LONG ISLAND SOUND FUTURES FUND 2011 PROJECT DESCRIPTIONS HABITAT RESTORATION - NY Project Title: Coastal Grasslands Restoration at Caumsett State Park (NY) (#28588) New York State Department of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation $ 39,466 (EPA/FWS) $ 40,030 Total Project Costs: $ 79,496 Project Area: Caumsett State Park, Lloyd Neck, NY The New York State Department of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation will remove non-native plants and restore 25 acres of native grassland habitat. The project will provide habitat for breeding and wintering grassland birds including: Eastern Meadowlark and Boblink. The project will install 3 interpretive signs at the restoration site, and offer education programs for park visitors Project Title: Removing Ghost Fishing Gear to Restore the Sound for Long Island Fisheries (NY) (#28553) Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County $ 98,556.27 (EPA) $ 71,712 Total Project Costs: $ 170,268.27 Project Area: Northport, Huntington and Oyster Bay, NY Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County is focused on reducing the decline of and restoring 25,600 acres of marine habitat for: American lobster, blue crab, horseshoe crab and other marine fisheries through the removal of 180,000 ghost fishing lobster traps and one ton of ropes, buoys and other marine debries by Long Island lobsterman in Northport, Huntington and Oyster Bay.
Long Island Sound Futures Fund 2011 page - 2 Project Title: Restoration of Forests at Audubon's First Bird Sanctuary, Oyster Bay (NY) (#27926) Audubon New York, Theodore Roosevelt Sanctuary and Audubon Center $ 34,977.27 (EPA/FWS) $ 13,210 Total Project Costs: $ 48,187.27 Project Area: Oyster Bay, NY Audubon New York, Theodore Roosevelt Sanctuary and Audubon Center will remove nonnative plants and restore a rare 14 acre old growth coastal forest comprised of American Tulip Tree, Oak, Red Maple, Beech, and Hickory trees. Native plantings will restore successional forest, forest edge/meadows, and shaded understory/woodland floor areas within the sanctuary for birds and other wildlife. HABITAT RESTORATION - CT Project Title: Pequonnock River Apron Fish Passage Project (CT) (#28523) Connecticut Fund for the Environment $ 59,172 (EPA/FWS) $ 59,172 Total Project Costs: $ 118,344 Project Area: Pequonnock River, City of Bridgeport Connecticut Fund for the Environment will install a step pool fish ladder through an existing concrete erosion apron installed in the Pequonnock River which is impeding upstream fish passage. Installation of the fish ladder will remedy the problem and restore five miles of upstream river passage for migrating and spawning native fish -- alewife and blueback herring. Project partners include the City of Bridgeport. Project Title: Long Beach West Invasives Species Control Project (CT) (#28729) Town of Stratford $ 56,100 (EPA/FWS)
Long Island Sound Futures Fund 2011 page - 3 $ 9,486 Total Project Costs: $ 65,586 Project Area: Stratford, CT The Town of Stratford will prepare a management plan and implement invasives control at a 35- acre barrier beach, dunes, tidal wetlands and sand flats with the ultimate goal of restoration of habitat for important wildlife including Least Tern and Piping Plover. Long Beach and the adjacent Pleasure Beach shelter a 700-acre estuarine system that provides one of the most critical areas for birds in Connecticut, represent 20% of the undeveloped barrier beach habitat in Connecticut and are located adjacent to the Great Meadows Unit of the Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge. Project partners include: US Fish and Wildlife Service, CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and Audubon Connecticut. Project Title: Long Cove Tidal Marsh Restoration (CT) (#28524) Town of Guilford $ 49,250 (EPA) $ 49,518 Total Project Costs: $ 98,768 Project Area: Guilford, CT The Town of Guilford will restore 60 acres of tidal marsh by increasing the size of the culvert under Daniel Avenue from a 30" pipe to a 6'x4' box culvert to increase the flow of water, cause the die-off of invasive phragmites plants and allow for re-establishment of marsh grasses providing habitat to animals and large birds such as ducks, shorebirds, and wading birds. The new culvert will also provide opportunities for fish to swim northward into the marsh environment providing food for the bird species. The renewed flooding of the marsh some areas may be converted to shallow pools, intertidal flats and ponds. SPECIES CONSERVATION - CT Project Title: Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbird Stewardship (CT) (#28642) Audubon Connecticut $ 117,707.66 (EPA/FWS) $ 82,304
