Back to the Bays intern, Rachel Kaplani, completed her senior thesis work with us this summer 2026. Curious about the interactions soil minerals, nutrients, and microorganisms have with plants and their root systems, Rachel has been developing and experimenting with growing methods for cultivating marsh grass, including floating “Restoration Rafts,” which allow grass roots to take up excess nutrients directly from our bays as they grow.

Kim Manzo and Kate Rossi-Snook give us an up close look at our 2026 Seahorse Hotel deployments in Greenport, Southold, Hampton Bays, and Sag Harbor/North Haven Stewardship Sites!

Funded by and in partnership with the South Shore Estuary Reserve Program, CCE Marine has been able to continue restoring “Blue Carbon” habitats, like eelgrass and marsh grass. Learn about how Blue Carbon habitats help mitigate climate change.

In partnership with Kidd Squid Brewing Co. we held a Seahorse Hotel workshop in Sag Harbor. These structures will be deployed in village waters to provide additional habitat for our local seahorse species.

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

Our Back to the Bays team and CCE experts were joined by 2 VIP donors and the press, for our annual bay scallop seeding in Sag Harbor Shoals eelgrass sanctuary.

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

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.

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”.

Learn what it’s like to attend a Marine Meadows eelgrass workshop and how the work of our marine stewards contributes to the restoration of this important habitat.

Our summer 2023 College Interns reflect on their summer of learning and stewardship with Back to the Bays.