The best way to minimize damage caused by the southern pine beetle inside Suffolk County's natural spaces is to cut off the insect’s communication, experts say. Jessica Cancelliere, a research scientist with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, described how the insects release pheromones when attacking a tree, attracting other beetles to bring together the thousands required to kill the tree. "Beetles rely on that communication," she said. "They're not successful without it." Joe Werkmeister reports in NEWSDAY that Cancelliere discussed mitigation methods such as "cut and leave," preventive thinning and prescribed fires during a Southern Pine Beetle Symposium yesterday that included representatives of the Central Pine Barrens Commission, Suffolk County Parks Department and various other county agencies tasked with emergency preparedness and fire safety. The destruction left behind by the beetles in the form of dead trees has heightened concerns of adding fuel to future wildfires in the county. More than 100 people attended the three-hour event at Suffolk County Community College in Riverhead.The notorious southern pine beetle was first spotted in Suffolk County in 2014.DEC forester Robert Cole said prescribed fires are key to clearing out the underbrush and results in a "much greener, healthier" forest. He described how thinning the forest ground can allow wind to blow through and spread out the pheromones and "the beetles don’t know where to go." It also removes fuel that can help ignite a brush fire, allowing flames to shoot up higher into the canopy where embers can more easily spread, the experts said.Jason Smith, science and stewardship manager for the Central Pine Barrens Commission, said "fire will fix a lot of our problems" and "brings us back to a healthier system."In 2015, the beetle damaged about 34,000 acres in Suffolk County. Mitigation methods have helped lessen the damage in recent years to about 4,900 acres in 2023, according to the DEC. Those figures include "very light," and "light" damage all the way to "very severe."***The first two days of Southampton Town’s experiment with bypassing traffic signals on County Road 39 in Southampton during the afternoon rush hour presented a stark contrast in impacts on how traffic flowed westward. Southampton Town Highway Superintendent Charles McArdle assessed Monday’s first run thusly: “If 10 was perfect, I’d give it a 2.”Michael Wright reports on 27east.com that the new traffic patterns caused near gridlock congestion in Southampton Village, long backups between Noyac Road and Sandy Hollow Road, and only improved the flow of traffic on County Road 39 west of Southampton west of Sandy Hollow Intersection. But on Tuesday, after making adjustments to how personnel were stationed to direct traffic at conflict points, and dropping restrictions on the use of some residential back roads in North Sea, McArdle said the program, which he conceived, worked almost exactly as hoped. “We moved up to a strong 8 today,” McArdle said of Tuesday’s flow after the program ended at 7 p.m. with open traffic lanes on County Road 39. The traffic experiment, which is running on weekdays from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. through Friday, May 2, was similarly successful last evening. The Town of Southampton has approved $60,000 for the manpower needed to run the test for two weeks.***Beth Young of EAST END BEACON reports on two community gatherings of interest this evening.The Mattituck Park District will be holding a Special Meeting with the Army Corps of Engineers on “Mattituck Harbor, NY – 2025 Maintenance Dredging” this evening at 6 p.m. in the Conference Room at Veterans Memorial Park. The Army Corps will be participating by Microsoft Teams. The discussion will focus on the project and Army Corps access to Bailie Beach.Also, the Calverton...

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