Long Island Sound Futures Fund 2011 page - 4 Total Project Costs: $ 200,011.66 Project Area: Connecticut Coastal Shoreline and Coastal Islands Audubon Connecticut will reduce threats to priority coastal waterbird species and their habitats by deploying 50 beach stewards to protect nest sites and reach out to beachgoers and boaters, effectively doubling the number of volunteer stewards currently engaged in coastal bird stewardship activities. Five interns will be available to serve as professional stewards available for such activities in the state. This program will also implement new stewardship activities for island nesting species on Duck, Charles and Great Captains Islands, which are not currently stewarded, and expand beach steward coverage to include migrant shorebirds as well as nesting birds. Training will be offered to land managers in municipalities. The primary target species for the project are Piping Plover, American Oystercatcher and Least Tern. Secondary targets include Common Tern, Black Skimmer, Great Egret, Snowy Egrets, and migrant shorebirds including Red Knot, Sanderling, Semipalmated Sandpiper, and others. Project partners include: US Fish and Wildlife Foundation and Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. WATER QUALITY IMPLEMENTATION NY Project Title: Engaging Sweet Corn Farmers to Reduce Nitrogen in LI Sound (NY) (#28703) American Farmland Trust $ 150,000 (EPA/ NRCS) $ 220,000 Total Project Costs: $ 370,000 Project Area: Town of Southold, NY American Farmland Trust will promote adoption of controlled release nitrogen fertilizer an innovative conservation practice which aims to reduce conventional nitrogen fertilizer application rates from 140-150 pounds per acre to no more than 95 pounds per acre on eight sweet corn operations to demonstrate it is possible reduce nitrogen pollution into Long Island Sound from specialty crops while still maintaining crop yields and economic returns for farmers. Project partners include: Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County. WATER QUALITY IMPLEMENTATION CT
Long Island Sound Futures Fund 2011 page - 5 Project Title: Improving Equine Operation Nutrient Management (CT) (#29042) Southwest Conservation District $ 150,000 (EPA/NRCS) $ 75,000 Total Project Costs: $ 225,000 Project Area: All Connecticut with Focus on Rivers and Tributaries to rivers that Feed Long Island Sound The Connecticut River Coastal Conservation District and two other conservation districts will deliver a voluntary project designed to assist 15 or greater number of horse farm owners, operators and managers to address water quality challenges at their operations by implementing manure management and other best management practices and through technical and financial assistance. The project aims to address nutrient loading to Long Island Sound from equine operations. Project partners include: Eastern Connecticut Conservation District and Southwest Conservation District. PLANNING - NY Project Title: Engineering Design of Sunken Meadow Creek, Sunken Meadow State Park (NY) (#28535) New York State Department of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation $ 60,000 (EPA/FWS) $ 62,000 Total Project Costs: $ 122,000 Project Area: Sunken Meadow State Park, Kings Park, NY New York State Department of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation will finalize a plan to restore salt marsh and underwater habitat for anadromous and resident fish in Sunken Meadow Creek. The goal of the project is reintroduction of tidal flow across the current dike to provide access for fish. Restoration of tidal flow would reconnect approximately 73-acres of vegetated wetland and 38-acres of underwater wetland to daily tidal flushing that will also help improve water quality into the Long Island Sound. Project Title: Mill River-Beekman Creek Restoration Project: Phase One (NY) (#28615)
