ABOUT US

Foundation for Research and Stewardship in the Long Island Pine Barrens Maritime Reserve Foundation (FOREST) is a charitable, not-for-profit, non-governmental organization dedicated to generating support and fostering strategic partnerships to conserve, manage and enhance unique natural, agricultural, historical, cultural and recreational resources within the Long Island Pine Barrens Maritime Reserve and beyond for the benefit of current and future Long Island residents.

As it name implies, FOREST is focused primarily on research and stewardship in the Long Island Pine Barrens Maritime Reserve, a region within central and eastern Suffolk County on Long Island in the State of New York which encompasses most of the area east of County Road 83, better known as Patchogue-Mt. Sinai Road and extends out to the eastern ends of Long Island's North and South Forks.  The area includes the Peconic Bay estuary, a federally-designated National Estuary which was also named by The Nature Conservancy as one of the "Last Great Places." Also found within the boundaries of the Reserve is the Central Pine Barrens, an area comprising parts of the Towns of Brookhaven, Riverhead and Southampton which contains one of the highest concentrations of rare, endangered and threatened animal and plant species in all of New York State and which overlies a significant sole-source groundwater aquifer which is intimately connected to and interacts with this important ecosystem.

This region contains major terrestrial, aquatic and marine ecological communities including those which are dominated by the native pitch pine as well as a variety of species of oaks; rare, coastal plain pond freshwater wetland systems and intertidal marshes comprised.  The region also supports significant industries including agriculture, finfishing, shellfishing and tourism due in large measure to its intact and vibrant natural resources.

FOREST is the successor to the Foundation for Ecological Research in the Northeast, better known as FERN.  FERN was established as a non-profit in 2003 and its mission had been to conserve, protect and enhance habitats for plants, fish, and wildlife for the continuing benefit of the people of Long Island, New York, as well as the the Northeastern United States through research, education, and dissemination of information. FERN implemented the first ever forest health monitoring of the Central Pine Barrens in 2005, a program which continues today.  In addition, FERN was engaged in the management of the Upton Ecological and Research Reserve at Brookhaven National Laboratory. FERN also developed a set of monitoring protocols to collect data to measure several primary ecological attributes associated with and to better understand the status of the freshwater wetlands of the Long Island Pine Barrens.  In 2020, FERN began to transition to FOREST, which has continued FERN's mission along with additional objectives.