Posted on December 15, 2021
Millions of dollars in federal grants and matching funds were awarded Monday for improving the Long Island Sound watershed, with projects slated for Connecticut to reduce pollution, build green infrastructure and restore habitats for birds, fish and other wildlife.
State and federal officials announced federal grants totaling $5.4 million to state and local government, nonprofit organizations and community groups from the Long Island Sound Futures Fund. The grants are matched by $4.8 million from the recipients, for a total of $10.2 million for projects.
In Connecticut, those projects include more than $1.3 million for stormwater management and other green infrastructure technologies to improve water quality around Hartford, Bridgeport and Stonington.
In Groton, the federal grants will help fund a $150,000 project to develop a coastal resiliency plan for the Mystic waterfront, while in Fairfield they will aid a $255,750 restoration of coastal forest at the Roy and Margot Larsen Wildlife Sanctuary.
A $192,936 project undertaken by the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County, N.Y., will remove abandoned fishing gear and other marine debris from waters in both New York and Connecticut.
Three projects totaling $287,988 will help install or renovate fishways and other migration channels for eels, herring, alewives and other fish that spawn upstream in Connecticut. The Connecticut Audubon Society will also oversee a $226,372 project to improve habitats for American oystercatchers and other shorebirds.
Oyster reefs will be the subject of a $262,193 restoration project in Mystic and Groton undertaken by the University of Connecticut.
The complete list of grant recipients includes dozens of other projects in Connecticut, New York and Vermont.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D- Conn., hailed the grant awards as a “gigantic achievement” and the largest annual investment in the Sound since the LISFF was created in 2005 as a partnership between the bi-state Long Island Sound Study, the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
“Every one of these dollars is a force multiplier; it will have ripple effects throughout Long Island Sound and Connecticut,” Blumenthal said.
According to the NFWF, this year’s grant awards will treat 353,000 gallons of stormwater, remove 97,700 pounds of marine debris and restore 25 acres of habitats in the Sound’s watershed.
Funding for this year’s round of grants was approved by Congress as part of national spending in the 2021 fiscal year, said Mark Tedesco, director of the EPA’s Long Island Sound Office. The recent passage of a $1 trillion federal infrastructure bill — which included $106 million for the Sound — could result in more grants awarded through the LISFF next year.
U.S. Rep. Tom Souzzi, D-N.Y., referred to the Sound as “our national park,” during a press conference Monday announcing the grants. Over nearly two decades, previous grants from the LISFF have had a noticeable impact on the environment, fisheries and tourism, he said.
“We can actually see more sea life, that the water’s clearer, that more people are using the Sound,” Souzzi said.
Long Island Sound is one of the largest estuaries in the United States and is also one of the most-densely populated, with more than 23 million people living within 50 miles of its waters. The larger watershed, which includes rivers and streams flowing into the Sound, covers more than 16,000 square miles in five states.
