2021 Grants in New York

CLEAN WATERS AND HEALTHY WATERSHEDS

Reducing Marine Debris in Long Island Sound Deploying Innovative Floating Litter Traps (NY) (73383)

Grantee:  Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County

Project Area:  Oyster Bay Harbor and Hempstead Harbor, New York

LISFF Grant Funds: $81,341
Grantee Matching Funds:
$54,295
Total Conservation Impact:
$135,636

Deploy “Seabin” floating litter traps in Oyster Bay and Hempstead Harbor, New York. Project will remove 1,800 pounds of marine debris and pilot innovative technology to address litter and other forms of floatable pollution in marinas and ports around Long Island Sound.

Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County will reduce marine debris and plastic pollution in the Long Island Sound by deploying “Seabin” floating litter traps in Oyster Bay and Hempstead Harbor, New York.  Long Island Sound communities produce significant amounts of debris and litter, which flow from the surrounding land and waters into the Sound.  Plastic bags foul boat propellers and block intake valves. Thousands of birds and marine animals die from eating or becoming entangled in plastic. Fishing lines, balloons, and six-pack ring holders litter beaches and shorelines. Scientists estimate that at current rates, there will be more plastic than fish in the world’s oceans by 2050. Seabin unit is a “trash skimmer” installed in the water of marinas, yacht clubs, and ports. The unit acts as a floating garbage bin skimming the surface of the water by pumping water into the device and collecting floating debris, and macro-and micro-plastics. Project activities:  1) work with the Town of Oyster Bay to site, deploy and manage Seabins; 2) collect data about the quantity and types of debris collected, and conditions for effective use of Seabins; and 3) engage volunteers from Oyster Bay High School and three community organizations to monitor debris removed and disseminate education about this pollution to 100,000 people. This pilot project will advance first-time use of this technology in the Sound and serve as a “platform” for marine debris pollution education. 

Oyster Planting to Improve Water Quality in Long Island Sound-II (NY) (73334)

Grantee: Town of Brookhaven, New York

Project Area: Port Jefferson Harbor, New York

LISFF Grant Funds: $79,640
Grantee Matching Funds:
$87,500
Total Conservation Impact:
$167,140

Plant 200,000 American oysters to assess their potential to remove nitrogen, phosphorus and carbon pollution from waters and repopulate a historic fishery in Port Jefferson Harbor, New York. Project will increase biofiltration by the oysters, which remove 130 lbs. of nitrogen annually from a harbor of Long Island Sound.

The Town of Brookhaven will seed a harbor with American oysters to examine the potential for bioextraction of nitrogen pollution and repopulation of the area with oysters in Port Jefferson Harbor, New York.  Long Island Sound harbors once had vast oyster beds capable of filtering large volumes of water.  These oyster beds have been lost contributing to poor water quality, beach closures, harmful algal blooms and hypoxic dead zones affecting communities and fish and wildlife.  Port Jefferson Harbor faces a variety of water quality challenges including nutrient and bacteria discharges from residential wastewater treatment systems, a treatment plant, and stormwater runoff from the surrounding landscape.  Planting thousands of disease-resistant oysters has the promise to improve water quality and bring back abundant oyster beds.  Project activities: 1) plant 200,000 American oysters in two sanctuaries closed to harvest; 2) collect water samples to determine the amount of nitrogen removed by the oysters; 3) examine if oyster recruitment is improved; and 4) share project results about optimal oyster densities with local and state government, the Long Island Sound Study, and households in the surrounding communities.  The project will provide important information about what is needed to restore American oyster and to improve water quality in Long Island Sound.

Green Infrastructure to Improve Water Quality in Northport Harbor and Long Island Sound (NY) (73479)

Grantee:  Citizens Campaign Fund for the Environment

Project Area: Northport Yacht Club, Northport Harbor, Northport, New York

LISFF Grant Funds: $60,000
Grantee Matching Funds:
$45,000
Total Conservation Impact:
$105,000

Install green infrastructure in Northport, New York. Project will install a bio-retention rain garden to capture, store, and filter contaminants and 17,040 gallons of stormwater from Northport Harbor and Long Island Sound.

