Calling all citizen scientists: Peconic Baykeeper wants your help documenting coastal changes and rising sea levels on the East End and all you need is your cellphone. The Hampton Bays-based environmental organization recently unveiled a multiyear, community-based initiative to visually record coastal changes in the Peconic Estuary — which includes all the bays and waterways between Long Island's North and South Forks. It spans more than 125,000 acres of land and 158,000 acres of surface water, according to Suffolk County officials.
At 15 designated photo stations from Riverhead to Montauk, volunteers can use their cellphones to capture images of harbors, bays and creeks and email them to a specified address before the photos are put into a time lapse slideshow through the website Chronolog . Pete Topping, executive director of Peconic Baykeeper, said the nonprofit's goal is to consistently gather photos at the sites over several years to illustrate the changing environment. Called Project R.
I.S.E.
, which stands for Recording Inundation Surrounding the Estuary, the community science project also aims to highlight “some of the most beautiful publicly accessible places remaining in the Peconic Estuary” and create “a connection with the community,” Topping said. Peconic Estuary Partnership, a Riverhead-based nonprofit whose mission is to protect and restore the estuary, awarded a $24,000 grant to Peconic Baykeeper to fund the project for five years. The grant covered a.
