Sears Bellows County park is located in Hampton Bays, southeast of Riverhead within the Central Pine Barrens region. It is a popular park for trailer and tent camping and has access to high quality hiking and horseback riding trails as well as ponds for kayaking, canoeing and fishing.
The terrestrial ecosystems of the park are coastal oak-heath forests and pitch pine-oak forests.
The park also contains high quality coastal plain Atlantic white cedar swamps, designated as critically imperiled in New York (S1), meaning there are very few occurrences of them (<5) in NYS, and are especially vulnerable to disappearing.
Previously part of the Flanders Club for Sportsmen, the 979 acre parcel was purchased in 1963 by Suffolk County to be managed as a county park.
Size: 979 acres
Relatively free of invasive species compared to its size: At the edges of the park and trails there are minimal invasive species found. This is likely due to the harsh pine barrens environment. While Bellows Pond and Sears Pond have fishing and [non-motorized] boating access , to date no submerged aquatic invasive species have been documented. Coastal plain ponds within the site are not accessed by many boaters, if any, and water levels annually become low to non-existent in some areas, which may further help reduce establishment of aquatic invaders
Populations of rare and endangered species:
Hessel’s hairstreak (Mitoura hesseli), tiger salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum), Atlantic White Cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides)
Currently, LIISMA is managing two small stands of phragmites in coastal plain Atlantic white cedar swamp. Due to their rare ecosystem status as well as being otherwise intact, these ponds have been ranked as high priority through a Long Island Metro Aquatic Taskforce (LIM-AIS) waterbody prioritization. Thus, Removal of phragmites is of great importance to ensure their ecological integrity.
There is one other stand of phragmites found within Sears Bellows, at the south-eastern edge of Bellows Pond. In the future, a coordinated effort of repeated cutting is recommended to reduce their vigor and impact on Bellows pond, as well as prevent their spread to the nearby coastal plain ponds.
Periodic monitoring for submerged aquatic invasive plants is also of high importance to LIISMA, as early detection and rapid response is critical to preventing the establishment of otherwise difficult to manage aquatic invaders.
Monitoring for Southern Pine Beetle (Dendroctonus frontalis, SPB) is also a high priority for LIISMA. SPB has been found in many places within the Central Pine Barrens, including Sears-Bellows as recently as 2021.
Species found within the buffer of the ISPZ, require monitoring for early detection and rapid response:
- Chinese Bushclover (Lespedeza cuneata)
- Wineberry (Rubus phoenicolasius)
- Cypress Spurge (Euphorbia cypriassis)
- Leatherleaf Mahonia (Berberis bealei)
- Princess Tree (Paulownia tomentosa)
- LDD Moth (Lymantria dispar)
Species recently found within the park that require rapid response:
- Phragmites (Phragmites australis)
- Southern Pine Beetle (Dendroctonus frontalis)
Invasive species that are established within the park, requiring containment and removal in highest quality areas:
- Tree-of-heaven (Ailanthus altissima)
- Japanese Honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica)
- Japanese Barberry (Berberis thunbergii)
- Oriental Bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus)
- Autumn Olive (Elaeagnus umbellata)
- Japanese Knotweed (Fallopia japonica var. japonica)
- European Privet (Ligustrum vulgare)
- Black Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia)
- Multiflora Rose (Rosa multiflora)
Widespread invasive species found within the park that require greater research on their impact:
- Climbing nightshade (Solanum dulcamara)
- Common mullein (Verbascum thapsus)
Citations:
Cobb, Gary; Spanburgh, Sally; Young, Janice Jay (2010). FLANDERS; Hamlet Heritage Area Report. The Southampton Town Landmarks & Historic Districts Board.
