§ 11-0306-a. The Flax Pond tidal wetlands sanctuary.

1. There is established a Flax Pond tidal wetlands sanctuary for the
purpose of protecting areas of special ecological significance within
the Flax Pond tidal marsh. The sanctuary shall be composed of the tidal
wetlands located in the village of Old Field, county of Suffolk as
designated on the March tenth, nineteen hundred sixty-six survey filed
in the Suffolk County Clerk's office as file number 136899 and including
a permanent easement for the State University of New York as designated
on the March ninth, nineteen hundred sixty-six survey filed in the
Suffolk County Clerk's office as file number 81558, and including
acreage of 146.162 acres. The sanctuary shall be managed by the
department in cooperation with the state university at Stony Brook. The
sanctuary shall be managed as a long-term field laboratory for research
and education to provide:

a. a natural area for academic research across a wide variety of
disciplines including, but not limited to, the fields of community
ecology, population ecology, predator-prey relationships, food chain and
web dynamics, nutrient and energy flow, hydrology, ornithology, botany,
and forestry management;

b. opportunities for instruction between teaching faculty and students
by using the property as an "outdoor classroom";

c. opportunities for students, faculty, and the public to connect with
the natural world around them;

d. a meaningful contribution toward protection of local and regional
biodiversity;

e. lawful recreational angling, however no commercial fishing or
shellfishing, nor the taking of invertebrates for bait shall be
permitted within the sanctuary;

f. lawful waterfowl hunting during the appropriate open season
following receipt of a tidal wetlands access permit issued pursuant to
department regulations; and

g. boating by sail, human propelled oar or paddle, or mechanically
propelled vessels having a source of power less than ten horsepower.