Long Island Sound Futures Fund 2011 page - 6 Friends of the Bay $ 40,000 (EPA) $ 43,260 Total Project Costs: $ 83,260 Project Area: Mill River and Beekman Creek in Oyster Bay, NY Friends of the Bay will develop a restoration and stewardship plan for the Mill River subwatershed from the outflow at Beekman Beach to Glen Cove Road. The planning will focus on fish and wildlife habitat, diadromous fish passage, water quality, public access, education, invasive species removal and stormwater control. The planning aims to reconnect and restore fragmented segments of Mill River and Beekman Creek and the establish a walking trail to connect Beekman Beach and the Western Waterfront to the Mill Pond Overlook property. Partners include: Town of Oyster Bay and the Long Island Chapter of Trout Unlimited. Project Title: Crab Meadow Watershed Hydrology Study & Stewardship Plan NY) (#28186) Town of Huntington, New York $ 58,000 (EPA) $ 27,000 Total Project Costs: $ 85,000 Project Area: Northport, NY The Town of Huntington will prepare a watershed and stewardship action plan to restore and protect Crab Meadow comprised of a mosaic of 300 acres of high salt marsh, beach and tidal flat, barrier beach and woodlands. Crab Meadow provides habitat for rare fish and wildlife species including; federally listed piping plover and least term and clapper rail, marsh wren, redwinged blackbird, and swamp sparrow. It is also a productive area for finfish, shellfish, and crustaceans, contributing to the biological productivity of Long Island Sound. Project Title: Street Swale Infrastructure Initiative (NY) (#28716) Regional Plan Association $ 59,935(EPA) $ 176,110 Total Project Costs: $ 236,045 Project Area: Long Island Expressway/Van Wyck Expressway, Queens, NY
Long Island Sound Futures Fund 2011 page - 7 The Regional Plan Association will prepare a plan required to install two bioretention basins to detain and filter 7,700 gallons of polluted stormwater runoff annually flowing into the Long Island Sound and detain runoff from 11,420 sq ft of impervious highway surfaces from a 1.2" under Long Island Expressway near the Van Wyck Expressway to illustrate the potential of green infrastructure to improve water quality. Project Title: Mamaroneck River Corridor Buffer Restoration, Mamaroneck (NY) (#28674) Westchester County Department of Planning $ 41,000 (EPA) $ 4,500 Total Project Costs: $ 46,500 Project Area: Mamaroneck River, Mamaroneck, NY The Westchester County, Planning Department will prepare a plan to restore 4.5 acres of Mamaroneck River corridor at the Saxon Woods County Park focusing on removing non-native plants and planting with woodlands and understory. The aim of the restoration is to anchor and stabilize the floodplain, help treat polluted stormwater to improve water quality for fish and recreation, and provide habitat for native wildlife. PLANNING CT Project Title: Fish Passage Improvement on Spoonville Dam on the Farmington River (CT) (#28266) Farmington River Watershed Association $ 60,000 (EPA/FWS) $ 220,000 Total Project Costs: $ 280,000 Project Area: Farmington River, East Granby, CT, and Bloomfield CT The Farmington River Watershed Association will finalize engineering, bids and permitting with the overall goal of restoring access to ~50 miles of upstream spawning habitat for native fisheries
Long Island Sound Futures Fund 2011 page - 8 including river herring and shad. Project partners include: Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and Northeast Utilities. Project Title: Restoration of a Coastal Shoreline at Stratford Point (CT) (#28438) Sacred Heart University $ 54,854 (EPA/FWS) $ 61.912 Total Project Costs: $ 116,766 Project Area: Stratford Point, Stratford, CT Sacred Heart University will develop a management plan for the restoration of 23 acres of coastal habitat including 20 acres grasslands,.5 acres of dunes, and 1.4 intertidal marshes at Stratford Point. The information in the plan will be used to engage hands-on restoration of neighboring natural areas and help guide future restoration activities. Project partners include: Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Proection, DuPont Company and Audubon Connecticut. Project Title: An Online Guide to Responding to Impervious Cover Regulation (CT) (#28580) University of Connecticut, Center for Land Use Education and Research $ 60,000 (EPA) $ 29,537 Total Project Costs: $ 89,537 Project Area: Communities throughout CT in the LIS Watershed The University of Connecticut will create a multi-media website to provide guidance to local government to allow it to proactively respond to state standards that will require those entities address the extent of imperviousness (i.e., roadways, sidewalks, buildings etc) in their watersheds as a means to to address pollution resulting from many currently indistinquishable sources that flow over paved, impervious area into waterways. The website will provide information and lessons learned from the first impervious Total Maximum Daily Load project Eagleville Brook in Mansfield, Connecticut. The website will enable communities to respond more quickly and efficiently to new standards, increase the adoption of green infrastructure practices that reduce the impact of imperviousness, and decrease pollution into the Long Island Sound.
