When Lisa Ott first started the North Shore Land Alliance, she was the only employee. Now 22 years later, she serves as the president alongside 11 others. Since then the alliance has amassed 27 environmental easements from local properties in Sands Point in Port Washington to Asharoken in Huntington.
“There’s an awful lot of land out there left to be protected, so we have a lot more work to do,” Ott said.
The alliance—based out of the Humes Preserve in Mill Neck—is seeking to buy a five-acre plot of land on Yellow Cote Road in Oyster Bay Cove. Ott said the property, which borders the Red Cote Preserve, is owned by the Pulling family. The organization has reportedly raised over $600,000 toward buying the estimated $1.5 million property.
If the land were acquired by the alliance, it would be absorbed by the current 30-acre preserve and made open to the public, Ott said. She said walking through the preserve makes you feel like you’re “in a different place in time.”
“It’s an amazing piece of nature, and it’s also very old and it’s beautiful,” she said.
Oyster Bay Cove Mayor Charles Goulding said he supports the project, as the preserve is “very accessible and widely used, and enjoyed by the general public.”
In addition to land acquisitions, the alliance enters into environmental easements with nearby properties, which is a “legal agreement where you promise to protect your land forever,” Ott said. The alliance has 27 easements with North Shore properties, she said.
Ott said easements are particularly important for lands that have significant habitats or landscapes.
“We would love to do more conservation easements,” she said.
Ott said there are many parcels of land on the North Shore that border preserves, such as farms and golf courses, that are yet to have protections placed on them. She said in the future, the land alliance would be interested in conserving those parcels as well.
“The things that you love and you drive by and you admire are the places that we’d like to protect,” Ott said.
However, land acquisitions and easements are not the only work completed by the alliance.
“Our primary goal and objective is to protect land and that can be done in a variety of ways,” Ott said.
In addition to its land purchases and easements, the alliance promotes environmental education through its community outreach, including nature walks, kayaking sessions and children’s activities.
On Saturday, July 12, the alliance is leading a bird identification walk at the Red Cote Preserve, touring the grounds that may be home to future expansion.
For more information on the North Shore Land Alliance or to donate towards its fundraising efforts, visit northshorelandalliance.org.
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