Along the edge of Flanders Bay in Aquebogue is a 100-acre swath of woodlands and meadows that was once a duck farm and had been slated half a decade ago to become a luxury condominium complex.
The Peconic Land Trust purchased the former Broad Cove Duck Farm property in 2021, and since then has been working with an array of partners to provide public access to the property, which is a haven for birds and other wildlife.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation announced at a press conference at the preserve May 6 that the property has now been added to the New York State Birding Trail list, the first of three North Fork locations to become a state-designated birding designation.
A DEC grant has also recently funded invasive species removal and native grass plantings, as well a series of new trail connections, benches, overlooks in the preserve.
New York State Birding Trail designations for Hallock State Park in Jamesport and Orient Beach State Park are also expected this year, announced DEC Assistant Regional Director Ryan McGarry as the skies cleared after a morning rain at the press conference.
He was distracted during his remarks by the sounds of hawks circling above the crowd of officials and reporters.
Many others in the crowd were also distracted, including Tom Damiani and Peggy Lauber of North Fork Audubon, who identified birds for the group as they hiked along the recently improved trails and showed off Audubon’s bluebird boxes there.
“Just be silent for about a minute, because you’ll hear Baltimore orioles, blue-winged warblers, yellow warblers, osprey — the North Fork is located along the North Atlantic Migratory Flyway — it’s a key flyway for migrating birds, and we’re in the peak of spring migration,” said Ms. Lauber. “We’re so grateful to have been asked by the Peconic Land Trust to manage the bluebird and tree swallow nest boxes here…. Any forest today needs to be actively managed to survive, otherwise you won’t be able to sustain the wildlife. Three billion birds have been lost since 1970 — one in four birds — and it’s not getting any better. This is so important.”
The DEC’s Invasive Species Grant Program has provided funding to remove invasive species and plant more than 5,000 native grasses at Broad Cove and connect a network of wide trails throughout the property, connecting the woodlands, meadows and water frontage on Terry Creek and Flanders Bay.
The improvements also include new observation points and benches, and a Peconic Baykeeper Chronolog Station where citizen scientists can add their photos to a collection documenting changes to the shoreline throughout the Peconic Estuary.
The environmentalists were joined on the trails by Orlesha Banks, daughter of Marylin Banks-Winter, who has worked for the historic designation of the neighboring Bell Town Afro-Indigenous community adjacent to the preserve, and by Denise Silva Dennis of the Niamuck Land Trust, which preserves sacred ancestral lands on Long Island.
Ms. Banks shared a letter written by her mother about the importance of the history of Bell Town, which she said was “hidden in plain sight” as the narrative of the East End often told focuses on the Hamptons and the vineyards of the North Fork.
“The community maintained traditional knowledge of fishing, farming, clamming in kinship networks that blended indigenous and African American culture traditions,” she said. “Bell Town represents a larger story across the northeast of indigenous and African-descended people forming joint communities after displacement, enslavement and segregation.”
She said many descendants of the founders of the 16-acre Bell Town Heritage Area are involved in keeping historical records and sharing them with the community at large, to tell the story for the next generation.
“These descendants remind us that Bell Town is not a relic — it’s a living place of convergence embodying the intertwined indiginous nations of eastern Long Island and the African diaspora who joined them,” she said.
“Everyone’s here in support of preserving this beautiful land, to continue through the generations, traditionally unseen people, we know, have inhabited this land,” said Ms. Dennis, who stressed the importance of remembering the native names of places. “The Cutchogue people, who have always been here, over 13,000 years. Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are only a thread in it — every shiny pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every clearing and humming insect is holy in the experience and memory of our people. Teach your children that the earth is our mother. The rivers are our brothers. They quench our thirst and they feed our children. The air is precious to native people, for all things share the same breath.”
Like many of the Peconic Land Trust’s land deals, this one had many moving pieces. The Trust originally purchased the property in 2021 with funds from six lines of credit from its supporters totaling $11.5 million for the purchase and $500,000 in carrying costs.
John v.H. Halsey, the President of the Peconic Land Trust said the DEC had purchased a conservation easement on the property in December of 2025, allowing the land trust to repay its donors.
“It’s a great example of the key role land trusts play,” he said. “You need to buy time for the partners to com to the table. The contract (of sale) had been sent out to developers when we called. We had to take it out of circulation so it would not be developed. We all worked to make it a place of wonder.”
“We’re fortunate to have the Peconic Land Trust, which can move quickly and support entities that cannot move quickly,” said Joyce Novak of the Peconic Estuary Partnership, which participated in the restoration of the property.
“This is the beating heart of the estuary,” said Peconic Baykeeper Peter Topping. “I saw the development plans for the condos going up.”
He stopped speaking as an osprey chimed in with a long series of calls.
“This project is protecting wetlands, and it’s also giving the public an opportunity to step back in time,” he said. “It’s going to be one of the lasting treasures of the Peconic estuary.”
Public access to Broad Cove Preserve is at the entrance to Overlook Drive in Aquebogue, adjacent to the Lighthouse Deli just south of the intersection of Peconic Bay Boulevard, Edgar Avenue and Hubbard Avenue.
Find out more about Broad Cove Preserve.
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