Long Island Sound Futures Fund 2011 page - 9 Project Title: Poquetanuck Cove Action Plan, Preston and Ledyard (CT) (#28531) Eastern Connecticut Conservation District $ 60,000 (EPA) $ 53,000_ Total Project Costs: $ 113,000 Project Area: Preston and Ledyard, CT The Eastern Connecticut Conservation District will work with public officials and the community to develop an Intermunicipal Agreement with a goal of adopting a Poquetanuck Cove Action Plan. Forty local officials, 50 landowners, 100 citizens and 90 volunteers will be brought together in workshops, through surveys and with hands-on events to list the important resources, anticipate the threats to those resources and develop achievable strategies to address those threats. Poquetanuck Cove is described as the best remaining example of a brackish water tidal marsh wetland in the Thames watershed. The cove is an established bird sanctuary and an important diadromous fish area. This public resource is enjoyed for scenic vistas, fishing, crabbing, bird watching, paddling, and hiking because of several public access opportunities along the shore. WATER QUALITY MONITORING NY Project Title: Hempstead Harbor 2011 Water Quality Monitoring Program (NY) (#28312) Incorporated Village of Sea Cliff, New York $ 40,000 (EPA) $ 62,910 Total Project Costs: $ 102,910 Project Area: Hempstead Harbor, NY Incorporated Village of Sea Cliff, New York will continue a water quality monitoring program to collect data at 18 locations and to track 13 different sources of pollution in order to gauge progress and to pinpoint deteriorating water quality trends. The data are also used to help monitor water quality at newly opened shellfish beds. The project will publish an annual report, posting results on a website for use by the communities and state agencies. Project partners include: Town of North Hempstead, Town of Oyster Bay, Nassau County Department of Health, Hempstead Harbor Protection Committee, University of Connecticut, Marine Sciences
Long Island Sound Futures Fund 2011 page - 10 Department, and the Nassau County Marine Police. WATER QUALITY MONITORING CT Project Title: Water Quality Project Used to Implement Pollution Solutions (CT) (#28446) Clean Up Stonington Harbors, Inc. $ 24,481 (EPA) $ 19,400_ Total Project Costs: $ 44,881 Project Area: Stonington Harbor, CT Clean Up Stonington Harbors will have its team of volunteers collect water quality information and integrate the information into a water-quality database to identify pollution from multiple sources to identify areas of concern and to implement solutions to the problems. Project partners include: Grasso Technical High School Bio-Environmental Department and University of Connecticut s Avery Point Campus, Department of Marine Sciences. EDUCATION NY Project Title: Adopt-a-Trout: Promoting Community-Based Stewardship (NY) (#28274) Hofstra University $ 34,978 (EPA) $ 45,598 Total Project Costs: $ 80,576 Project Area: Hofstra University; Shu Swamp, North Shore Wildlife Sanctuary, and Cleft Road, Town of Mill Neck Hofstra University will engage students from 15 schools to raise 230 mature and juvenile brook trout, a native fishery of Long Island, and release tagged fish into Shu Swam Preserve their only known spawing ground in Nassau County. Students will monitor trout life cycle using telemetry to understand their habitat needs and migration patterns into fresh and brackish water allowing them to become citizen scientists. Hofstra students, faculty, community groups and Trout
Long Island Sound Futures Fund 2011 page - 11 Unlimited volunteers will also track movements of tagged fish and assess stream conditions. A public lecture and teacher workshop will be offered about the project. Partners include: Trout Unlimited and Friends of the Bay. Project Title: Great Egret Foraging Science Education Project (NY) (#28639) Rocking the-boat, Inc. $ 20,000 (FWS) $10,000 Total Project Costs: $ 30,000 Project Area: Bronx River, South Bronx, NY Rocking-the-Bay will train 64 high school students to conduct regular surveys of the wading bird population particularly herons and egrets at six different sites along the Bronx River. The project is designed to teach hands-on science methods using the foraging habits of the birds; and the data collected are used to determine sites for future restoration of habitat for waterbirds in New York City. Project partners include New York City Audubon. Project Title: Sound Experiences: From Ship-to-Shore (NY) (#28358) Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County $ 35,000 (EPA) $17,225 Total Project Costs: $ 52,225 Project Area: Oyster Bay and Schools in Nassau and Suffolk Counties, NY Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County will provide 24 groups of 575 students (grades 4-8), from schools in underserved communities in Suffolk and Nassau Count, with direct educational experiences about the Long island Sound through field investigations on the beach and in the salt marsh, and aboard a restored oyster sloop. Partners include the Waterfront Center in Oyster Bay. Project Title: BYOB- Bring Your Own Bag (NY) (#28447) Citizens Campaign for the Environment $ 25,000.40 (EPA)
