Section 5 of the DGEIS 05-03-06
Suffolk County Vector Control and Wetlands Management Long-Term Plan Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement May 3, 2006 5 Suffolk County Wetlands Background Information 5.1 Introduction CA determined that there are approximately 17,000 acres of vegetated tidal wetlands in Suffolk County, using a GIS interpretation of the National Wetlands Inventory (NWI) compiled by USFWS. Other accounts have found considerably more acreage (see Table 5-1), although the commonly quoted figure (which has no cited source) is 13,000 acres. Differences in the inventories listed in Table 5-1 stem from broadly sketched areas found in O’Connor and Terry (1972), and the inclusion of mudflats in the mapped definition of NYSDEC tidal wetlands. Map 5-1 (oversized, if print version; separate file, if electronic version) shows the agreed-upon names and locations of Suffolk County salt marshes, developed by CA, as agreed to by the participants of the Wetlands Subcommittee. This map will no doubt be improved on over time, as it is clear that local names and subdivisions of the marked salt marshes exist. Also, the map uses O’Connor and Terry as a base map, because that report named all of the areas it discussed (and so provided a basis for naming discrete salt marsh parcels); however, CA (and others) agree that maps such as the NWI (which does not name the salt marsh parcels) are more accurate in depicting the size and extent of salt marshes in the County. Table 5-1. Tidal Marshes in Suffolk County (acres) NYSDEC1 O’Connor and Terry2 NWI3 “Tiner Report”4 Peconic Estuary 21,658 20,241 4,492 4,188 South Shore 26,550 18,579 9,772 North Shore 6,399 2,575 Totals 45,219 16,839 1.
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