12/23/2024
"Suffolk Lawmakers Approve $6.6M to Rebuild New Mill Pond Dam Destroyed by Summer Rainstorm" (Newsday 12/19/2024).
REGRESSION in so many ways... environmental health, recovery of impounded historic wetlands, water quality improvements, expanded stream habitat for L.I. rare native trout population, greater rainwater absorption capacity... Forward thinking.
A one-time-only, and now lost opportunity to improve resource protection in public parkland and better adapt to climate change weather events (i.e. the flash flooding that destroyed the dam).
Sadly, political expedience and environmental indifference prevailed. Suffolk Legislators with County Executive support voted 16-0 to memorialize the 100+ acre artificial impoundment drained by nature with a bigger and better dam.
Back to the future: heated impoundment water, stressed fish population, aquatic invasive plants, herbicide treatments, destructive dredging...Bad choices have consequences.
