Farmingville, NY – -On August 12, Supervisor Ed Romaine and Councilman Neil Foley were on-hand for the completion of the fish passage at Swan Lake in Patchogue. The final step in the project was new landscaping with native plants. Located on the north side of Montauk Highway across from the Town’s Swan River Preserve, the newly installed, nature-based fish passage connects the lake with the Swan River. This spring, river herring used the fish passage during their spawning run. It was the first time in over 200 years that they could migrate north into all reaches of the river.
Pictured left to right are James Tullo, Commissioner of the Town of Brookhaven (TOB) Planning, Environmental & Land Management (PELM); Sally Kellogg, Program Implementation Specialist for the South Shore Estuary Reserve; Laura Persichilli, President of the Swan Lake Park Civic Association; Anthony Graves, former TOB Chief Environmental Analyst; Supervisor Ed Romaine; Lindsey Persichilli, Secretary of the Swan Lake Park Civic Association; Enrico Nardone, Executive Director of the Seatuck Environmental Association; Michelle DiBrita, Deputy Commissioner of PELM; and Town Councilman Neil Foley. Not pictured is Alan Duckworth, TOB PELM Environmental Analyst who was instrumental in managing the project to completion.
The Swan River Preserve was constructed by the Town on a 3.8-acre site that was formerly occupied by a long vacant car dealership and opened in 2014. In 2020, the Town demolished a vacant structure on a .28-acre County-owned parcel directly to the east of the Swan River Preserve. It is adjacent to four acres of undeveloped Town-owned land to the south. Both properties are slated to be joined with the Swan River Preserve as part of the Town’s plan to protect the environmentally sensitive wetlands along the East Main Street Corridor.
