The Flax Pond tidal wetlands sanctuary

§ 11-0306-a. The Flax Pond tidal wetlands sanctuary.

1. There is established a Flax Pond tidal wetlands sanctuary for the purpose of protecting areas of special ecological significance within the Flax Pond tidal marsh. The sanctuary shall be composed of the tidal wetlands located in the village of Old Field, county of Suffolk as designated on the March tenth, nineteen hundred sixty-six survey filed in the Suffolk County Clerk's office as file number 136899 and including a permanent easement for the State University of New York as designated on the March ninth, nineteen hundred sixty-six survey filed in the Suffolk County Clerk's office as file number 81558, and including acreage of 146.162 acres. The sanctuary shall be managed by the department in cooperation with the state university at Stony Brook. The sanctuary shall be managed as a long-term field laboratory for research and education to provide:

a. a natural area for academic research across a wide variety of disciplines including, but not limited to, the fields of community ecology, population ecology, predator-prey relationships, food chain and web dynamics, nutrient and energy flow, hydrology, ornithology, botany, and forestry management;

b. opportunities for instruction between teaching faculty and students by using the property as an "outdoor classroom";

c. opportunities for students, faculty, and the public to connect with the natural world around them;

d. a meaningful contribution toward protection of local and regional biodiversity;

e. lawful recreational angling, however no commercial fishing or shellfishing, nor the taking of invertebrates for bait shall be permitted within the sanctuary;

f. lawful waterfowl hunting during the appropriate open season following receipt of a tidal wetlands access permit issued pursuant to department regulations; and

g. boating by sail, human propelled oar or paddle, or mechanically propelled vessels having a source of power less than ten horsepower.