Five years after an eight-acre parcel comprising four lots, across from the Wolffer Estate Vineyard in Sagaponack, was purchased for agricultural use with money from the Southampton Town Community Preservation Fund, it remains fallow, and Friends of the Long Pond Greenbelt are now asking the Southampton Town Board to switch the parcel’s use to protect Poxabogue Pond, which the land borders.
“To change the use, we would hold a public hearing and there would be an authorizing resolution,” said Jacqueline Fenlon, C.P.F. director for Southampton Town. “It happens occasionally.”
Councilman William Pell IV, the town board liaison to the C.P.F., did not return a request for comment.
In a March 25 “action alert,” the greenbelt organization cited a 2023 petition signed by 158 residents who agreed the field should be preserved as open space.
“The field has become a de facto wildlife sanctuary for birds, salamanders, turtles, and a multitude of insects who benefit from the nearby pond,” read the alert. “If farmed, as projected, [the field] would be fenced and plowed, obliterating the wildlife that has come to live here.”
“At this point, the town’s intent is to continue its agricultural use,” said Ms. Fenlon. “But we just got more recent correspondence, and I have to review it with the town board.”
The field, known colloquially as Poxabogue Field, is about a mile west of the East Hampton Town border and is replete with native grasses.
“It’s not real good farmland,” said Tom Falkowski, who last farmed the field in 2016. “I had corn in there. Half of the soil is light, and half of it’s not too bad. It’s not great at all. I must have had it for 15 years or more. We didn’t use irrigation. We hoped it rained. That was our irrigation.”
On a recent visit to the field two deer carcasses were present. Mr. Falkowski said there was a lot of deer pressure on the field and to farm it effectively, it would need to be fenced.
“We were really shocked when they bought it as agricultural land,” said Dai Dayton, president of the Friends of Long Pond Greenbelt. “We have lost almost all of our grasslands. It’s time to focus on grasslands, before it’s too late.”
It is already late for many species of bird that rely on grasslands. The 2025 State of the Birds report showed that grassland birds are suffering “long-term steep declines with several species at the tipping point,” meaning they’ve lost more than half their population in the last 50 years. “This crucial biome is in collapse — and grassland birds are rapidly disappearing — due to conversion for row-crop agriculture, woody-plant invasion, and drought.”
In a phone call, Adam Halsey, the chairman of the Southampton Town C.P.F. advisory board, said “The property around the pond down there is a little on the sandier and rockier side. It’s not Bridgehampton loam.” Nonetheless, he said, “The highest priority in the C.P.F. statute is the preservation of farmlands and prime agricultural soils. On eastern Long Island, if it was farmed, it’s considered prime agricultural soil according to New York State classifications.”
“I’m a firm believer that the town should never own the fee of farmland,” he said, instead preferring that it be leased to a local conservation organization like the Peconic Land Trust, which might link up with a farmer.
“At this time, we do not have a lease agreement on the property, nor do we have any ownership interest,” Matt Swain, the vice president of the land trust, wrote in an email. “Until a lease is signed, we’re unable to discuss any specific plans for the property because there are too many unknowns. At this point, any details would be purely speculative.”
A Sept. 24, 2024, letter from the Friends of Long Pond Greenbelt to the Southampton Town Board noted that “When Suffolk County was evaluating farmland for inclusion in its pioneering farmland preservation program, this field did not meet its criteria for inclusion.”
“As the last undeveloped parcel in close proximity to the pond, this property serves not only an important buffer for Poxabogue but for the entire coastal plain pond system, an important source of fresh water for Sagg Pond to the south. In addition, Poxabogue Field would offer a segment to the Bay to Ocean trail eliminating road walking along Hildreth Road and Sagg Road,” the group noted.
Last week, the field was alive in the early morning, with over 20 species of birds identified in mere minutes. An osprey over Poxabogue Pond; from a tangle, an invisible eastern towhee. A more obvious pair of northern mockingbirds, perhaps preparing for the coming breeding season, jumped through an imposing natural fence of round leaf green briar, bordering Poxabogue Lane.
The songs of the American robin and three species of sparrow hung over swaying native broomsedge bluestem grass, dominant and peach-colored in the rising sun. Dots of Canada goldenrod and sweet everlasting, still holding on to last autumn’s bloom, added intrigue.
