Howard Ryan

Save The Great South Bay

We are a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to revitalizing Long Island's Great South Bay. We are South Shore LI residents, past and present, oystermen, fishermen, boaters, surfers, sailors, paddle boarders, environmental advocates, and marine scientists. We are The South Shore. We grew up on The Great South Bay. We remember what it was once like. We have been learning why the bay is sick, and what we can do to heal it. We are more than 15,000 strong in our Facebook Group, and are in every community from Lindenhurst to Mastic. Together we can save our Bay. With The Creek Defender Program, South Shore communities can stop pollution before it reaches the bay, and improve habitat along the 36 creeks that flow into our bay. We advocate for the planting of native "swamp forests" along these creeks,plantings that filter the ground water before it even reaches the creek and the bay. If we can improve water quality to where brown tide isn't ravaging the bay each year, and we can bring this bay back. With our Bay Friendly Yards initiative, every South Shore resident can literally put a stake in the ground and make a stand for the bay by planting only native plantings in their yards, where no chemical fertilizers or pesticides or extra water is necessary, and where these plantings help to filter the groundwater. As part of our Habitat Restoration Program, we advocate the speedy implementation of 21st Century wastewater infrastructure so that we can bring back what would be today a $1 billion industry in the form of oyster farms. As part of this program, we also emphasize educating people as to the bay's ecology, its flora and fauna. We will only want to save what we have come to understand and love.