptons Observatory

Sunday, November 6th, 2:00 p.m.

(but don't forget to fall back!)

Virtual Only - Zoom Link Below

What makes the days shorter, the nights longer, and the air cooler? And what heavenly bodies and celestial events can we observe for the remainder of the year? In this free virtual (Zoom) event co-sponsored by FLPG and Hamptons Observatory, Senior Educator William Francis Taylor will discuss the seasons, such special events as meteor showers and the total lunar eclipse on November 7th - 8th, as well as planets that will be visible (especially Saturn and Jupiter). He will also provide an illustrated update on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). To register in advance, visit: https://bit.ly/Sky-Talk.

Mr. Taylor has been a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador since 2014, lecturing about the universe around us and sharing his love of the heavens by giving guided tours of the sky through telescopes. He is a life-long East End resident.

Hamptons Observatory (HO), a 501(c)(3) NYS nonprofit that relies on public support, has served the community since 2005. Its mission: to foster interest in science, particularly astronomy, through educational programs. Lectures, star parties, portable planetarium shows and other events are held, often in collaboration with other nonprofit organizations. HO has established the first astronomical observatory on the South Fork (in East Hampton), complete with Long Island's largest research-grade telescope; these facilities will soon be accessible over the internet to students, teachers, researchers and the general public. Hamptons Observatory offers all of its programs free-of-charge so that everyone can learn about and enjoy the universe around them.

Good News for Ligonee Brook:

Community Preservation Fund Purchases Two Parcels Bordering Ligonee in Sag Harbor

Preserving and protecting Ligonee Brook has been a long-time goal of FLPG. And not just through the acquisition of neighboring property, but also through regular stream clean-ups and working with the Nature Conservancy and Long Island Invasive Species Management (LIISMA) to remove phragmites at Long Pond near the Ligonee outlet. Both sides of the brook close to the pond are already protected by Suffolk County and The Nature Conservany open space purchases. Having an additional 1.8 acres preserved downstream is good news for Ligonee’s future.

Another Wonderful Day at the 23rd Annual Celebration of the Long Pond Greenbelt

Our 23rd Annual Celebration of the Long Pond Greenbelt, sponsored by Friends of the Long Pond Greenbelt (FLPG), the South Fork Natural History Museum & Nature Center (SOFO), and the Peconic Land Trust, was another great success. 

A big thank you to everyone who made it possible:

FLPG Board Members – David Cummings, Dai Dayton, Jean Dodds, Sharone Einhorn. The SOFO Museum Nature Educators and Volunteers – Melanie Chuya, Virginia Kasselakis, Frank Quevedo, Emily Zabusky. Peconic Land Trust – Kathy Kennedy, Pat Sanders. The Children's Museum of the East End – Liz Bard. The Hampton Library – Rich Crowley, Lisa Michne. John

Jermain Library – Aracely Garcia, Elizabeth Lee. Peconic Baykeeper – Alexa Annunziata, Ella Annunziata. Quality Parks – Mindy Block. Southampton Town Community Preservation Fund – Emily Efstration, Beth Fellini, Juliana Quant. Southampton Town Parks & Recreation – Teresa

Malone. Southampton Trails Preservation Society/Horses on Trails – Marilynn Kirkbright. Turtle Rescue of the Hamptons – Erika Haberkorn. Our Hike Leaders – Frank Quevedo and Chris Chapin.  And the Quogue Wildlife Refuge – Tony Valderrama with Hooter the Great Horned Owl, Crypto the Bearded Dragon, Boxy the Eastern Box Turtle and Checkers the Corn Snake. A big Thank You

also goes out all of YOU who attended!