Black Locusts Ready for Pussy's Pond

Preparation for the new pier at Pussy's Pond is progressing nicely.

, a special project coordinator for the East Hampton Trails Preservation Society, said everything is happening so fast that construction may begin by late June.

He has helped ier instead of and to build only the first 88 feet of the level 4-foot wide walkway over the water to an 8-feet handicap turnaround.

The posts and walkway will be built using black locust trees from the area and Hartjen has been scouting out stands of black locust all over the East End. "By the way, they are not indigenous to the area and are considered in some way as unwanted," he said. "Among other things they have a very poor shallow root system and are easily blown over."

In March, the East Hampton Town Board passed a resolution allowing the preservation society to cut down black locust trees around Pussy's Pond, but Hartjen said he has found dozens of logs already being cut down that he can use.

On Tuesday, he received a call about picking out the logs he would like for the project from a construction site on Shelter Island. With the help of Mica Marder, 15 logs were loaded and taken to the Southampton saw mill by that afternoon. By the end of the week, they were turned into 24 joists ready for installation at the bridge.

Ten to 12 logs had been delivered one day earlier, and he needs about 30 more for the pier, plus some from the posts.

Hartjen said he was going up to Southold this week to pick out some logs the Peconic Land Trust offered up. "If i have a site where they are already coming down it seems like a nicer way to go," he said.

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"Our original quote for the lumber for the bridge ranged between $16,000 and $21,000 plus shipping. So far I have spent $350," he wrote in an email last week. "All else has been donations and or volunteer labor. We have actually put on hold two major donations. At present we have $11,000 in the bank which recently swelled up from $7,000 through letters that Zac Cohen has written to his good friends."

Mark Mendelman of has drawn up the plans pro bono and Seth Allan of Chesterfield Associates, a marine construction company with offices in Westhampton Beach and Westport Island, ME, has donated services for installing the posts 8 feet deep in the water with a hydraulic hammer to ensure they stay in place.

Hartjen hopes to have the project complete by the fall frost.