Once upon a time, we believed the rain forests were indestructible. Now, thousands of acres of verdant jungles lay in ruin after years of logging and farming.
Perhaps, because the bays that run along Nassau's south shore look so big (they measure 173 square miles in all), we believe them to be indestructible as well. We certainly treat them as if they were, dumping pesticides, fertilizers, industrial chemicals, heavy metals, even human and animal feces into them.
At the same time, we race speed boats through these waters, disturbing birds, animals and fish in their natural habitat, and eroding fragile but vital wetlands.
The result should be obvious: We're killing the bays. These waters, however, aren't dead yet, thank goodness. We can still resuscitate them and save not only the local environment, but also the centuries-old fishing industry they support.
In 1994, the State Legislature set aside the bays from the Atlantic Beach Bridge to Shinnecock Inlet as the South Shore Estuary Reserve and impaneled a 23-member estuary council.
The panel recently issued recommendations in a comprehensive management plan for the reserve. Almost $98 million is needed to carry out all the council's suggestions. The funds are to come from government and private sources. We hope both will do the right thing and provide the monies to clean up and preserve south-shore bays, but there's no guarantee that will, or can, happen. Compliance with the council is entirely voluntary.
Many of the 23-member panel's recommendations involve multi-million-dollar projects. For example, the council says public septic systems should be upgraded to make them cleaner for the local environment. Other recommendations would involve open-space acquisition. Still others would involve creation of what we'll call estuary-appreciation outlets, such as a Coastal Heritage Trail.
All these projects fall outside the purview of most local citizens and instead belong to government officials. That doesn't mean area residents should throw up their hands and leave preserving the estuary to a higher authority.
Anyone living or doing business along the south shore can get involved in saving our local waters.
