Long Island Sound Futures Fund Grants Over $2 Million to Restore Sound's Health

The Long Island Sound Futures Fund will provide $2,444,696 in grants to state and local governments and community groups to restore the health of the Long Island Sound. The Sound Futures Fund is financed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and FedEx. It supports innovative projects that restore and protect the Sound. The 38 grant recipients will contribute an additional $4.4 million, providing nearly $6.8 million for conservation projects in Connecticut and New York.

Long Island Sound is an estuary where saltwater from the sea meets fresh water from rivers and streams. It provides economic and recreational benefits to millions of people, while also providing natural habitats for more than 1,200 invertebrates, 170 species of fish and dozens of species of migratory birds.

The Sound Futures Fund was created in 2005 by the Long Island Sound Study, a cooperative effort between EPA and the states of Connecticut and New York to protect and restore the Sound and its ecosystem. To date, the program has provided $6.9 million to 176 projects in communities surrounding the Sound. With matching funds of $16 million from grant recipients, more than $22 million has been invested in local conservation. Through projects funded through the Sound Future’s Fund, 68 river miles are being opened up for fish passage and more than 400 acres of critical fish and wildlife habitat have been restored and acquired. This habitat includes lakes, underwater grasses, woodlands, meadows, wetlands, beaches, dunes and parks.

Grant recipients will use the funding for projects that provide important benefits to people, fish and wildlife. These include:

• Restoration of nearly 100 acres of underwater grass, corridors along streams and coastal forest; • Acquisition of 17.4 acres of wetlands, grasslands and coastal forest; • Four fish passage projects along Connecticut rivers that will restore historic access for native fish such as river herring and American eel; • Eelgrass bed restoration projects in New York and Connecticut; • Introduction of green infrastructure practices to reduce storm water runoff into Conscience Bay; • Catch basins that will remove pollution from storm drains in Mamaroneck; • A half-acre rain garden to capture highway, boat ramp and parking lot runoff on the Housatonic River in Connecticut; and • Educational projects geared toward young people.

Source: U.S. EPA