Grantee: City of Pittsfield, MA
Grant Amount: $637,500Matching Funds: $212,500Total Project Amount: $850,000
Install 20,000 sq. ft. of green infrastructure and Low Impact Development improvements including surface and subsurface infiltration basins, bioretention basins and bio-cells at two sites now comprised of hard impervious surfaces which contribute polluted runoff into local waterways, in Pittsfield. Project will prevent 105 pounds of nitrogen, 12 pounds of phosphorus, and 2,905 pounds of sediment from entering the Housatonic River and downstream Long Island Sound.
Grantee: Connecticut River Watershed Council dba Connecticut River Conservancy
Grant Amount: $360,000Matching Funds: $308,000Total Project Amount: $668,000
Remove a barrier to fish passage, install a box culvert, and restore a stream channel and floodplain at Stone Pond Dam in Fitzwilliam. Project will excavate 82,000 pounds of nitrogen and 5,700 pounds of phosphorus in sediments behind the dam immediately; and then prevent 908 pounds of nitrogen and 26 pounds of Phosphorus annually preventing pollution from flowing from the Connecticut River and downstream to Long Island Sound.
Grantee: Upper Valley Lake Sunapee Regional Planning Commission
Grant Amount: $499,900Matching Funds: $120,100Total Project Amount: $620,000
Build a pipeline of 10 projects to install green infrastructure and Low Impact Development improvements by supporting local site identification, design, engineering and permitting activities; and build a community-of-practice to deliver such improvements long-term in urban, suburban, and rural areas of the greater Upper Valley region of New Hampshire and Vermont. Project will produce shovel-ready projects aiming to reduce nitrogen into the Connecticut River and downstream to Long Island Sound.
Grantee: Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County
Grant Amount: $386,000Matching Funds: $113,500Total Project Amount: $499,500
Identify areas of lost and abandoned lobster traps collaborating with local fishermen and using sonar; conduct four events about the project to seek fishermen’s knowledge and engagement in the work; remove 4,800 traps; and conduct sonar sampling sharing information about how sonar may improve retrieval in Long Island Sound. Project will remove 240,000 pounds of marine debris to address the goals of the Marine Debris Action Plan for Long Island Sound.
Grantee: American Farmland Trust
Grant Amount: $480,600Matching Funds: $160,200Total Project Amount: $640,700
Develop 25 farm-scale soil health management plans by facilitating three farmer cohorts to engage in soil health planning over 875 acres of farmland for 200 farmers; deliver 10 outreach events; and develop an agricultural water quality benefits tool in the Long Island Sound Watershed of Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. Project will advance the adoption of soil health management systems that reduce nutrient pollution from agricultural operations into Long Island Sound.
Grantee: National Audubon Society, Inc. (Connecticut & New York Audubon)
Grant Amount: $70,600Matching Funds: $17,700Total Project Amount: $88,300
Deliver social marketing to incentivize 1,000 people especially beachgoers to reduce disturbance to native and migratory birds during summer; evaluate the impact of the marketing on limiting disturbance to birds; monitor bird nesting success; and expand a community-of-practice working on this issue at Milford Point and Long Beach in Connecticut, and Sunken Meadow State Park in New York. Project will benefit iconic bird species of Long Island Sound such as piping plover and American oystercatcher.
Descriptions of all 39 grants totaling $12 million awarded in 2023 are also available in a fact sheet.