The Setauket Mill Pond consists of an upper and lower pond. The lower pond is almost entirely within the confines of the Frank Melville Memorial Park to the north of the Old Field Road Bridge. The upper pond is to the south of the Bridge lying between Lake Street and Main Street north of Christian Avenue. Both parts of the pond feed the sensitive tidal wetlands of Conscience Bay.

The Setauket Mill Pond is dying. Left to its own devices, it will become a mud flat with some boggy spots and a small trickle of water running through it. By mid August each year the pond is choked with invasive weeds. There has been a notable decline of waterfowl. In winter, the south part of the pond, which used to freeze first, no longer seems to freeze at all - even in sustained cold weather. The freshwater bass and the turtles are threatened. We’re well on the way to a bog.

Jennie Melville, when she established the Park, charged the board with stewardship of the whole pond. We have put together a team of experts to solve the problem.