Suffolk County occupies the eastern two thirds of Long Island, 50 miles east of New York City. Following WWII, subdivisions began replacing the farms and open space of neighboring Nassau County. Suffolk County saw its future and prepared for the inevitable wave of development. As recommended by the Regional Plan Association’s 1960 Plan, “The Race for Open Space”, the Fire Island National Seashore, a 30-mile long barrier island, was added to the National Park System in 1964. Suffolk County Parks, which managed 6,400 acres of parkland in 1963, also increased its acquisition efforts, resulting in a system that now includes 46,000 acres. But Suffolk County is best known as a pioneer in innovative preservation techniques and for a citizenry that realizes the need to pay for preservation. Specifically, as of 2006, the County had spent $518 million, acquiring 29,311acres of farmland and open space through no fewer than ten different preservation programs.

The Fire Island Lighthouse provides a focal point for the Fire Island National Seashore, which protects 26 miles of Long Island’s coastline.

In 1974, Suffolk County became the first municipality in the nation to preserve farmland with purchase of development rights. Suffolk County’s PDR program compensates landowners who voluntarily record restrictive easements on their land. The program is funded primarily by a one-quarter cent sales tax. In 2007, Suffolk County voters approved an extension of this sales tax, generating an additional $595 million in conservation funding.

Many townships in Suffolk County have their own agricultural preservation programs. Southold Township has preserved 1,300 acres since 1998 using a two-percent property transfer tax. Riverhead Township has a transfer of development rights (TDR) ordinance that allows development in appropriate growth areas in return for preservation of places that the community wants to save. The towns of Southampton and Brookhaven use both TDR and a two percent real estate transfer tax. In 2004, the voters of Brookhaven also approved an open space bond for $100-million.

The Pine Barrens is a 100,000-acre area at the center of Suffolk County with forests, ponds and marshes that provide habitat for numerous threatened species as well as recharge areas for aquifers supplying drinking water to much of Long Island. In 1977, three environmental science students formed the Long Island Pine Barrens Society, which eventually grew to a membership of over 5,000. In 1989, the Society launched the Pine Barrens Preservation Initiative, which ultimately led to adoption of the Pine Barrens Comprehensive Management Plan. This Plan prohibits development in a 55,000-acre Core Preservation Area, limits development in a 47,000-acre buffer zone and calls for land preservation through tax-funded acquisition as well as a TDR program that operates in the towns of Southampton, Brookhaven and Riverhead.

In 2008, the National Association of Counties and the Trust for Public Land gave Suffolk County its Leadership in Conservation Award. But the County continues to think ahead. Robert Yaro, President of the Regional Plan Association, put it this way in “Preservation: Now or Never” a forward to On Course for Failure: A Call to Action on Open Space Preservation published by the Long Island Pine Barrens Society in April 2007. “The question today is whether the island can build on this innovative open space legacy to protect its remaining open spaces. We are truly in an “end game” in which the Island is approaching build out. You no longer need to be a visionary to see that we’re approaching the end of the road – literally – in Montauk and Orient. Our actions in the next few years will determine whether the Island’s remaining open spaces, natural area and countryside are permanently protected or irrevocably destroyed.”

Several conservation organizations have joined a campaign led by The Nature Conservancy, called “Long Island’s Last Stand”, with a goal of raising $3-billion to preserve an additional 25,000 acres of open space and 10,000 acres of farmland before final build-out, projected to occur by 2015. That is an intimidating price tag. But given its past success, Suffolk County is well prepared for that challenge.