Bill Text: NY A03751 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Establishes the Flax Pond tidal wetlands sanctuary; establishes uses for the sanctuary, including the limited use of certain boats; repeals provisions prohibiting boating in the Flax Pond tidal wetlands sanctuary.

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Introduced) 2023-03-13 - substituted by s857 [A03751 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-A03751-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          3751

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                    February 7, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by M. of A. STERN -- read once and referred to the Committee
          on Environmental Conservation

        AN ACT to amend the  environmental  conservation  law,  in  relation  to
          establishing  the  Flax  Pond  tidal wetlands sanctuary; and to repeal
          section 39-b of the navigation law relating to prohibiting the use  of
          motor boats in the Flax Pond tidal wetlands sanctuary

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. Section 11-0306-a of the environmental conservation law, as
     2  added by a chapter of  the  laws  of  2022  amending  the  environmental
     3  conservation  law  relating to establishing the Flax Pond tidal wetlands
     4  sanctuary; and amending the navigation law relating to  prohibiting  the
     5  use  of  motor  boats  in  the  Flax  Pond  tidal wetlands sanctuary, as
     6  proposed in legislative bills numbers S. 9140 and A. 10187,  is  amended
     7  to read as follows:
     8  § 11-0306-a. The Flax Pond tidal wetlands sanctuary.
     9    1.  There  is established a Flax Pond tidal wetlands sanctuary for the
    10  purpose of protecting areas of special  ecological  significance  within
    11  the  Flax Pond tidal marsh. The sanctuary shall be composed of the tidal
    12  wetlands located in the village of Old [Fields] Field, county of Suffolk
    13  as designated on the March  tenth,  nineteen  hundred  sixty-six  survey
    14  filed  in  the  Suffolk  County Clerk's office as file number 136899 and
    15  including a permanent easement for the State University of New  York  as
    16  designated  on  the March ninth, nineteen hundred sixty-six survey filed
    17  in the Suffolk County Clerk's office as file number 81558, and including
    18  acreage of 146.162 acres. The sanctuary shall be managed by the  depart-
    19  ment  in cooperation with the state university at Stony Brook. The sanc-
    20  tuary shall be managed as a long-term field laboratory for research  and
    21  education to provide:
    22    a.  a  natural  area  for  academic  research across a wide variety of
    23  disciplines including, but not limited to, the fields of community ecol-

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD04158-01-3
        A. 3751                             2

     1  ogy, population ecology, predator-prey relationships, food chain and web
     2  dynamics, nutrient and energy flow, hydrology, ornithology, botany,  and
     3  forestry management;
     4    b. opportunities for instruction between teaching faculty and students
     5  by using the property as an "outdoor classroom";
     6    c. opportunities for students, faculty, and the public to connect with
     7  the natural world around them; [and]
     8    d.  a  meaningful contribution toward protection of local and regional
     9  biodiversity[.
    10    2. Hunting, fishing, trapping and the  use  of  motor  boats  are  not
    11  compatible with the primary purposes and management goals of the sanctu-
    12  ary.];
    13    e.  lawful  recreational  angling,  however  no  commercial fishing or
    14  shellfishing, nor the taking of invertebrates for bait shall be  permit-
    15  ted within the sanctuary;
    16    f. lawful waterfowl hunting during the appropriate open season follow-
    17  ing receipt of a tidal wetlands access permit issued pursuant to depart-
    18  ment regulations; and
    19    g.  boating  by  sail,  human propelled oar or paddle, or mechanically
    20  propelled vessels having a source of power less than ten horsepower.
    21    § 2. Section 39-b of the navigation law, as added by a chapter of  the
    22  laws  of  2022  amending  the environmental conservation law relating to
    23  establishing the Flax Pond tidal wetlands sanctuary;  and  amending  the
    24  navigation  law  relating  to  prohibiting the use of motor boats in the
    25  Flax Pond tidal wetlands sanctuary, is REPEALED.
    26    § 3. This act shall take effect on the  same  date  and  in  the  same
    27  manner  as  a  chapter  of  the  laws of 2022 amending the environmental
    28  conservation law relating to establishing the Flax Pond  tidal  wetlands
    29  sanctuary;  and amending the navigation law, relating to prohibiting the
    30  use of motor boats  in  the  Flax  Pond  tidal  wetlands  sanctuary,  as
    31  proposed  in  legislative  bills  numbers  S.  9140  and A. 10187, takes
    32  effect.