Top officials responsible for the health of the Long Island Sound from two U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regions, the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, and the New York Department of Environmental Conservation have announced a blueprint for coordinated actions to be taken through 2013 to protect and restore Long Island Sound. They were also joined by members of the Long Island Sound Study’s Citizens Advisory Committee (LISS CAC) and Save the Sound.
The officials cited recent progress in the Long Island Sound restoration and announced the Long Island Sound Study Action Agenda: 2011-2013. The Action Agenda contains 54 actions organized around four themes: Waters and Watersheds, Habitats and Wildlife, Communities and People, and Science and Management. Within these themes, priority actions are identified that are designed to improve water quality, restore habitat, conserve the land, maintain biodiversity, and increase opportunities for human use and enjoyment of the Sound. The Action Agenda is consistent with the Citizen Advisory Committee’s SoundVision Action Plan.
In addition to continuing progress in reducing nitrogen pollution and mitigating combined sewer and sanitary sewer overflows, the Action Agenda commits to research stormwater practices to control nitrogen, pilot innovative strategies to use shellfish and seaweed to mitigate nitrogen pollution, and designate all of Long Island Sound as a “no discharge zone” for vessel waste. New targets are being set to restore 200 acres of coastal habitat and to reopen 80 miles of riverine migratory corridors to fish. In addition, a number of actions target restoration of eelgrass, a critical habitat for shellfish and juvenile fish.
The Long Island Sound Study (LISS), sponsored by EPA and the states of Connecticut and New York, is a partnership of federal, state, and local agencies, universities, national and local environmental groups, businesses, and community groups whose mission is to restore and protect the sound. The LISS partnership is striving to be adaptable, collaborative, effective, and efficient in the implementation of a Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP) that was developed in 1994. The plan, approved by the Governors of Connecticut and New York and the EPA Administrator, set a goals and targets for improving the health of Long Island Sound.
Long Island Sound is one of the largest urban estuaries (coastal bodies of water where fresh water draining from the land mixes with salt water from the ocean) in the United States. It provides economic and recreational benefits to millions of people in Connecticut and New York, and it also provides natural habitats to over 1,200 species of invertebrates, 170 species of fish, and dozens of species of migratory birds.
Background information:
Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
New England City & Town News Notes 