 |
 |
 |
 |
 , a LISS initiative to assist organizations in implementing projects to restore and protect the Sound. Visit
NYC ecological restoration to view all the GreenApple projects.
Report Identifies Underwater Grasses off the Coast
In May, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service completed its report of a 2009 survey of eelgrass beds in eastern Connecticut and the North Fork of Long Island. The survey, FWS’s third inventory of the Long Island Sound region since 2002, located 172 eelgrass beds in eastern Long Island Sound totaling 1,980 acres (46 acres fewer than identified in the 2006 survey). Seven sub-basins had over 100 acres of eelgrass beds, with Quiambaug Cove having the most acreage (407 acres). Eelgrass, a rooted underwater grass, which grows along the coast, provides food and nesting grounds for fish, and food for many migratory birds. While still found in the eastern Sound, it was once common throughout. Read the
eelgrass report on-line at the LISS Web site.
LISS Outreach Coordinator Receives Public Outreach Award
Each year, Larissa Graham, LISS’s New York Public Outreach Coordinator, works with staff at the New York State Parks and Environmental Conservation departments to develop programs to bring hundreds of students to the shore to teach them about Long Island Sound’s unique environment and how they can become better stewards of the coast and water. On June 3, Larissa was recognized for her efforts when the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) presented her with an Outstanding Stewardship Partner Award for helping BNL with its Open Space Stewardship program. Larissa, an employee of New York Sea Grant, works at the Sea Grant office located at Stony Brook University.
Applications Received for 2010 Research Grant Program
The deadline for preliminary proposals submitted to the 2010 Long Island Sound Study Research Grant program closed on June 25 with about 40 received. The LISS Research Grant Program is designed to award funds to researchers whose work helps meet the needs of decision-makers to improve the management of Long Island Sound. Specific topic areas that are being considered for research grants are: food web dynamics, hypoxia, habitat protection and restoration, evaluation of the effectiveness of nitrogen control measures, and potential responses of Long Island Sound to climate change. Applicants who pass the preliminary proposal round will be asked to submit full proposals by Oct. 1. The awards are expected to be announced by the Connecticut and New York Sea Grants in December.
Middle Schoolers Take on Citizen Science
 During the winter and spring, SoundWaters educators in Stamford engaged every eighth-grade classroom in the city’s five middle schools through a battery of field study experiments to compare water quality in Long Island Sound’s upland fresh water sites and coastal brackish sites. The program, which reached more than 1,300 students, was funded by a competitive $90,000 grant from NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The students’ studies began in January with distance learning activities and classroom experiments. In March and April, students gathered at field stations along the Mianus River and in May and June at the SoundWaters Coastal Center on Holly Pond at Cove Island Park on the Sound. For their field work, students waded into the Mianus River to calculate the width and depth of the river to determine flow rate. The students conducted similar experiments from a bridge over Holly Pond. They tested soil samples along the river bank and the shoreline for pH salinity, nitrogen and moisture. And they measured dissolved oxygen, pH, temperature, turbidity, salinity, and metals, gathering brackish water samples by canoeing to a designated site in Holly Pond. SoundWaters is an environmental education organization based in Stamford, whose mission is to protect Long Island Sound through hands-on education–learning science by doing science, which often means getting feet wet and hands dirty.
LIS Research Conference Requests for Presentations
The Long Island Sound Foundation is accepting abstracts from scientists who want to give presentations at the 2010 Long Island Sound research conference—Long Island Sound; A Regional Perspective. The application deadline is Sept. 1.
$4 Million in CT DEP Grants Available
The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (CT DEP) is making available up to $4 million in grants for projects aimed at protecting habitats and restoring ecosystems across the state, including coastal areas along Long Island Sound. Grant applications are due to DEP by July 29, 2010. See request for proposals for more information.
EPA Awards Grant Bridgeport Group to Improve Water Quality
Groundwork Bridgeport was awarded a $25,000 grant in April to improve water quality in Long Island Sound. The project goals are to train and develop 20 Bridgeport youth as water resource protection advocates, mark 600 street drains indicating that they drain into Long Island Sound and must be kept clean, and organize four neighborhood meetings for residents and local businesses about how they can protect water resources. Increased public awareness about water resource stewardship may result in behavioral changes to reduce pollution in storm drains and improve water quality in Long Island Sound. The funds are part of EPA's commitment toward environmental justice efforts for the City, one of 10 communities selected nationwide to highlight ways to address environmental justice challenges. In December, EPA committed $100,000 to fund projects in Bridgeport over the next two
years.
1938 Hurricane Featured on NOAA Climate Change Web site
The prediction that more intense storms caused by warmer temperatures are reminding people about the "Great New England Hurricane of 1938" that battered the Atlantic Coast, but particularly Long Island Sound on the Connecticut and New York sides. Also dubbed the “Long Island Express,” the category 3 storm led to hundreds of deaths and estimates in New England alone of $300 million in property damage—the equivalent today of $5 billion. Peg Van Patten, communications director for CT Sea Grant has a special connection to the event—her father, A. Morgan Stewart, was a reporter for the New London Day when the storm hit the Sound’s coastline without warning on Sept. 20. In the current issue of NOAA’s online magazine, Climate Watch, Van Patten writes about her father’s experience taking photographs of the destruction, and provides current information on
what experts predict about the future of storm events in the Sound. The article is available at NOAA’s Climate Change Web site.
2009 Beach Swimming Report is On-Line
EPA's annual national beach swimming season report indicates that the nation’s coastal and Great Lakes beaches were open 95 percent of the time during the 2009 swimming season. Visit http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/beaches/seasons/2009, to learn about when beaches are closed because of pollution, efforts to make beaches cleaner, and to find out the conditions of local beaches in Long Island Sound.
New Stormwater Runoff Video
The EPA and the U.S. Botanic Garden has produced a new on-line video that highlights green techniques such as rain gardens, green roofs, and rain barrels to help manage stormwater runoff.9-minute on-line video, “Reduce Runoff: Slow It Down, Spread It Out, Soak It In,” is available at http://www.epa.gov/nps/lid/video.html where you can also see Building Green: A Success Story in Philadelphia.
EPA Seeks Grant Proposals to Carry Out Climate Change Initiatives
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is making available up to $10 million in grants to local governments to establish and carry out initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Under the Climate Showcase Communities program, EPA expects to award approximately 25 cooperative agreements ranging from $100,000 to $500,000, with approximately five percent of the funds ($500,000) being made available specifically for tribal governments. Proposals are due July 26. Information about the grant program is at
EPA’s Climate Change Web site.
and click the RSS icon to subscribe to an RSS feed to get the latest Web site posts onto your computer’s Web browser. Also, we just opened a Facebook page. Find us on Facebook by clicking on the Facebook icon from the LISS home page. Please note: This email message is being sent to subscribers of the Long Island Sound Study E-Newsletter. PLEASE DO NOT REPORT THIS MESSAGE AS SPAM. Pass it on and
forward to a colleague
.
This email was sent to [email address suppressed]. You can instantly
unsubscribe
from these emails or update your
email preferences. |
|
Work Plan
LISS Approves $7.8 million Work Plan 
