Northeast Coastal Areas Study
Significant Coastal Habitats
Site 13 (NY)
I. SITE NAME: Cow Neck Complex
II. LOCATION: This group of significant sites is located on the north shore of Long Island's South Fork between the Shinnecock Hills to the southwest and Wooley Pond to the northeast, and includes portions of the nearshore waters of Great and Little Peconic Bays and all of Robins Island.
TOWN: Southampton
COUNTY: Suffolk
STATE: New York
USGS 7.5 MIN QUAD: Southampton, NY 40072-84
USGS 30x60 MIN QUAD: Long Island, East 40072-E1
III. GENERAL BOUNDARY: The core boundary for this habitat complex is outlined on the accompanying map. It essentially encloses a broad triangularly-shaped section of land and nearshore waters along Great and Little Peconic Bays approximately 6 miles (10 km) in shoreline length and extending inland in some areas for a distance of almost 2 miles (3 km). The Shinnecock Hills form the southwest boundary of the complex. Moving from southwest to northeast from Shinnecock Hills, the following significant habitat units are included within this complex of wetlands, headlands, beaches and ponds: Cold Spring Pond, Sebonac Neck beach, Bullhead Bay, Sebonac Creeks, Cow Neck, Alewife Creek, Big and Little Fresh Ponds, Scallop Pond, Conscience Point, North Sea Harbor, Towd Point, Davis Creek and Wooley Pond. These individual habitat units are delineated on the accompanying map. The bayward boundary of the complex extends approximately 0.5 miles (1 km) out from the shoreline. Robins Island, situated between Great and Little Peconic Bays, approximately 1 mile (2 km) northwest of Cow Neck Point, is included within this complex.
IV. OWNERSHIP/PROTECTED STATUS: Except for a National Wildlife Refuge (Conscience Point) and the Bays, most of the area is privately owned, including all of Robins Island. The Nature Conservancy owns some salt marsh areas near Cow Neck.
V. GENERAL HABITAT DESCRIPTION: The major significant habitat types in this complex are: 1) tidal wetlands; 2) undeveloped sand/gravel beaches of importance to colonial nesting birds; 3) freshwater ponds and streams used by anadromous fish; 4) maritime grasslands; and 5) undeveloped coastal island. The extensive salt and brackish tidal marshes include a number of tidal creeks, ponds and coves. The marshes are characteristically comprised of low and high marsh areas, dominated by saltmarsh cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora) and saltmeadow cordgrass (S. patens), respectively, with various admixtures of glasswort (Salicornia virginica), spikegrass (Distichlis spicata), black grass (Juncus gerardi) and sea lavender (Limonium carolinianum), among others. The upper shrubby edges are often dominated by groundsel-bush (Baccharis halimifolia), marsh elder (Iva frutescens) and bayberry (Myrica pensylvanica), grading into upland forests of red maple (Acer rubrum) and white oak (Quercus alba). The beaches of greatest importance to colonial nesting birds in this complex, such as those at Towd Point, Sebonac Neck and Cow Neck, are typically narrow, coarse sandy or gravelly beaches with low slopes, sparse vegetation and with little human disturbance. Dredge spoils have been deposited on some of these areas. Alewife Creek and Big Fresh Pond are part of a free-flowing freshwater system approximately 85 acres (34 hectares) in size with a maximum depth of over 50 feet (15 meters). This system is one of the few areas in this region that is free of barriers to fish migrations between the ocean and headwater pond. Mean tidal range in this area is 2.3 feet (0.70 m).
Maritime grasslands, a regionally significant plant community found on rolling morainal hills and outwash plains near the ocean from this area east to Nantucket Island, occurs at Shinnecock Hills and Conscience Point. This community type is dominated by grasses and low heath shrubs and is within the influence of salt spray and other maritime climatic factors. Dominant grasses are little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), common hairgrass (Deschampsia flexuosa) and poverty-grass (Danthonia spicata). Robins Island is a 450 acre (182 ha) undeveloped island situated between Great and Little Peconic Bays that includes stony beaches, freshwater marshes, tidal saltmarshes, a pond, a bog, mature wooded areas, and maritime grasslands and shrublands.
VI. SIGNIFICANCE/UNIQUENESS OF AREA: The area as a whole, but particularly the tidal marshes and adjacent baywaters, is of regional importance to migrating and wintering waterfowl, especially for American black duck (Anas rubripes), and also as a breeding area for this species. Wintering concentrations and densities of American black duck are among the highest for Long Island. Other breeding bird species of special emphasis using these marshes and bays include Canada goose (Branta canadensis), mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), green-backed heron (Butorides striatus), black-crowned night-heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) and osprey (Pandion haliaetus). There are several osprey nests on Robins Island.
