Northwest Alliance

The early activists group, Cathy and Tom Lester,[3] Stuart Vorpahl,[4] Arnold Leo,[5] Helena Curtis[6] and other concerned south fork residents pushed for the town to acquire both land parcels.[7] This acquisition gained protection of the Sag Harbor side of Northwest Creek and the body of the southeastern shore of Northwest Harbor to Little Northwest Creek.[8] They picked up the reins left by Nancy Boyd Willey (1902-1998),[9] whose Old Sagg-Harbour Committee[10] and the Sag Harbor Conservation and Planning Alliance (CAPA) saved Little Northwest Creek and wetlands from developers in 1974, and preserved Barcelona Neck.[11][12][13][14]

The Paumanok Path winds through the Northwest harbor, where a 'Ghost town' and pastures were once part of East Hamptons early history prior to the advent of Sag Harbor's deeper port.[15]

In 1993 a Brown tide[16] remnant affected Northwest harbor causing a gradual deterioration of the water quality and a die-off of shellfish and waterlife in Northwest creek.[17] The marine nursery of wide eelgrass beds that protected the overall Creek vitality was in decline.[18][19] Hoping that dredging the outlet to the harbor would improve water quality, the newly formed Northwest Creek Task Force pressed for dredging to expand the tidal flush from the Creek. Dredging was begun in 1995 and repeated roughly every three years since then.[20]

In 2003, the group, renamed the Northwest Alliance, expanded its protective role over the Northwest area by attending meetings of the Community Preservation Fund Committee[21] and the Harbor Management Committee of the East Hampton Trustees.[22] They also teamed up with Suffolk Country Vector Control Citizens Action Committee[23] and also the East Hampton Citizens Action Committee[24] in becoming a vocal proponent of the environmental policy discussions being held over wetlands, land use and water protection issues.[25]

• Hilda Lindley
• Renee V. H. Simons
• Nancy (Boyd) Willey

• Northwest Alliance
• Area Map