Purpose and Scope of the Library

The Central Pine Barrens Commission maintains a modest but growing reference library for citizens, students, researchers, government and private sector staff, teachers, historians, and any individual interested in Long Island's Central Pine Barrens. Promotion of research, citizen involvement, and access to information are goals of the Library.

Current holdings include materials directly describing the Central Pine Barrens or the Commission's work (e.g., Commission documents, scientific reports, etc.) and materials on the broader disciplines within which the Commission's work fits (e.g., regional planning work elsewhere).
 

Subject Areas

Holdings are presently categorized (and physically arranged) alphabetically by topical area, with each topic's materials contained in shelf files. Please note that individual items in these are not yet catalogued in a data base. The current categories are:

• Affiliated Brookhaven Civic Organization
• American Forests
• Brookhaven National Laboratory  (Advisory Committee and Protected Lands Council member; Pine Barrens Research Forum cosponsor)
• Brookhaven Executive Roundtable  (Commission is a member)
• Environmental Reports and Plans
• Miscellaneous materials (e.g., mailings, publications)
• Brookhaven Town  (Commission, Clearinghouse and Protected Lands Council member)
• California
• Central Pine Barrens Advisory Committee
• Agendas and Minutes  (from 1993)
• Central Pine Barrens - Articles and News Clips  (from 1986)
• Central Pine Barrens Commission  (from 1993)
• Agendas and Meeting Summaries  (from 1993)
• Community Outreach Work
• Core Roadfront Residential Parcel Exemption List
• Critical Resource Areas
• Development Application Hearing Transcripts
• Development Yield
• Draft Plans and Generic Environmental Impact Statement
• Ecology Committee
• Economic Analyses
• General Materials  (including CPB Plan and Plan Amendments)
• Hearing transcripts
• Litigation
• Maps
• Pine Barrens Credit Program Appeals -  Hearing Transcripts
• Plan Development & Implementation
• Stewardship Survey
• Communication Towers
• Conservation Technology Information Center
• Delaware Estuary Program
• East Hampton Trails Preservation Society
• Ecology and Natural History
• Long Island Fauna
• Long Island Flora
• Long Island General Materials
• Long Island Geology
• Long Island Meteorology
• Long Island Wildlife
• New York Statewide and National Materials
• England
• Environmental Defense  (Advisory Committee member)
• Essays and Writings
• Federal Emergency Management Agency
• Fire
• California
• General Areas and Topics
• Long Island  (also see "Wildfire Task Force")
• Management Plans for Miscellaneous Areas
• National and Interagency Materials
• Florida
• Global Positioning Systems
• Golf Courses
• Italy
• Law Enforcement Council  (Wildfire Task Force member; from 1995)
• Agendas and Meeting Summaries
• Field Work
• General Materials
• Lincoln Institute of Land Policy
• Local History
• Agriculture
• General
• Regions, Hamlets and Sites
• Technological
• Local Organizations  (includes some Advisory Committee members; organizations are filed by their name if sufficient material exists)
• Business and Economic
• Civic
• Educational Institutions
• Environmental & Scientific
• Historical & Cultural
• Long Island Botanical Society
• Long Island - NY City Emergency Management Conference
• Long Island Geographic Information Systems Users Group
• Long Island Greenbelt Trail Conference  (Advisory Committee voting member and Protected Lands Council nonvoting member)
• Long Island Groundwater Research Institute  (Pine Barrens Research Forum cosponsor)
• Long Island Maritime Museum
• Long Island Pine Barrens Society  (Advisory Committee member)
• General Materials
• Heath Hen and Pine Line issues
• Videos
• Long Island Regional Planning Board  (Advisory Committee member)
• Long Island Sierra Club
• Long Island Sound Study
• Lyme Disease
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• Cape Cod Commission
• General Statewide Materials
• Nassau-Suffolk Horsemen's Association  (Protected Lands Council nonvoting member)
• Nassau-Suffolk Transportation Coordination Committee
• National Audubon Society
• National Guard  (Law Enforcement Council and Wildfire Task Force member)
• National Park Service
• National Weather Service
• Native America
• The Nature Conservancy  (Advisory Committee and Protected Lands Council member)
• Long Island and South Shore - Shelter Island Chapters' Materials
• National Materials
• New Hampshire
• New Jersey
• General Statewide Materials
• Pinelands
• New York State  (Commission and Clearinghouse member)
• Albany Law School
• Albany Pine Bush Preserve
• Best Management Practices
• Conserving Open Space in NY State
• Dept of Environmental Conservation (Protected Lands Council and Wildfire Task Force member)
• Conservationist (magazine)
• General Statewide Materials
• Region 1 (Nassau and Suffolk Counties)
• Environmental Conservation Law Article 57  (Long Island Pine Barrens Protection Act; also see Central Pine Barrens Commission materials))
• General Statewide Materials
• Hudson River
• Land Acquisition
• Laws - General, Environmental, Land Use
• Long Island Materials
• Miscellaneous Regions
• Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation  (Protected Lands Council and Wildfire Task Force member)
• Pine Barrens Maritime Reserve
• State Emergency Management Office
• State Open Space Plan and Region 1 (Nassau Suffolk) Advisory Committee
• The Conservationist
• New York State Emergency Management Office  (Commission is a member of SEMO Region 1 Regional Response Team)
• Oregon
• Oregon and Washington - Colombia River Gorge Commission
• Peconic Estuary Program
• Peconic Land Trust
• Pine Barrens Credit Program  (from 1995)
• Agendas and Meeting Summaries
• Auctions, Reverse Auctions, and Purchase Offers
• Certificates
• Credit Appeals - Hearing Transcripts  (located under "CPB Commission")
• Easements
• Economic Analysis
• General Materials
• NYS DEC - Clearinghouse Funding Agreement
• Registry issues  (from 1995)
• Suffolk County Treasurer's Reports  (from 1995)
• Pine Barrens Research
• Foundation for Ecological Research in the Northeast  (from 2003)
• Pine Barrens Research Forum  (from 1996)
• Protected Lands Council  (Wildfire Task Force member; from 1995)
• Agendas and Meeting Summaries
• Field work
• Management Plan Materials
• Real Estate
• Development Rights
• Easements
• General Materials
• Property Rights
• Recreation
• Central Pine Barrens
• General Materials
• Long Island
• Paumanok Path
• Regional Plan Association  (Advisory Committee member)
• Regional Planning and Land Use
• International Materials
• United States Materials
• Remote Sensing
• Riverhead Town  (Commission, Clearinghouse and Protected Lands Council member)
• South Fork Natural History Society
• South Fork and South Fork Pine Barrens Materials  (generally news clips)
• South Shore Estuary Reserve
• Southampton Town  (Commission, Clearinghouse and Protected Lands Council member)
• Southampton Trails Preservation Society
• Student Papers  (see special note below)
• Suffolk Alliance of Sportsmen, Inc.  (Advisory Committee voting member and Protected Lands Council nonvoting member)
• Suffolk County  (Commission and Clearinghouse member)
• Annual Reports and State of the County Addresses
• Department of Fire, Rescue and Emergency Services  (Wildfire Task Force member)
• Department of Health Services
• Department of Parks, Recreation and Conservation  (Protected Lands Council and Wildfire Task Force member)
• Department of Planning  (includes Division of Real Estate)
• General County Government
• Land Acquisition and Protection
• Parks
• Pine Barrens Review Commission
• Suffolk County Water Authority  (Advisory Committee, Protected Lands Council, and Wildfire Task Force member)
• Annual Reports
• General Materials
• Trust for Public Land
• United States Army Corps of Engineers
• United States Department of Energy
• United States Fish and Wildlife Service  (Law Enforcement Council, Protected Lands Council, and Wildfire Task Force member)
• Long Island Refuge Complex
• National Materials
• United States Geological Survey
• Long Island Water Resources Division
• National Materials
• United States Environmental Protection Agency
• United States Government - Environmental Programs  (miscellaneous agencies)
• Vermont
• Water - Ground and Surface
• General Materials
• Long Island
• Wildfire Task Force  (from 1995)
• Agendas and Meeting Summaries
• Fire Weather  -  Weather Station Materials and Daily Reports (from 1999)
• New York Wildfire and Incident Management Academy  (from 1998)
• Public Education Committee materials
• Wisconsin

