Plunging for the Peconics

The Peconic Estuary Program will host a polar bear club-style estuary awareness and marine eduction event this Saturday, Dec. 5 at noon.

The Penguin Plunge will take place at Cedar Beach in Southold, followed by an educational information session at Cornell Cooperative Extension’s marine facility at 3690 Cedar Beach Road in Southold.

The event was originally sheduled for last February, but was postponed due to ice coverage in the Peconic Bays. The event will spotlight local marine restoration projects by highlighting the work by partner organizations and upcoming programs by the Peconic Estuary Program in 2016.

The event is free, but advance registration is suggested. Swimmers must be ages 6 and up. For more information or to register, email peptalk@peconicestuary.org or sign up online here.

The event is in conjunction with the National Estuaries Program’s “I Heart Estuaries” campaign, held each year in February. Using social media and the hashtag #iheartestuaries, participants are encouraged to show Congress and the federal government the communities’ love for estuaries, and their belief that protecting estuaries means protecting our future by demonstrating support for projgrams like the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s Coastal Programl; EPA’s National Estuary Program; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Estuarine Research Reserve System and community-based restoration program.

In 1992, the Peconic Estuary became one of 28 estuaries in the nation to receive the designation as an “Estuary of National Significance” by the EPA. As part of the National Estuary Program, groups that care for the Peconic Bays were charged with developing a watershed manatement plan, prioritizing topics ranging from brown tide to nutrients, habitat and living resources, pathogens, toxic pollutants and critical lands protection.