Commissioner Lannert said the county's nine-member Planning Board would also work to invigorate the county's open-space program.

"We've developed an open-space program that has worked for 20 years, working with willing buyers and willing sellers."

We've made investments in the environment, especially in our open-space programs, that have worked extremely well down in this part of the state.

Six of Suffolk's 10 towns have financed open-space programs, including a $15 million program overwhelmingly approved two years ago by voters in Huntington.

Mr. Lewis said one recommendation should be for an open-space program similar to the one in Suffolk.

But Mr. Emilita said the $8 million open-space program the town approved in 1986 has been used to buy 101 acres so far.

Mr. Bush's open-space programs are similarly disappointing.

"What we've lost is the chance to set up an open-space program in Nassau County," he said.

The parcels were not included in Suffolk County's open-space program or the new water protection program subsidized by an extension of the state sales tax.

On the one hand, there is an open-space program that officials have aggressively applied to preserve about half of the township's land.