Long Island Sound Futures Fund 2011 page - 12 $ 30,000 Total Project Costs: $ 55,000.40 Project Area: Northport and Port Jefferson, NY Citizens Campaign for the Environment will implement a pilot campaign to reduce plastic pollution into waterways to encourage 500 residents to use reusable bags instead of throw-a-way disposable plastic bags in two communities within Long Island Sound Watershed The project will produce a short video PSA, distribute 2,500 brochures in targeted areas, work with local businesses to ensure prompts are displayed in local shops and encourage residents to pledge to stop using plastic bags. EDUCATION CT Project Title: Creature Encounters (CT) (#28582) The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk $ 34,890 (EPA) $ 37,021_ Total Project Costs: $ 71,911 Project Area: All Connecticut The Maritime Aquarium will continue its live animal series, Creature Encounters which will to address the issue of nonpoint source pollution and its effects on the animals and habitats of Long Island Sound. Aquarium staff will present the series to more than 95,000 visitors. Creature Encounters is a Aquarium station hosted by trained educators and designed to present general Aquarium visitors with both informal and scheduled educational experiences that are consistently enjoyable, informative, accurate and personalized. Live animals are presented as hosts and protagonists to engage children and adults, while educators ask visitors to adopt simple changes in their lives to protect habitat and wildlife with a goal of engaging 35,000 visitors in pledges to make those changes. Partners include: Splash Car Wash. Project Title: Raising Awareness of Rising Sea-levels in Coastal Marshes (CT) (#28726) Yale University $ 35,000 (EPA) $ 39,447_
Long Island Sound Futures Fund 2011 page - 13 Total Project Costs: $ 74,447 Project Area: New Haven and West Haven, CT Yale University will involve 25 high school students and 5 student interns from urban schools in a research project investigating marshes along the Connecticut coast of Long Island Sound. This interdisciplinary study has multiple facets, including experiments to determine how salt marshes respond to warming, geological reconstructions of past salt marsh accretion, and coastal resilience planning. Students will use knowledge from their interactions with scientists to help create a museum exhibit to educate the public about Connecticut salt marshes and sea-level rise. The exhibit will be displayed at the Yale Peabody Museum. Project partners include: The Nature Conservancy. Project Title: SoundWaters Public Engagement Sails Connecting LIS (CT) (#28459) SoundWaters Inc. $ 34,486 (EPA) $ 34,767 Total Project Costs: $ 69,253 Project Area: Long Island Sound Ports in Connecticut and New York. SoundWaters will lead 30 hands-on educational sails stopping in 10 ports aboard the schooner SoundWaters and discussing the impacts of floatable (plastic bags, bottles etc.) and other pollution on the Sound to engage pledges of stewardship by participants in the cruises. 1,050 adults and children will be reached through the sails. Project partners include Aspetuck Land Trust, Hempstead Harbor Protection Committee, Long Island North Shore Heritage Area, Saybrook Point Marina, and Westchester Land Trust. Project Title: Diving Deeper: Children's Sound Programs at Common Ground (CT) (#28659) New Haven Ecology Project, Inc. / Common Ground $ 15,024 (EPA) $ 14,186 Total Project Costs: $ 29,210 Project Area: City Park, New Haven, CT Diving Deeper is a two-pronged, year-long strategy for engaging 1000 children and 500 families and community members about the Long Island Sound and watershed protection. Both during
Long Island Sound Futures Fund 2011 page - 14 the school year and over the summer, children will experience their piece of the Long Island Sound watershed first-hand: through hands-on, minds-on exploration of Wintergreen Brook and Lake Wintergreen, the parts of this watershed closest to their own lives and neighborhoods. Through direct experience and facilitated activities, they will come to understand how their own actions and the waterways in their backyards connect directly to Long Island Sound. Project partners include: Regional Water Authority s Whitney Water Center. Project Title: Riparian Corridors and the Pequonnock River Watershed (CT) (#28174) University of Connecticut $ 34,999.08 (EPA) $ 4,748 Total Project Costs: $ 39,747.08 