Citizens Campaign Fund for the Environment will remove 1,800 sq. ft. of impervious gray infrastructure and construct 27,334 sq. ft. of green infrastructure, Northport, New York.  Stormwater runoff is a major cause of pollution in Long Island Sound. In suburban communities with a high percentage of impervious surface, like concrete and paving, this limits the capacity of water to infiltrate into the ground and increases stormwater runoff into local waters degrading water quality.  Northport along the Sound’s coast has excessive stormwater discharges into the local harbor. Excessive nitrogen contributes to toxic red tide causing shellfish area closures and threats to human health.  Northport Harbor’s toxin levels are the highest recorded locally due to annual algal blooms. The Harbor was identified in the Suffolk County Subwatershed Wastewater Plan as a priority area for nutrient removal.  This project will construct green infrastructure to, in part, to address these problems.  Green infrastructure uses a nature-based approach employing soil, vegetation, and drainage to filter pollution.  Project activities: 1) install a bio-retention rain garden which capture, store and filter contaminants and stormwater runoff including 9.50 lbs. of nitrogen, 312 lbs. of sediment, 2 lbs. of phosphorous, and 17,040 gallons of stormwater during rainstorms; and 2) educate 1,800 people about the project with materials and signs. Partners: Village of Northport and Northport Yacht Club.

Innovative Green Infrastructure and Coastal Resilience Design for Flushing Creek (NY) (73449)

Grantee: Guardians of Flushing Bay

Project Area:  Waterfront access park west end of SkyView Mall, Flushing Creek, Queens, New York

LISFF Grant Funds:
$203,934 Grantee Matching Funds:
$136,517 Total Conservation Impact: $340,451

Develop a green infrastructure and living shoreline design in collaboration with the community for a project along Flushing Creek, Queens, New York.   Project will integrate innovative nature-based techniques that can be applied along urban waterfronts to improve water quality, filter stormwater, enhance shoreline resilience, and connect communities to local waterways and Long Island Sound.

Guardians of Flushing Bay will design green infrastructure and living shoreline elements tailored to the unique conditions of an urban waterfront along Flushing Creek, Queens, New York.  Flushing Creek is an urban waterway flowing into Flushing Bay and Long Island Sound.  Downtown Flushing, an environmental justice community, and the creek are affected by release of two billion gallons of sewage and stormwater runoff annually from combined sewer overflows (CSOs) some of the largest CSOs in New York City. Once thriving wetlands, this area is now an industrial transportation corridor with limited access for people from surrounding neighborhoods. Comparable to many urban waterfronts Flushing Creek has a high water-table, concentration of industrial contaminants and low flow of water which limits the use of traditional green infrastructure bioswales that infiltrates pollution through soil and plants to address water quality problems. Despite these challenges the waterways host a community of environmental stewards, a wild oyster population, and on-the-water enthusiasts including dragon boaters. This project will produce a 100% engineered design in concert with that community for a non-infiltrating bioswale to retain, filter and move stormwater instead of draining the water into underlying soils. When developed along a shoreline, this green infrastructure will also function as an extension of the wetlands capturing rainwater and improving community green space and habitat.

Preventing Pollution with Green Infrastructure to Improve Water Quality in Wells Brook (NY) (73491)

Grantee:  Housatonic Valley Association

Project Area: Wells Brook a tributary of Ten Mile River and the Housatonic River, Dover, New York.

LISFF Grant Funds: $51,313
Grantee Matching Funds:
$34,500
Total Conservation Impact:
$85,813

Construct green infrastructure in a paved area at two commercial locations near Wells Brook, Town of Dover, NY.  Project will prevent 17.28 pounds of nitrogen annually from entering the Wells Brook, a tributary of two rivers that flow downstream to Long Island Sound.

