On August 2, the LIISMA team of Bill Jacobs, Abby Bezrutczyk, Haley Gladitsch, Melody Penny, and Katharine Stirber conducted an invasive species rapid assessment of Broad Cove in Riverhead, accompanied by Josh Halsey and Jessie McSwane-Marcus of the Peconic Land Trust and Jade Blennau of the Peconic Estuary Partnership.
Broad Cove is a 100-acre waterfront parcel on Flanders Bay that was once a duck farm. The Peconic Land Trust acquired the property in December 2021. The Peconic Land Trust and partners are protecting this beautiful site in perpetuity for wildlife habitat, passive recreation, water quality protection, and climate change resiliency.
Broad Cove is adjacent to Indian Island, a Suffolk County Park that has known nesting populations of long-eared bats (Myotis septentrionalis). Due to its proximity to Indian Island, Broad Cove is considered a potential nesting habitat for these state and globally rare bats.
LIISMA observed several ecological communities at Broad Cove, including successional southern hardwoods, successional old field, successional maritime forest, and a mosaic of estuarine intertidal communities.
Broad Cove’s past land use as a duck farm has left some areas impacted by invasive species, with the 12 most notable species being Siberian elm (Ulmus pumila), Norway maple (Acer platanoides), tree-of-heaven (Ailanthus altissima), autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellata), bush honeysuckle (Lonicera spp.), round-leaved bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus), invasive common reed (Phragmites australis), Bohemian knotweed (Reynoutria × bohemica), silvergrass (Miscanthus sinensis), mile-a-minute weed (Persicaria perfoliata), Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense), and mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris). The LIISMA team checked for southern pine beetle (Dendroctonus frontalis) and spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula); none were observed.
LIISMA is working with the Peconic Land Trust and Peconic Estuary Partnership to develop an invasive species management plan for Broad Cove that conserves the site’s diverse species and highest quality ecological communities, while managing high-impact invasive species with low abundance and when management is feasible.
We applaud the great efforts over the years to preserve this wonderful site.
