Accabonac Harbor/Merrill Lake Sanctuary/Kaplan Meadows Sanctuary
Springs, East Hampton, Long Island, Suffolk County, NY
130 acres

A complex of two separate preserves  -- the Merrill Lake Sanctuary and the Kaplan Meadows Sanctuary, Springs-Fireplace Road, located on Accabonac Harbor.  

Directions:

Route 27 east to Main Street in East Hampton; bear left at the windmill onto North Main Street; continue under the railroad bridge, passing a shopping area; bear right at the fork onto Spring Fireplace Road (County Road 41); drive 5.5 miles to the parking area on the right.

History:

1968  --  founders of the South Fork-Shelter Island Chapter, Frederic E. Lake and his wife Muriel, donated the land for the 29-acre Merrill Lake Sanctuary at Accabonac Harbor.

Owned by The Nature Conservancy.

Habitats:

field, pasture, salt marsh, woodland

Trails:

head east from the parking lot and then northeast through a field and out to a circular loop and then return.

The trail heads east from the parking lot and then northeast through a field and out to a circular loop and then return. There is a small woods and a field, but this is primarily a salt-marsh area. 9/15/02 -- On a rainy morning, Patrick and Rosemary Cooney, Judith Fitzgerald and Lenore Swensen walked the area and found a rich salt-marsh habitat. But the mosquitoes were terrible, so bring insect repellant.

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney and Judith M. Fitzgerald, 9/15/02
Geffen and Berglie, 1996: Chapter 28
http://nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/newyork/southfork/preserves/art2078.html

Trees:
Acer pseudoplatanus (sycamore maple)
Carya glabra (pignut hickory)
Carya tomentosa (mockernut hickory)
Ilex opaca (American holly)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Nyssa sylvatica (tupelo)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus coccinea (scarlet oak)
Quercus velutina (black oak)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Pyrus malus (apple)

Shrubs and sub-shrubs:
Amelanchier canadensis (coastal shadbush)
Aronia arbutifolia (red chokeberry)
Baccharis halimifolia (groundsel bush)
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Chimaphila maculata (striped wintergreen)
Elaeagnus umbellata (autumn olive)
Gaylussacia sp. (huckleberry)
Iva frutescens (marsh elder)
Myrica pensylvanica (bayberry)
Quercus ilicifolia (scrub oak)
Prunus maritima (beach plum)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rosa virginiana (Virginia rose)
Rubus sp. (blackberry)
Rubus sp. (dewberry)

Vines:
Calystegia sepium (hedge bindweed)
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Cuscuta sp. (dodder)
Lonicera japonica (Japanese honeysuckle)
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)
Polygonum scandens (climbing false buckwheat)
Smilax rotundifolia (round-leaved greenbrier)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis aestivalis (summer grape)

Herbs:
Achillea millefolium (common yarrow)
Agalinis maritima (salt marsh agalinis) *
Agalinis purpurea (purple agalinis) *
Ambrosia artemisiifolia (common ragweed)
Aquilegia canadensis (columbine)
Asclepias incarnata (swamp milkweed)
Asclepias syriaca (common milkweed)
Asclepias tuberosa (orange butterflyweed)
Aster acuminatus (sharp-leaved aster)
Aster divaricatus (white wood aster) *
Aster novi-belgii (New York aster) *
Aster sp. (one of the little aster)
Aster subulatus (annual salt marsh aster)
Aster tenuifolius (perennial salt marsh aster)
Atriplex patula (orache)
Bidens frondosa (devil's beggar-ticks) *
Chrysopsis falcata (sickle-leaved golden aster) *
Cichorium intybus (chicory) *
Daucus carota (Queen Anne's lace) *
Dianthus armeria (Deptford pink) *
Euthamia graminifolia (grass-leaved goldenrod) *
Euthamia tenuifolia (narrow-leaved goldenrod) *
Hibiscus moscheutos (swamp rose mallow)
Hieracium sp. (yellow hawkweed)
Impatiens capensis (orange jewelweed)
Limonium carolinianum (sea lavender) *
Linaria vulgaris (butter-and-eggs) *
Lotus corniculatus (bird foot trefoil) *
Lycopus americanus (American horehound)
Plantago major (common plantain)
Polygonum hydropiper (water pepper) *
Polygonum pensylvanicum (Pennsylvania smartweed) *
Polygonum spp. (smartweeds)
Prunella vulgaris (self-heal) *
Rhus copallina (winged sumac)
Rubus phoenicolasius (wineberry)
Rudbeckia hirta var. pulcherrima (black-eyed Susan)
Sabatia spp. (marsh pink)
Salicornia europaea (European glasswort)
Salicornia virginica (Virginia glasswort)
Sanguisorba canadensis (Canadian burnet)
Solidago canadensis var. scabra (tall goldenrod) *
Solidago gigantea (late goldenrod)
Solidago rugosa (rough-leaved goldenrod) *
Solidago sempervirens (seaside goldenrod)
Trifolium arvense (rabbit's foot clover)

Rushes:
Juncus gerardii (black grass)
Juncus tenuis (path rush)

Sedges:
Cyperus filiculmis (slender flatsedge)
Scirpus pungens (common three-square bulrush)

Grasses:
Dactylis glomerata (orchard grass)
Distichlis spicata (spike grass)
Elymus virginicus (wild rye grass)
Panicum clandestinum (deer-tongue grass)
Panicum virgatum (switch grass)
Phleum pratense (Timothy grass)
Schizachyrium scoparium (little bluestem grass)
Setaria sp. (foxtail grass)
Spartina alterniflora (salt marsh cordgrass)
Spartina cynosuroides (big cordgrass)
Spartina patens (salt meadow grass)
Tridens flavus (purple top grass)

Others:
(eelgrass)
(brown seaweed)