The Housatonic Valley Association will install 4,394 sq. ft. of bioretention and a dry swale green infrastructure to prevent polluted stormwater runoff in Dover, NY from entering Wells Book, a tributary of Ten Mile River and the Housatonic River and ultimately Long Island Sound. The two project sites are paved.  When rain falls on paved surfaces it cannot soak into the ground.  Stormwater then flows across the paved areas, drains through sewers, and flows into waterbodies carrying pollution from the landscape.  Nitrogen pollution transported from New York and Connecticut waterways causes dead zones, and declining marine life downstream in the Sound. Green infrastructure is a nature-based solution for capturing nitrogen and preventing pollution.  Project activities:  1) install a green infrastructure bioretention area.  Bioretention uses attractive native plants, compost, and sand as mechanisms to capture and filter stormwater runoff; 2) install a green infrastructure dry swale.  Stormwater runoff is directed to the swale, which is grass lined pre-treating some pollution and then water is filtered through a sand, topsoil, and compost mixture to remove additional contaminates; 3) monitor the effectiveness of the projects to reduce pollution; and 4) develop public educational materials and signs about the project.  This project will advance innovative projects to address water quality issues in local waterways and the Sound.

THRIVING HABITATS AND ABUNDANT WILDLIFE

Spawning Sanctuaries for Oysters in Oyster Bay and Cold Spring Harbor (NY) (73414)

Grantee:  Friends of the Bay

Project Area: Town of Oyster Bay, Village of Laurel Hollow, Oyster Bay, Oyster Bay Cove, Village of Bayville, Mill Neck, and Cold Spring Harbor, New York

LISFF Grant Funds: $86,815
Grantee Matching Funds:
$65,318
Total Conservation Impact:
$152,133

Expand and monitor oyster spawner sanctuaries in the Oyster Bay-Cold Spring Harbor Complex, New York.  Project will contribute to the restoration of these native shellfish and their habitat in Long Island Sound.

Friends of the Bay will support expansion of oyster sanctuaries and evaluate conditions for successful re-establishment of oyster beds and thriving oysters in the Oyster Bay-Cold Spring Harbor Complex and Long Island Sound, New York.  Beneath the waters along the rocky coast and sandy shoals of the Sound oysters are engines of sustainability filtering 50 gallons of water a day and pulling nitrogen pollution from the water, shoring up shorelines and buffering waves during storms while creating habitat for fish and marine life and food for people. Restoration of oyster beds requires protection from overharvest, survival of adult oysters, and robust settling of juveniles in oyster beds. The Town of Oyster Bay has a 10-acre spawner sanctuary protected from harvest into which 350,000 oysters have already been deposited. This project will build on that work to expand the sanctuary to establish self-sustaining populations of oysters. Project activities: 1) expand oyster gardening where local volunteers and community organizations work together to raise oysters to sufficient size before seeding in the sanctuaries to maximize survival in the wild; 2) monitor survival of transplanted adult oysters and settlement of juvenile oysters in the sanctuary sites, at nearby sites in the Sound, and in potential additional future sanctuaries, and 3) monitor and map hydrological conditions affecting the success of the sanctuaries and the best places for oyster habitat. 

Restoring Big Rock Wetland for Marsh and Community Resilience, Phase I (NY) (73372)

Grantee:  Save the Sound

Project Area:   Memorial Field, Udalls Cove, Little Neck Bay, New York

LISFF Grant Funds: $604,461
Grantee Matching Funds:
$403,025
Total Conservation Impact:
$1,007,486

Establish a natural shoreline along Memorial Field in Udalls Cove, Little Neck Bay, Queens, New York. Project will restore the shoreline to reduce erosion from storms and engage the local community, public schools, and university students in environmental stewardship.

Save the Sound will construct a living shoreline at Memorial Field, Udalls Cove, Little Neck Bay, New York (NY). Two remaining tidal marshes in Little Neck Bay, Udalls Cove and Alley Creek, are threatened by sea-level rise, erosion, pollution, and marsh loss. Riprap and fill at Memorial Field do not stabilize the shoreline. Poor water quality affects residents using the bay for fishing, boating, and swimming. Without a healthy salt marsh buffer, the shoreline will be further eroded by floods and waves with water quality degraded by stormwater runoff affecting natural and community assets. The project will help protect those assets with a nature-based living shoreline and complement NY City Parks living shoreline work at Alley Pond Park – the two projects combining to increase marsh and community resilience.  Activities: 1) install 600 feet of oyster habitat with oyster castles which allow shellfish to colonize and protect the shoreline by reducing wave impacts; 2) restore one acre of salt marsh by excavating degrading riprap/fill and planting native vegetation creating a buffer to filter pollution and further stabilize the shoreline; and 3) collaborate on education and stewardship activities with Douglas Manor Environmental Association, Udalls Cove Preservation Committee, PS-213, MS-67, Benjamin N. Cardozo High School, Hofstra University and NYC Audubon reaching up to 600 people.