Project Area: Pequonnock River Watershed, Fairfield County, CT and Monroe, Trumbull, and Bridgeport, CT The University of Connecticut will develop and conduct workshops presenting the value of riparian corridors in three Pequonnock River Watershed towns with a goal of restoring and protecting critical stream and estuarine habitats, water quality and stream integrity. Riparian plant lists and fact sheets will be distributed about riparian site preparation and how to plant these areas such that municipalities, land trusts, and homeowners can improve and restore riparian corridors. SMALL GRANTS NY Project Title: Friends of the Bay Water Quality Monitoring Report (NY) (#28192) Friends of the Bay $ 6,440 (EPA) $ 79,965 Total Project Costs: $ 86,395 Project Area: Oyster Bay/Cold Spring Harbor Estuary, NY Friends of the Bay will organize program results from water quality monitoring of the Oyster Bay/Cold Spring Harbor Estuary into a report to be made available on the organizational website and distributed to public agencies including the Nassau County Department of Health and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to inform management of this area
Long Island Sound Futures Fund 2011 page - 15 for public health, recreation and natural resources. Friends of the Bay will use Facebook, twitter and Constant Contact, to make the public aware of the report. Project Title: Festival of Little Neck Bay and Long Island Sound (NY) (#28444) Alley Pond Environmental Center $ 4,999.71 (EPA) $ 5,000 Total Project Costs: $ 9,999.71 Project Area: Douglaston, NY The Alley Pond Environmental Center will plan and conduct a National Estuaries Day and a Little Neck Bay/Long Island Sound Festival engaging 1,500 participants and featuring boat tours about Long Island Sound natural resources, and exhibitions and conservation activities designed to raise awareness about the value of estuaries in communities. Project Title: Coastal Classroom on the East River, Long Island City and Astoria (NY) (#28707) City Parks Foundation $ 10,000 (EPA) $ 10,000 Total Project Costs: $ 20,000 Project Area: Long Island City and Astoria Waterfronts, NY The City Parks Foundation will offer approximately 100 lessons to schools and local residents along the Queens waterfront, introducing concepts of river ecology, water quality, and waterfront restoration and preservation, in addition to hosting National Estuaries Day. Partners include: New York City Department of Parks and Restoration. Project Title: Long Island Sound Beach Cleanup, (NY) (#28265) The Scuba Sports Club $ 5,000 (EPA) Total Project Costs: $ 5,000
Long Island Sound Futures Fund 2011 page - 16 Project Area: Waters and beaches off City Island, Orchard and Davenport Beaches, Bronx and New Rochelle, NY The Scuba Sports Club will coordinate three separate cleanup efforts two on the beaches. Two cleanups will be on beach areas of the Long Island Sound and one cleanup will involve the use of SCUBA to remove lobster pots in the Sound itself. The amount of trash for each cleanup will be weighed and quantified by type to help educate the public about the problem of pollution in aquatic environments. One beach clean up is to be held at Orchard Beach. A second beach clean up is to be held at Davenport Beach. The cleanups will include cleaning debris and trash from the beach areas as well as the water area immediately adjacent to the beach area. The Lobster Pot cleanup will start off from City Island and motor out to remove Lobster Pots from the Long Island Sound using SCUBA. The pots which will be removed are no longer in use and have been abandoned by their owners. The lobster pot removal is via permits. One of the three cleanups will be performed in conjunction with International Beach Cleanup Day. The amount of trash for each cleanup will be weighed and quantified by type, which will help educate the public about the problem of pollution in aquatic environments. SMALL GRANTS CT Project Title: Save the Sound Coastal Cleanup Program (CT) (#28393) Connecticut Fund for the Environment, Inc. $ 10,000 (EPA) $ 10,000 Total Project Costs: $ 20,000 Project Area: Connecticut Shoreline, CT Connecticut Fund for the Environment, Inc. will coordinate cleanups year-round on Connecticut's inland and coastal shores by actively engaging and educating a diverse group of volunteers. Results will be 70 cleanup events cleaning 70 miles of shoreline using up to 2,700 volunteers. The project will recruit 70 volunteer Cleanup Captains for cleanups and recruit businesses and corporations to form partnerships and sponsorships of the cleanup events. The organization will hold 50 events on or around International Coastal and National Estuaries Day. Project partners include: Student Conservation Association, The Nature Conservancy and Mitchell College.