The tidal wetlands and shallow waters of Peconic Bay provide nursery and feeding areas for significant concentrations of finfish, including winter flounder (Pseudopleuronectes americanus), summer flounder (Paralichthys dentatus) and weakfish (Cynoscion regalis), and also support a shellfishery of bay scallops (Aequipecten irradians) and hard-shelled clams (Mercenaria mercenaria). Recent scientific evidence suggests that these bays may serve as an important summer feeding and nursery area for juvenile Kemp's ridley (Lepidochelys kempii), one of the rarest sea turtles, and other Federally-protected sea turtle species. Northern diamondback terrapins (Malaclemys t. terrapin) nest and feed in this area.
Undeveloped sandy, gravelly or pebbly beaches along the shoreline of this complex, such as those at Wooley Pond, Towd Point, Cow Neck, Sebonac Neck and Bullhead Bay, are extremely valuable nesting areas for least tern (Sterna antillarum) and common tern (S. hirundo) and the U.S. Threatened piping plover (Charadrius melodus). The least tern nesting sites have been remarkably persistent for over two decades and their concentrations are of regional significance. The adjacent wetlands and baywaters of this complex serve as important feeding areas for these birds. Terns and piping plovers once nested on beaches on Robins Island, but not in recent times except for a single nesting of piping plovers in 1985. Sea-beach knotweed (Polygonum glaucum), a candidate plant species for listing under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, occurs on gravelly beaches in this area, including Robins Island.
Big Fresh Pond and its outlet, Alewife Creek, represent an unusually pristine aquatic system on Long Island. This relatively large, deep, freshwater pond and stream have no physical barriers to fish passage and thus anadromous fish such as alewives (Alosa pseudoharengus) are able to carry out a critical stage of their life cycle in these waters. The pond and stream support one of Long Island's three alewife spawning areas and is also important habitat for a number of freshwater fish species. The pond is also used by large numbers of migrating waterfowl and as a feeding area for terns and other birds.
The maritime grassland community at Shinnecock Hills and Conscience Point, in addition to being a regionally significant habitat type and of importance to regional biodiversity, contains at least two plant species of special emphasis, both of which are considerably restricted in their geographical range and occurrences and may be viewed as regional endemics: bushy rockrose (Helianthemum dumosum) and Nantucket serviceberry (Amelanchier nantucketensis), the latter a candidate species for listing under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.
VII. THREATS: Much of the land surrounding the Great and Little Peconic Bays is privately owned, and development of the watershed is occurring at a rapid rate. There is special concern that Robins Island could be developed. All species of fish and wildlife would be affected by degradations in water quality as a result of poorly-planned development and any alteration of tidal patterns could have major impacts on the marine and estuarine natural communities. Elimination of salt marsh and intertidal areas through excavation, dredging or filling would result in direct loss of valuable habitat. Development could be expected to have major impacts on nesting shorebirds, which are highly vulnerable to human disturbance from mid-April to August. Tern and piping plover nesting beaches are currently or potentially threatened by a number of activities, including predation by pets and feral dogs and cats, trampling by beach walkers and picnickers, destruction of nests and eggs by off-road vehicles, and by unregulated dredge spoil disposal.
VIII. CONSERVATION CONSIDERATIONS: Protection and management, including site enhancement, of colonial bird beach nesting sites should be given high priority in this area. Because terns and piping plovers are very sensitive to human disturbances, protective strategies and measures should be designed to prevent human intrusion into these areas during the critical nesting season (mid-April to August) and could employ such measures as beach closures, posting, protective fencing, predator removal, warden patrols and public education. Efforts should be made to identify and implement objectives and tasks outlined in the piping plover recovery plan that may be appropriate to this area. Disturbances to wintering concentrations of waterfowl should also be minimized. Bay waters and tidal marshes should continue to be monitored and protected under pertinent environmental regulations to ensure the long-term protection and maintenance of the highest levels of water and habitat quality for fish and wildlife and the continuance of compatible human usage of these areas. Given the high proportion of land in this area that is privately owned, the protection of specific sites, particularly those significant sites identified on the accompanying map, should be sought through a variety of mechanisms, including zoning and planning regulations, rigorous enforcement of existing environmental statutes and regulations, cooperative conservation agreements, land exchanges and acquisition. There are numerous opportunities and challenges here for various governmental agencies, conservation organizations, citizen groups and private landowners to work cooperatively in conserving and protecting this valuable complex of significant fish, wildlife and plant habitats.
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