Designing Oyster Reef Restoration Sites on City Island and Long Island Sound (NY) (73208)

Grantee:  City Island Oyster Reef

Project Area: City Island, Bronx, New York

LISFF Grant Funds: $263,750
Grantee Matching Funds:
$176,913
Total Conservation Impact:
$440,663

Complete design and permitting for two oyster reefs and conduct public environmental education and stewardship activities, City Island, Bronx, New York.  Project will set the stage to restore wild oysters and an important coastal habitat of Long Island Sound.

City Island Oyster Restoration will assess five sites and prepare two plans for areas offering the best chance for oyster reef restoration; and educate and engage the community in stewardship of the marine coastal habitats of Long Island Sound, City Island, New York. Oysters were a staple of the Native American diet around City Island for 100s of years because its habitat was ideal for oyster beds to thrive. In the 1800s and 1900s massive oyster reefs dominated Eastchester Bay.  Today, oyster populations have declined to under one percent of peak. The decline is the result of overharvesting, landfilling, dredging, pollution, and disease. Oysters are ‘ecosystem engineers’ with their reefs acting as living shoreline breakwaters to storms, filtering 50 gallons of water daily trapping nitrogen pollution (a big problem in the Sound), and feeding other reef species. Wild oyster populations are still found along the shores of City Island. The project will set-the-stage for re-establishing oysters in these waters. Activities: 1) conduct site analyses, dive, benthic and fish surveys, sediment characterization, and water quality testing to inform selection of oyster restoration sites; 2) determine the most suitable oyster reef structures and placement for the sites; 3) prepare permit-ready designs to deploy the reefs; and 4) expand the field-study station/educational center to support inclusion of 550 students from Bronx schools and the public in the project’s restoration efforts.

Marshes and Mussels: New Tools to Enhance Coastal Restoration and Resilience (NY) (73513)

Grantee:  Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County

Project Area: Cornell Cooperative Extension Hatchery, Town of Southold and shoreline at Vanderbilt Museum and Planetarium, Centerport, New York

LISFF Grant Funds: $249,046
Grantee Matching Funds:
$480,561
Total Conservation Impact:
$729,607

Deploy new methods combining ribbed mussels and cordgrass to restore degraded shoreline marshes in Centerport Harbor, New York.  Project will provide an innovative tool for natural living shoreline restoration to enhance community coastal resilience around Long Island Sound.

Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County will develop methods to produce and plant ribbed mussels; and demonstrate their potential to work in tandem with salt marsh plantings to restore habitat and enhance the resilience of shorelines at a 2.24-acre salt marsh, Vanderbilt Museum and Planetarium, Centerport, New York.  Salt marshes along the coast of Long Island Sound are threatened by sea-level rise, erosion, and water pollution among other factors.  The marshes are habitat for 75 percent of fisheries like shellfish, finfish and crabs and coastal birds, buffer shorelines from waves, and filter stormwater pollution.  Left unchecked, marsh loss will impact fish and wildlife that depend on them and leave communities surrounding them more vulnerable to storms and pollution. Ribbed mussels filter water and provide natural armoring of shorelines. Ribbed mussels grown with salt marsh cordgrasses provide greater benefits than each species occurring alone and are an important step in reaping the multiple conservation and community benefits described.  Project activities: 1) develop protocols for larger-scale ribbed mussel cultivation; 2) produce ribbed mussels in a hatchery and cordgrass plugs in a greenhouse to plant at the project site; 3) test and evaluate different ways to co-plant ribbed mussel and cordgrass; and 5) share results with 75 restoration professionals.  The project will provide a powerful tool to help restore salt marshes in the future.

Developing a Conservation and Climate Adaptation Plan for Great Gull Island (NY) (73318)

Grantee:  University of Connecticut

Project Area: Great Gull Island, Town of Southold, New York

LISFF Grant Funds: $399,997
Grantee Matching Funds:
$289,633
Total Conservation Impact:
$689,630

Develop a climate and shoreline adaptation, monitoring, and management plan for common and roseate terns at Great Gull Island, New York. Project will establish a roadmap for conservation of iconic bird species of Long Island Sound.

