Fate Of West Brook Pond Still Undecided

Oakdale, NY — West Brook Pond, on Montauk Highway in Great River, is one of many man-made ponds, or impoundments, created on the South Shore of Long Island over a hundred years ago for ice collection and grist mills. When the dam failed last June, the resulting muddy eyesore had local residents wondering when the repair would take place. But environmental concerns have led to an alternate proposal: letting the area return to a naturally-flowing stream, which advocates say is much more beneficial to Long Island's overall ecology.

According to George Gorman Jr., Regional Director of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, which is tasked with the maintenance of the pond area, the original plan was to simply repair the dam but input from environmental experts necessitated a closer look at the issue.

"At this time we have received significant input from stakeholders and community residents and we are developing proposals. We will present those proposals to stakeholders and community members, at which point we will finalize a plan for the Westbrook Pond area," Gorman told Patch.

Some of those stakeholders include representatives of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) who co-signed a letter to Gorman explaining the environmental impact of the aging man-made impoundments and advocating a plan to let the pond return to nature.

"With the collapse of old rotten weir boards at West Brook near Bayard Cutting Arboretum, we have been given a gift by nature which we would be wise to accept. Long Island’s 'ponds' are largely dying, filling with silt, polluted, covered with algae, and choked with invasive plants and animals. The science is clear; the solution to this issue is to allow our brooks to finally run free," wrote Frank Piccininni, a trustee of the nonprofit group Save the Great South Bay, in the letter.

Some area residents are nostalgic about the pond, citing years of fishing there and the aesthetics of the old damned pond.

Mark Petrocelli, an Oakdale resident, says many of his friends fished for years in the pond, and he wonders what has happened to the resident waterfowl and fish.

"I live right near it and I know it’s a major food resource for a lot of animals around here such as hawks, bald eagles, osprey and deer. There use to be tons of fish in there: Where do they live now?"

Piccininni explains that eventually the stream when restored to healthy habitat should resemble something like the cedar stump wetland and swamp areas you might see in Riverhead's Cranberry Bog Park.

Enrico Nardone, Executive Director of nonprofit Seatuck Environmental Association which is spearheading efforts to monitor invasive species at the pond site, explained in a letter to the editorto Newsday in September some of the impact of impoundments on the local ecosystem.

"Dams destroy riverine connectivity, prevent the movement of wildlife, heat up impounded and downstream water, and trap sediments that are needed downstream. Most damaging, however, is the impact the dams have on river herring and American eels—native fish that need to move between fresh and salt water. Dams have largely eradicated these fish from Long Island, eliminating the vital role they play in transferring ocean energy and nutrients into our bays, rivers and streams, and in providing forage for everything from osprey to striped bass to seals."

Other local residents are concerned about what they see as a sadly-degraded natural area in their backyard.

Brendan Farrell of Oakdale joined a cleanup effort at the pond after he was struck by what he saw immediately after the dam failed.

"I was walking around the pond with my daughter and disgusted by how much garbage was exposed from the pond drying up."

According to Gorman, a proposal will be presented soon to stakeholders and presented publicly to nearby residents, although no specific timeline or method of presentation to the public was given.