Checking on last year’s Sag Harbor oyster reef planting off Steinbeck Park, and bolstering the reef with another 100K spat-on-shell oysters!

2025 marks the 10-Year Anniversary of Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Back to the Bays Initiative!

Shellfish 101 - first Stewardship Session of the season

Read our 2024 Back to the Bays Impact Report for a full review of the our 2024 projects and progress.

Our Back to the Bays Team has been busy to say the least this summer! The majority of our fieldwork, and plant and animal care in our shellfish and coastal plant nurseries takes place during these warm weather months. And it takes a lot of hard work to keep everything thriving and growing.

Back to the Bays is thrilled to share the success of our recent art and awareness event, This is Seaweed, hosted at Ashawagh Hall in East Hampton. The opening reception on July 19th was a remarkable evening, with a tremendous turnout and an incredible show of support for our Back to the Bays Seaweed Initiative.

Thanks to funding by East Hampton’s Community Preservation Fund, CCE Marine Program has been working in many waterbodies within East Hampton to identify where the highest levels of groundwater nutrients enter the water, with the goal of mitigating algae blooms and impoving water quality.

With spring’s arrival, Back to the Bays team members and volunteers gathered to make SEAd bombs to encourage biodiversity on Long Island. Join us this Earth Day, on April 22, to make and launch SEAd bombs, learn about Blue Carbon, garden, and explore the marsh with our habitat specialists!

“The Value of Stillness” - Mindfulness Monday Marsh Walk

CCE Marine’s Aquaculture team members attended the Northeast Aquaculture Conference and Expo (NACE) and the Milford Aquaculture Seminar (MAS) in Rhode Island.

Read our 2023 Back to the Bays Impact Report for a review of our restoration and education initiatives throughout the East End of Long island.

Last Friday, December 15th we celebrated the release of our special beer collaboration with Kidd Squid Brewing Co. at their brewery in Sag Harbor. Before the event was even over, every last case, can, and keg was gone! We are so grateful for the overwhelming support of the Sag Harbor community and everyone who purchased the special Hazy IPA (produced with all NY sourced grain!), dubbed the “Brew for the Bay Sag Harbor”.