Improvements to three dams within Hempstead Lake State Park will be the first project of the the Living with the Bay program, beginning construction in January 2019. The proposed project would remove vegetation, including approximately 2,500 trees, from the dam faces and throughout the project areas. This will restore the operation of the dams and associated waterflow-control infrastructure within the park to better manage the headwaters of Long Island’s Mill River. The New York Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery also procured a sixth architecture-engineering firm to design 12 flood-risk reduction projects downstream.