Long Island Sound-based education for school kids in New Haven and other cities and the removal of a dam on the West River are among 35 projects that will benefit from the latest round of federal Long Island Sound Futures Fund grants.
Twenty grants totaling $757,922 are being award to groups in Connecticut — leveraged by an additional $1.42 million in recipient contributions — with the balance of a $1.6 million pool of grant money going to agencies in New York, officials announced this week.
New Haven-based projects include an Audubon Connecticut “Urban Scholyard Habitat” partnership that was awarded $34,757, a Long Island Sound inner city curricula outreach project by the Sea Research Foundation that was awarded $30,603, and a Connecticut Fund for the Environment Pond Lily dam removal project that was awarded $60,000 for design and permitting.
“The Long Island Sound is one of our greatest treasures and holds enormous cultural, historical and economic significance for Connecticut,” said U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3, in a press release.
“We have a responsibility to ensure it is protected and preserved so future generations can continue to enjoy it and the exciting projects these grants are funding will help us do just that,” DeLauro said. “I look forward to seeing the results of the Pond Lily Dam Removal Project and how these new programs will share the uniqueness of the Sound with New Haven schoolchildren.”
DeLauro is co-chairwoman of the Congressional Long Island Sound Caucus, a bipartisan group that coordinates Connecticut and New York efforts to improve the health of the Sound. She also is a co-sponsor of the Long Island Sound Restoration and Stewardship Act, which reauthorizes programs that help protect, preserve and restore the Sound’s resources.
The Urban Schoolyard Habitat Partnership also will involve schools in Stamford. The Long Island Sound curricula outreach also will involve schools in Norwich and New London.
The funds for the grants come from the Long Island Sound Futures Fund, a public-private partnership of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service and Wells Fargo.
Collectively, the projects in both states will open 50 river miles for fish passage and restore 390 acres of critical fish and wildlife habitat, the grantors said in a press release. The habitat includes lakes, beaches, river and park frontage, underwater grasses, woodlands, meadows and wetlands.
The Long Island Sound Futures Fund pool funds from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service, or NRCS, and Wells Fargo. Continued…
“Protecting and restoring Long Island Sound have long been priorities for EPA,” said EPA Regional Administrator for New England Curt Spalding. “These grants will support vital and diverse projects throughout the region to improve water quality and remove pollution from the Long Island Sound watershed.
They also will “involve the public in the protection of one of the nation’s most important natural treasures,” Spalding said.
“Connecticut DEEP is pleased to work with our partners in the Long Island Sound Study to preserve and protect Long Island Sound – one of the region’s most valuable natural resources,” said Brian Thompson, Director of Long Island Sound Programs for the state Department of Energy Environmental Protection.
“This year $757,922 in Long Island Sound Futures Funds grants are being awarded to 20 important Connecticut programs,” Thompson said. “The grant funding covers a wide range of projects including restoration of fish habitat, removal of invasive plants, restoring New England Cottontail Rabbit population, preparation of significant management plans, and implementation of educational programs that will protect Long Island Sound for future generations.”
David O’Neill, director of the Eastern Partnership Office of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, said that “one of the greatest environmental challenges facing our communities is the protection and restoration of estuaries.
“The funding awarded today represents the foundation’s continuing commitment, as well as the commitment of our federal and state partners, to further restoration efforts aimed at improving the overall health of the Long Island Sound,” O’Neill said.
The Long Island Sound Futures Fund was created in 2005 through the Long Island Sound Study, under the auspices of the EPA’s Long Island Sound Office and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. The program has invested $10.5 million to date in 261 projects in communities surrounding the Sound.
With a grantee match of $23 million, the Long Island Sound Futures Fund has generated a total of nearly $33.5 million for projects in both states.
“I am pleased to see funding go to projects that engage local communities in the protection and restoration of local fish and wildlife habitats,” said Northeast Regional Director Wendi Weber of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “Equally exciting are the partnerships with public and private landowners that will increase our ability to work effectively on the ground in the Long Island Sound area.
“These grants go directly to protecting our shared natural resources—from opening rivers for native fish and restoring habitat for songbirds and shorebirds, to educating children who are the future stewards of the Sound,” Weber said. Continued…
“This year’s funding of projects to engage farmers and land managers throughout communities in the watershed will help accomplish important wildlife goals through the New England Cottontail Initiative and manure management advances to improve ecological and economic health of the Sound,” said Connecticut State Conservationist Jay Mar of the NRCS.
Call Mark Zaretsky at 203-789-5722. Follow us on Twitter @nhregister or @markzar.
