Forge River is a partially mixed

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...

on the south shore of

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

in the township of Brookhaven, Suffolk County, New York.

Course

Forge River (which was once called the Wegonthotak River) is the major tributary of

Moriches Bay Moriches Bay ( ) is a lagoon system on the south shore of Long Island, New York. The name Moriches comes from Meritces, a Native American who owned land on Moriches Neck. Two townships in Suffolk, New York ( Brookhaven and the Southampton) share i ...

, a part of

’s south shore bay system that is protected from the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

outer barrier The Outer Barrier, also known as the Long Island and New York City barrier islands, refers to the string of barrier islands that divide the lagoons south of Long Island, New York from the Atlantic Ocean. These islands include Long Beach Barrier I ...

islands. The river is a remnant stream bed cut through the southerly sloping glacial out-wash plain deposited during the

Wisconsin glaciation The Wisconsin Glacial Episode, also called the Wisconsin glaciation, was the most recent glacial period of the North American ice sheet complex. This advance included the Cordilleran Ice Sheet, which nucleated in the northern North American Cor ...

that ended some 20,000 years ago. The stream valley flooded as sea level rose. It now functions as a small estuary. Circulation in the river is complex and is driven by a variety of forces including the tides, water column density structure,

groundwater discharge Groundwater discharge is the volumetric flow rate of groundwater through an aquifer. Total groundwater discharge, as reported through a specified area, is similarly expressed as: :Q = \fracKA where :''Q'' is the total groundwater discharge ( 3·T ...

, stream flow, and wind. The tidal portion of the river is 3.2

nautical miles A nautical mile is a unit of length used in air, marine, and space navigation, and for the definition of territorial waters. Historically, it was defined as the meridian arc length corresponding to one minute ( of a degree) of latitude. Today t ...

long that ends abruptly at

Montauk Highway Montauk Highway is an east–west road extending for across the southern shore of Long Island in Suffolk County, New York, in the United States. It extends from the Nassau County line in Amityville, where it connects to Merrick Road, to Montauk ...

which serves as a dam between the river towns of

Mastic Mastic may refer to: Adhesives and pastes *Mastic (plant resin) *Mastic asphalt, or asphalt, is a sticky, black and highly viscous liquid * Mastic cold porcelain, or salt ceramic, is a traditional salt-based modeling clay. *Mastic, high-grade con ...

and Moriches New York. Two freshwater ponds (East Mill Pond and West Mill Pond) continuously discharge to the tidal Forge at this location. The surface

watershed Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...

of the river is 43.06 km2 (10.641 acres). About 20 percent of the watershed is in the deep groundwater recharge zone. The river is shallow throughout and has been historically so. The mean depths in much of the center of the river were about (4-4.5 ft) at mean low water. The centerline, mean depth, based on the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) survey of 2007-2008, is(4.9- 6.6 ft). The depth now is slightly deeper in some locations than indicated on the previous surveys because a 70-m-wide (75-yd-wide) channel has been dredged to a design depth of 2.1 m (7 ft). Tributaries of the river including Wills Creek, Poospatuck Creek, Lons Creek, and Home Creek on the west side of the Forge have been dredged as well. The depths in these creeks can be as great as (6.6 ft). A sill has built up at the mouths of these

tributaries A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage b ...

so that each one acts as a small basin in which circulation is limited. The same is true for Old Neck Creek on the east side of the river. The upland community of the William Floyd Estate provides habitat for breeding

American woodcock The American woodcock (''Scolopax minor''), sometimes colloquially referred to as the timberdoodle, the bogsucker, the hokumpoke, and the Labrador twister, is a small shorebird species found primarily in the eastern half of North America. Woodcoc ...

(Scolopax minor) and a variety of migrating and nesting songbirds, while adjacent tidal areas afford habitat for nesting

American bittern The American bittern (''Botaurus lentiginosus'') is a species of wading bird in the heron family. It has a Nearctic distribution, breeding in Canada and the northern and central parts of the United States, and wintering in the U.S. Gulf Coast ...

(Botarus lentiginosus),

seaside sparrow The seaside sparrow (''Ammospiza maritima'') is an American sparrow. Description Adults have brownish upperparts with gray on the crown and nape, and a grayish-buff-colored breast with dark streaks; they have a dark face with gray cheeks, a white ...

, and

osprey The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...

. This area is one of the few remaining sites on the south shore of Long Island where tidal

wetlands A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

are contiguous with an undeveloped upland buffer.

Duck farming off the river

The impairment of Moriches Bay was linked with the growth of the duck ranching industry decades earlier along the Forge and other tributaries of region. Duck farm activities were identified as a primary source of pollution to Moriches Bay in several studies conducted by

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI, acronym pronounced ) is a private, nonprofit research and higher education facility dedicated to the study of marine science and engineering. Established in 1930 in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, it i ...

(WHOI) investigators between 1950 and 1959. One of several measures used to attribute duck ranching with intense pollution problems was the unusually high amounts of duck-derived phosphorus in waters proximate to duck farming sites. The last of the farms, the Jurgielewicz Duck Farm (founded in 1919) closed in August 2011 after declaring bankruptcy. At its peak, the 65 acre farm (which was a landmark on the

Montauk Branch The Montauk Branch is a rail line owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York. The branch runs the length of Long Island, 115 miles (185 km) from Long Island City on the west to Montauk on the east. How ...

of the

Long Island Rail Road The Long Island Rail Road , often abbreviated as the LIRR, is a commuter rail system in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk Co ...

) claimed to be America's largest free-range duck operation, raising 1 million Pekin ducks a year.

References

*https://web.archive.org/web/20101227101252/http://brookhaven.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=NynyIFEL_xg%3D&tabid=601&mid=2565

External links

*https://web.archive.org/web/20110407060545/http://timbishop.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=79&parentid=3§iontree=3,79&itemid=1678

*http://library.fws.gov/pubs5/web_link/text/mb_form.htm *http://www.co.suffolk.ny.us/stormwater/ForgeRiver.html{{Dead link, date=November 2018 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes *https://web.archive.org/web/20110405165809/http://www.co.suffolk.ny.us/departments/healthservices/environmentalquality/ecology.aspx Brookhaven, New York Estuaries of New York (state) Bodies of water of Suffolk County, New York

Course

Duck farming off the river

See also

References

External links