University of Connecticut will prepare a conservation and climate adaptation plan for Great Gull Island, Town of Southold, New York.  The Island is both a Long Island Sound Study Stewardship Area and Priority Restoration Site.  It exemplifies the globally important role the Sound plays in maintaining wildlife. Current population estimates of roseate terns on the Island are 2,000 pairs (one of the largest nesting concentrations in the Western Hemisphere), and 10,000 pairs of common terns (one of the largest concentrations in the world). Great Gull Island is a source population for these birds and critical to maintaining both species. Terns thrive only with active management of habitat and predators, and are vulnerable to coastal erosion, sea-level rise, and the effects of warming waters.  At this time the Island lacks a management plan, and the project will fill that gap. Activities: 1) conduct stakeholder interviews to identify priorities and concerns; 2) further engage 20 stakeholders, technical experts, and 50 community members in workshops to develop assessments of the state of the terns, the habitat and climate-related risks to the birds, and the ways they will interact in the future; 3) apply the risk and vulnerability analyses to identify alternatives for climate adaptation and risk reduction; and 4) create a plan that identifies and prioritizes climate adaptation activities, and prepares the groundwork to design the best adaptation measures. 

Restoring Coastal Grassland at the William Cullen Bryant Preserve (NY) (73359)

Grantee:  Nassau County Museum of Art

Project Area: William Cullen Bryant Preserve located in Roslyn Harbor, New York

LISFF Grant Funds: $80,374
Grantee Matching Funds:
$64,530
Total Conservation Impact:
$144,904

Restore coastal grassland and use the restored grassland to educate visitors about the environment at the William Cullen Bryant Preserve, Roslyn Harbor, New York. Project will restore an important coastal habitat of Long Island Sound.

Nassau County Museum of Art will restore eight acres of coastal grassland and use the restored grassland to educate visitors about the environment at the William Cullen Bryant Preserve, Roslyn Harbor, New York.  The abundance and diversity of Long Island Sound’s coastal habitats have diminished, primarily due to development activities that have destroyed or degraded these important areas. Coastal grasslands, one of those habitats, are made up of tall grasses, such as little bluestem and switchgrass, and wildflowers. These areas are critical habitat for many birds and pollinators like butterflies. The 145-acre Preserve overlooking Hempstead Harbor which feeds the Sound, hosts a rich diversity of forests, ravines, vernal pools, and grasslands which support 100 species of birds and other wildlife.  Land in the north and east of the Preserve are ‘old fields’ invaded by non-natives which outcompete native plants.  Project activities: 1) eradicate non-native invasive plants such as porcelain berry and mugwort among others; 2) develop a blend of native grass and flower seeds specific to the site and sow the seeds; 3) deploy different invasive control techniques regularly to suppress non-natives allowing the native plants to thrive, and monitor plant growth and survival; and 4) install signs at strategic locations and conduct public education programs about the benefits of using native plants in landscaping to educate all ages and abilities.

Engaging Community Stewards to Manage Coastal Forest in Seton Falls Park (NY) (73297)

Grantee:  Natural Areas Conservancy

Project Area: Seton Falls Park in the Bronx, New York

LISFF Grant Funds: $62,277
Grantee Matching Funds:
$66,600
Total Conservation Impact:
$128,877

Train and educate local stewards to enhance 32 acres of coastal forest, Seton Falls Park, Bronx, New York. Project will enhance long-term stewardship and refine strategies for community natural resources management of this forest an important coastal habitat of Long Island Sound.

The Natural Areas Conservancy will deliver training and stewardship events to engage community members at a coastal forest, Seton Falls Park, New York (NY). A public park in the Long Island Sound watershed Seton Falls hosts a 32-acre coastal forest. The Sound’s habitats, like coastal forest, have been diminished, primarily due to development activities that have destroyed or degraded these areas. This small oasis in the Edenwald section of the Bronx is surrounded by potential environmental justice neighborhoods as categorized by New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation. Urban forests provide wildlife habitat and shade, influence local climate, and offer green space to residents. To date, the Seton Falls Park Preservation Coalition has stewarded the park. This project will build on their work enhancing community capacity to sustain stewardship of the coastal forest.  Project activities: 1) identify stewards working together with the Coalition, the U.S. Forest Service, NY City Parks Stewardship and Bronx Parks Speaks Up; 2) tailor Virtual Training Modules to the site and volunteer skill level; 3) conduct training about coastal forest restoration and trail management for 100 volunteers; and advanced field training for 20 community steward leaders; 4) deliver park stewardship events; and 5) formalize community steward involvement long-term.  The project will document lessons learned about how to best involve communities in environmental stewardship.

