C.C.O.M. Director to Step Down to Run Mashomack Preserve

Concerned Citizens of Montauk announced this week that its president, Jeremy Samuelson, would be leaving the environmental organization at the end of March to join the Nature Conservancy as the director of the Mashomack Preserve on Shelter Island.

Mr. Samuelson has headed C.C.O.M. since 2012, taking the post after working as a staff member at the Group for the East End.

During his tenure at the Montauk nonprofit, according to a release from the C.C.O.M. board of directors, he has "overseen its successful growth from an all-volunteer group to a professionally staffed environmental advocacy organization."

The C.C.O.M. board has begun its search for a new director, the release said.

"C.C.O.M. has come a long way under Jeremy's leadership," Ed Braun, the board's president, said in the release.

"C.C.O.M. is proud of our work protecting Montauk's fragile environment and looks forward to continuing our leadership in cleaning up Montauk's local waters and developing a long-term coastal resiliency plan that protects Montauk's natural shoreline and our economy."

Mr. Samuelson said that he would miss working in Montauk but that he looks forward "to continuing to partner with C.C.O.M. and the many organizations working to ensure Montauk remains a natural wonder."

"The environmental threats facing Montauk and the entire Peconic Estuary are complex and require long-term, comprehensive solutions," he said.