N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law § 11-0306-a: The Flax Pond tidal wetlands sanctuary

§ 11-0306-a. The Flax Pond tidal wetlands sanctuary.

1. There is established a Flax Pond tidal wetlands sanctuary for the

purpose of protecting areas of special ecological significance within

the Flax Pond tidal marsh. The sanctuary shall be composed of the tidal

wetlands located in the village of Old Field, county of Suffolk as

designated on the March tenth, nineteen hundred sixty-six survey filed

in the Suffolk County Clerk's office as file number 136899 and including

a permanent easement for the State University of New York as designated

on the March ninth, nineteen hundred sixty-six survey filed in the

Suffolk County Clerk's office as file number 81558, and including

acreage of 146.162 acres. The sanctuary shall be managed by the

department in cooperation with the state university at Stony Brook. The

sanctuary shall be managed as a long-term field laboratory for research

and education to provide:

a. a natural area for academic research across a wide variety of

disciplines including, but not limited to, the fields of community

ecology, population ecology, predator-prey relationships, food chain and

web dynamics, nutrient and energy flow, hydrology, ornithology, botany,

and forestry management;

b. opportunities for instruction between teaching faculty and students

by using the property as an "outdoor classroom";

c. opportunities for students, faculty, and the public to connect with

the natural world around them;

d. a meaningful contribution toward protection of local and regional

biodiversity;

e. lawful recreational angling, however no commercial fishing or

shellfishing, nor the taking of invertebrates for bait shall be

permitted within the sanctuary;

f. lawful waterfowl hunting during the appropriate open season

following receipt of a tidal wetlands access permit issued pursuant to

department regulations; and

g. boating by sail, human propelled oar or paddle, or mechanically

propelled vessels having a source of power less than ten horsepower.