SUSTAINABLE AND RESILIENT COMMUNITIES

Engaging Local Youth Through Seaweed Farming to Improve Water Quality in the Long Island Sound (NY) (73377)

Grantee:  Rocking the Boat

Project Area: Bronx River, Bronx, New York

LISFF Grant Funds:  $72,163
Grantee Matching Funds:
$48,459
Total Conservation Impact:
$120,622

Install a seaweed farm engaging 120 young people in growing, harvesting, and producing nitrogen-rich fertilizer for community gardens and other organizations on the Bronx River, New York. Project will demonstrate a model to reduce nitrogen pollution by seaweed “bioextraction” and create an alternative to synthetic fertilizers to improve water quality in the Bronx River and Long Island Sound.

Rocking the Boat will install a seaweed farm engaging 120 young people in growing, harvesting, and producing nitrogen-rich fertilizer for community gardens and other organizations on the Bronx River, New York. The area is a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Justice Community affected by socioeconomic and environmental threats.  Located in the industrialized southern terminus of the Bronx River, and the Western Narrows of Long Island Sound, the neighborhood has a 44 percent poverty rate, is the recipient of industrial and household pollutants and combined sewer overflows dumping a billion gallons of untreated sewage and stormwater runoff into these waterways.  Communities suffer when the river is perceived as dirty and unwelcoming.  The seaweed grown will absorb and store nitrogen (a big pollution problem in the Sound) when growing making it a useful tool to naturally bioextract pollution.  Project activities: 1) grow seaweed in tanks, deploy it on lines in the River and then harvest it; 2) process the seaweed into a liquid concentrate and pour it into upcycled bottles; 3) educate local youth about: pollution and the benefits of nitrogen bioextraction with natural fertilizers, and scientific investigation of water chemistry and ecosystems;and4) distribute the fertilizer to organizations for use in their non-edible gardens or natural spaces that are also serve as education platforms reaching 470 people.

Bronx River Environmental Enrichment and Leadership for Students (EELS) (NY) (73342)

Grantee: Bronx River Alliance, Inc.

Project Area: Bronx River watershed, New York

LISFF Grant Funds: $77,556
Grantee Matching Funds:
$170,000
Total Conservation Impact:
$247,556

Connect students with learning and professional development opportunities and college credit through the Bronx River Environmental Enrichment and Leadership for Students (EELS) program, Bronx River watershed, New York.  Project will introduce a more diverse community of young people to conservation education and career experience focused on the Bronx River and Long Island Sound.

The Bronx Rive Alliance will deliver its Environmental Enrichment and Leadership for Students program (EELS) to 30 high-school students to establish a pipeline of youth from environmental justice communities to develop future environmental leaders in the Bronx River watershed, New York.  The project is named for the lifecycle of the American eel.  Eels migrate to freshwater rivers and estuaries such as the Bronx River and Long Island Sound where they mature. EELS interns will enter the program and have the chance to advance and mature gaining access to higher levels of independent research, and to graduate with improved access to higher education and environmental employment opportunities.  Project activities: 1) teach about the Bronx River and Long Island Sound: 2) participate in supervised field work and independent study with environmental professionals, and over the life of the program engage in student-led group and independent research and supervise and assist younger interns. All participants will receive stipends for their work; and 3) pilot an educational program in partnership with Lehman College’s “College Now” program where EELS students can take courses and receive transferable college credits.  The project will open the door for young people not currently engaged in the environmental sector to opportunities in the environmental field and encourage stewardship of the Bronx River and Sound.