Long Island Sound Futures Fund 2011 page - 17 Project Title: Byram River Eel Passage and Volunteer Eel Restoration (CT) (#28271) Town of Greenwich, Connecticut $ 3,498.02 (EPA) $ 1,500 Total Project Costs: $ 4,998.02 Project Area: Below the first dam on the Byram River in Greenwich, CT The Town of Greenwich, CT will install an eel pass below the first dam on the Byram River, and volunteers will collect eels and reintroduce the eels to their native habitat upstream of multiple dams on the Byram River. Eels will be reintroduced to 10 miles of historic habitat and 200 Greenwich High School students will be educated on the importance of eels. Project partners include: Greenwich Audubon Society and Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. Project Title: Celebration of Our Woods and Streams: Links to LIS (CT) (#28662) Land Trust of Darien, Inc. $ 3,000 (EPA) $ 2,620 Total Project Costs: $ 5,620 Project Area: Daien Land Trust Presrve, Dunlap Woods and Sellacks Woods, Darien, CT The Darien Land Trust will hold an educational celebration attracting 500 participants at their 50-acre preserve with a focus on raising awareness of non-point source pollution in Long Island Sound and how residents can solve the problem. The event will emphasize role of reducing water pollution by creating a 3-mile trail system with: seven different habitats represented, a watershed exhibit, habitat story boards, activities for all ages and a field guide. Project partners include:friends of Sellecks Woods. Project Title: Estuary Health Program (CT) (#28405) Sea Research Foundation, Inc. $ 7,165.70 (EPA)
Long Island Sound Futures Fund 2011 page - 18 $ 6,678 Total Project Costs: $ 13,843.70 Project Area: Mystic Aquarium and Bluff Point State Park, Mystic, CT The Sea Research Foundation, Inc. will host the National Estuary Day and Long Island Sound Day celebration weekends with its beach clean-ups and horseshoe crab walks to increase public awareness about threats facing Long Island Sound. A projected 500 participants will join the two celebrations at the Aquarium; 150 participants will join in the coastal cleanup; 50 horseshoe will engage in crab monitoring; and 300 educators will attend the educator open house with 3,000 visiting students will use self-guided materials of the Aquarium focused on understanding the importance of estuaries and specifically the Long Island Sound. Project Title: Beardsley Zoo's "Trout in the Classroom" Project (CT) (#28712) Connecticut Zoological Society, Inc. $ 7,000 (EPA) $ 14,000 Total Project Costs: $ 21,000 Project Area: Beardsley Zoo and the lower Pequonnock River in Bridgeport, CT Connecticut Zoological Society, Inc. will engage students and the public to learn about the interrelationship between Long Island Sound and the lower Pequonnock River through the raising and release of brook and brown trout through 2 signs at the Zoo, e-newsletters, partner websites, and public access cable. Project partners include: Trout Unlimited. Project Title: Norwalk Harbor Interpretive Signage Project (CT) (#28702) City of Norwalk Harbor Management Commission $ 9,480 (EPA) Total Project Costs: $ 9,480 Project Area: City Marina, Veteran's Park Walkway, and the Dunavan Boating Center in Norwalk, CT The City of Norwalk Harbor Management Commission will prepare and install three wayside signs in prominent locations in Norwalk Harbor providing information on the natural environment of Norwalk and the Long Island Sound. The 2x3 signs will educate residents on the ecological relationships between Norwalk Harbor and the greater Norwalk River watershed.
Long Island Sound Futures Fund 2011 page - 19 Project partners include: Norwalk Recreation and Parks Department and Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.