Long Island affiliate of The Moore Charitable Foundation, Robins Island Foundation, recognizes the importance of protecting New York's breathtaking coastlines, diverse wildlife habitats, and historic natural and working landscapes. From protecting critical conservation lands through donated conservation easements to safeguarding Long Island's waterways and supporting habitat protection programs, Robins Island Foundation has built thriving partnerships that work hand-in-hand with the community.
Clean Water Advocacy
The foundation partners to support the protection and improvement of the aquatic ecosystems of the Peconic and South Shore estuaries of Long Island. Efforts primarily focus on conservation, management, and improvement projects; public education and organizing; research initiatives; and environmental reviews of projects and activities that threaten the vitality and health of the bays, such as sprawl or unsustainable development. Current focus areas range from mobilizing beach cleanups and mitigating nutrient runoff to monitoring algae blooms and implementing a broad septic system improvement program.
Balancing Development and Building Protection Programs
Advocating for responsible development practices and coastal management policies, Robins Island Foundation partners to protect and restore Long Island's fragile coastal environment through education, citizen action, and advocacy. Focus areas include saving Plum Island from development, halting both the expansion of a sand mine and The Hills in East Quogue to protect critical groundwater and fragile environments, and advocating for lasting protection programming for recovering osprey populations.
"Robins Island Foundation exemplifies the importance and commitment of community stewardship that is so greatly needed to preserve our local environment." – Kim Tretrault, CCE Marine
Land, Habitat and Natural Resource Preservation
Long Island is faced with intense development pressures as land valuations rise each year. Robins Island Foundation is focused on supporting the critical and expert partners on the ground that work with community members to preserve and expand the natural, historic, and, in particular, agricultural resources that contribute to Long Island's unique rural character and local farming future through custom conservation easements and other financial mechanisms.
Coastal Restoration Efforts
Many priority bird and aquatic species depend on salt marsh habitat and coasts, and are threatened by our changing climate. With partners, we are committed to advancing water quality protection initiatives, bird and shellfish habitat improvement projects, and research and restoration across the North and South Forks. We support youth and community education, encouraging young people's stewardship of marine life on Long Island.
We are proud to support the vitality of communities on Eastern Long Island and their role as environmental stewards. Partner initiatives include advocacy, research, habitat preservation, and environmental education programs at the Theodore Roosevelt Sanctuary & Audubon Center on Long Island. Additionally, Robins Island Foundation has underwritten one of The Nature Conservancy's programs to offer a rigorous and transformative student internship on Long Island as part of the Environmental Leadership Center's Internship Program at Warren Wilson College.
Long Island News & Impact
Back to the Bays of Long Island
In Long Island, The Robins Island Foundation supports CCE Marine's Back to the Bays initiative, a stewardship outreach effort to increase community engagement in water
Reducing Nitrogen Pollution in Long Island
Outdated cesspools and septic systems are a primary source of water pollution in Long Island. Currently, both Suffolk County and the Town of Southampton offer
Farms of the Future
The Peconic Land Trust (PLT) was established in 1983 to conserve Long Island's working farms, watersheds, woodlands, and beachfronts, and to protect the unique rural