Developing a Long Island Sound Student Action Plan-II (NY) (73251)

Grantee: Citizens Campaign Fund the Environment

Project Area: Brentwood, Northport, Rocky Point, Smithtown, Riverhead, Oyster Bay, Locust Valley, and Cold Spring Harbor, Nassau and Suffolk Counties, New York  

LISFF Funds: $100,000
Matching Funds:
$70,000
Total Conservation Impact:
$170,000

Deliver an educational program about challenges to restoration and protection of the health and living resources Long Island Sound at high schools on Long Island, New York.  Project will deliver a shared Student Action plan for the Sound.

Citizens Campaign for Fund the Environment will deliver environmental education and education and a cumulative student summit about Long Island Sound in eight high schools in Suffolk and Nassau County, New York.  Project activities: 1) develop and deliver presentations  and materials about new and existing challenges to the health of the Sound such as plastic pollution, nitrogen pollution and climate change; 2) mentor 200 students to develop and conduct their own project involving the Sound as an interactive activity, a research paper, poster or video project; 3) bring students together in the second Sound Solutions Summit for High School students to share their projects and develop a Long Island Sound Student Action Plan to be disseminated in schools, communities and to Long Island Sound Study partners; and 5) create a video about student projects.  This project will increase awareness of environmental challenges facing the Sound and engage students in future efforts to protect and restore it.

Be a Good Egg: Share the Shore with Shorebirds-V (NY) (73416)

Grantee: National Audubon Society, Inc. (Audubon New York)

Project Area:  Long Island Sound watershed of New York: Baldwin, Oyster Bay, Westbury, Glen Cove, Town of Brookhaven, Town of Huntington, and Town of Smithtown, New York

LISFF Funds: $62,562
Matching Funds:
$50,455
Total Conservation Impact:
$113,018

Deliver “Be a Good Egg,” an environmental education program in the Long Island Sound watershed of New York.   The project will increase support for coastal conservation and engage people in actions that help shorebirds thrive in important coastal habitats of the Sound. 

National Audubon Society (Audubon New York) will deliver an environmental education program “Be a Good Egg” (BGE) encouraging people to share the shore with shorebirds at 11 recreational shorelines in the Long Island Sound watershed of New York. Every summer, people flock to the shores of the Sound to enjoy the outdoors. These shorelines are also critical stopover points for thousands of shorebirds who also arrive during summer.  This project will address human bird conflicts on popular beaches by combining on-the-beach outreach, community education through public and school programming, and volunteer engagement in stewardship of these areas.  Project activities: 1) host 20 BGE programs at local beaches to engage 1,750 beachgoers with share the shore messaging and to encourage them to sign the “Be a Good Egg” pledge to give birds space; 2) 5rain 100 volunteers to assist with beach stewardship and outreach; 3) 4ngage 750 children in a shorebird lesson and design project with at least 60 signs designed by the students installed at beach nesting sites; 4) conduct six conservation stewardship days engaging at least 50 volunteers in a bird conservation project; and 5) reach 78,000 people with share the shore messages through electronic and social media.

SOUND SCIENCE AND INCLUSIVE MANAGEMENT

Hempstead Harbor Water Quality Monitoring Program-XIV (NY) (#73340)

Grantee: The Incorporated Village of Sea Cliff

Project Area: Outer and Inner Hempstead Harbor, Nassau, County, New York

LISFF Grant: $100,000
Grantee Matching Funds:
$93,496
Total Conservation Impact:
$193,496


Conduct water quality monitoring in Hempstead Harbor, Nassau County, New York. Project will inform management of Hempstead Harbor a waterbody that feeds Long Island Sound.

The Incorporated Village of Sea Cliff, New York will monitor pollution indicators to gauge the ecosystem health of Hempstead Harbor and assess bacteria levels that could affect other uses of its waters such as swimming and shellfish harvesting in Nassau County, New York.  The project will be delivered by a dedicated corps of citizen scientists associated with the Coalition to Save Hempstead Harbor monitoring local water quality since 1992.  Project activities: 1) collect water quality data that informs our understanding of the health of the harbor; 2) track improvements and declines in water quality; and 3) disseminate a technical report available to 1,300 individuals, local governments, state and federal agencies, environmental organizations, the Long Island Sound Study, the Long Island Regional Planning Council, and the public about the health of Hempstead Harbor waters and living resources.  The water quality data collected through this project will be used to inform community and governmental actions to reduce pollution into Long Island Sound.

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