Access, Location, Hours, etc.

The Pine Barrens Reference Library is housed at the Commission offices at 3525 Sunrise Highway, Great River, NY 11739-0587. The office is located on the second floor of the Suffolk County Water Authority Technical Services Building. This site is reached proceeding westbound on the Sunrise Highway Service Road in Oakdale, with the entrance located exactly one half mile west of the Connetquot River State Park Preserve entrance.

Hours of the Library are those of the Commission, 8:30 am to 5:00 pm, Monday to Friday, with access at other times possible upon request. Since the Library also serves as a conference room, there may be hours when it is temporarily unavailable.

Arrangement for photocopies is possible, and no charge applies to small quantities. Please note that patrons are responsible for copyright compliance, as per typical library procedures. Removal and lending of materials is not permitted.
 

Special Student Collection

The Commission and staff strongly encourage student research on Long Island's pine barrens. Towards that end, the Commission encourages students at all levels of academic scholarship to contribute to the Library copies of their papers, essays, portfolios, videotapes, and other works.

This "Student Papers" collection focuses upon elementary, secondary, undergraduate and graduate academic work, providing a resource for teachers and a historical "student's eye" perspective on the pine barrens through the years ahead.
 

Related Library Resources

In addition to the Commission's Library holdings, the Suffolk County Planning Department maintains the Arthur H. Kunz Memorial Library at the Department's Hauppauge office.  Founded in honor of a former Suffolk County Planning Department Director, the Kunz Library contains current and historical publications on a wide variety of planning topics, which are described at the Arthur H. Kunz Memorial Library's web page at:

For information, see this web site or call the Planning Department at 631-853-5191.

It is also worth noting that many of the Commission's documents, as well as historical materials dealing with the Central Pine Barrens area, are present in a number of Suffolk County local libraries.  Several of these libraries have "local history" or "Long Island collection" holdings in separate rooms or areas.  See the "Public Libraries" section of our Pine Barrens Links page for a selection of countywide and local library links.

Two additional libraries with holdings pertinent to Long Island's pine barrens are the State University of New York at Stony Brook's Main (i.e., West Campus) Library (see www.sunysb.edu/library/) and the New York State Library in Albany (see www.nysl.nysed.gov/).
 

Visiting, Reading, Thinking, and Contributing ...

are all encouraged. Call 631-288-1079 or e-mail us at info@pb.state.ny.us for assistance with, or questions about, the Pine Barrens Reference Library.