The plan to remove invasive vegetative species at the Benson reserve in Montauk, which calls for the use of 12 to 15 goats as well as machinery, has split residents of the hamlet. With that in mind, the East Hampton Town Board, on Tuesday, held another substantial discussion of the proposed adaptive management plan for the reserve, a roughly 40-acre stretch of land between Old Montauk Highway and the Atlantic Ocean beach.
Last month, the board’s public hearing on the plan drew comments from more than two dozen Montauk residents. More spoke in favor of the plan than in opposition to it, but there were also many who claimed the stated environmental reasoning behind the plan was disingenuous and that it was being proposed for aesthetic reasons, to improve neighbors’ views of the ocean. Others predicted that it would be ineffective or was even reckless.
Fencing and a shelter would be required during the goats’ time on the reserve.
Tuesday’s meeting started with public comment, during which Jeanne Nielsen, who with her family owns the Twin Pond Motel on Old Montauk Highway, told the board that “by approving this intrusion on the Benson reservation, this board will be bequeathing the incoming board with a lawsuit that could be and should be avoided.” This was a reference to the Suffolk County Supreme Court’s 1994 ruling that permanently bars erection of fences or any other structures on the property. The board should “not follow the urging of others to break the law,” Ms. Nielsen said.
Ms. Nielsen also noted the powerful storm of the preceding days, which impacted the ocean shoreline and dunes. While ocean water surged to the shorefront motels downtown, at the Benson reserve just to the west, “no damage, it’s in good shape, it held up to this storm and it can do it again and again and again and again without invasive human interference, such as is proposed,” she said.
Councilwoman Cate Rogers answered. “This project was a natural resources priority project going way back before this iteration” of the plan, she said. “I do believe that invasive species are a real issue due to their shallow roots. I believe invasive species are an issue as they choke out all of our natural species across the town.” Nonetheless, Ms. Rogers said, she, too, is concerned about unintended consequences and “what happens when you remove the vegetative material that’s invasive and we have that time period before the native species that are being planted take root, take hold, and develop that deeper root system.”
The councilwoman asked Rusty Schmidt, a landscape ecologist with Nelson Pope Voorhis, the environmental-planning and land-use consulting firm that devised the proposal, to speak to that.
The adaptive management plan was informed by two years of study and consultation, Mr. Schmidt said, and calls for “the best management practices for erosion control.” As much vegetation as is possible will be removed by hand, he said, but removal of large shrubs would require a “mini excavator,” a vehicle that would travel down the dune’s slope and back up on the same track, “so that we’re not causing more damage. . . . It will make a disturbance of soil, somewhere between two to three feet in diameter. Then, immediately, the site is raked, the seed” — sourced from the site — “is placed down.” The site would then be covered by a blanket, he said.
A reinforced silt fence would be placed on the southern, seaward edge of the project area. “Compost socks,” mesh tubes filled with composted materials to control erosion and retain sediment in disturbed areas, would be used to stop stormwater. “Our biggest concern from the very beginning has always been erosion,” Mr. Schmidt said. When a storm was approaching, “we go out to the site and button up any open soils before the storm to make sure that, again, nothing happens.”
While the site’s appearance may shock passers-by as invasive vegetation is removed, “the ground should be green and covered” within two or three weeks, he said. Monitoring and maintenance will continue for a decade, he said.
Goats eat “everything,” Mr. Schmidt said, but their preferred foods are vines and shrubs, and “almost all the vines and shrubs that are out on the areas are invasive. They don’t really eat grasses.”
The deep root structure of native plants would hold the dune together better than the present invasives, he said, and provide superior habitat for birds and insects as well as improving long-term coastal resilience.
The board has not yet greenlighted the plan, but comments by the board and town officials during the meeting indicated their intention to press forward.
Kim Shaw, director of the town’s Natural Resources Department, said that the project is important. “This is going to be a targeted approach, small excavation,” she said. “The width of the road, the shoulder, the curbing, I don’t see it being a nightmare with runoff in the area.” Work would be done in the top third of the reserve, nearest Old Montauk Highway, which, she said, is stable and removed from the dune.
Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc agreed that it is important to remove invasive species. “They do displace our natural species,” he said. “I think it’s really critical for us to try to protect those native and natural species here in East Hampton and make sure they continue.” He said that he understands residents’ concerns, but expressed confidence in the management plan.
It is expected that a decision will be rendered in the new year.
