Environmental Groups Release Two-Year Action Plan to Improve LI Sound

A coalition of environmental groups on Tuesday unveiled an ambitious two-year plan to improve the environmental health of Long Island Sound.

The Long Island Sound Study (LISS) Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC), along with the environmental departments of the Connecticut, New York and federal governments as well as state and federal legislators, announced the CAC’s “Action Agenda: 2011-2013” at Indian Harbor Yacht Club in Greenwich.

The "Agenda" contains 54 actions to “improve water quality, restore habitat, conserve land, maintain biodiversity, and increase opportunities for human use and enjoyment of the Sound.”

“This is about making the places around the Sound healthier for all kinds of creatures—from five-year-old kids, to [dolphins] that are returning to the Sound, to the world record, 81-pound striper that was caught about three weeks ago,” said Curt Johnson, co-chair of the CAC.

The Agenda, which is meant to be a part of the the CAC’s broader SoundVision Action Plan, is organized around four main themes: “Waters and Watersheds, Habitats and Wildlife, Communities and People, and Science and Management.”

Specific goals include:

• Further reducing the amount of nitrogen discharged into Long Island Sound;
• Reducing non-point source pollution;
• Preserving and protecting more natural habitat;
• Installing more fish ladders on rivers and streams;
• Mitigating the impact from storm drainage systems;
• Improving the health of the estuaries that are part of the Sound’s ecosystem.

In addition the Agenda calls for making Long Island Sound a "no discharge zone" for boater waste.

New York and federal environmental officials said that, beginning Thursday, boaters are banned from discharging their gray water into an additional 760 square miles on the New York state portion of the Sound. (The ban has been in effect on the Connecticut side since 2007.)

The expanded zone includes New York harbors, bays and tributaries, as well as part of the East River.

The Agenda also aims to restore 200 acres of coastal habitat and reopen 80 miles of migratory corridors to fish. What’s more, a number of actions target restoration of eelgrass, which plays an important role in establishing habitat for shellfish and juvenile fish.

Missing from the event was any discussion of where funding will come from to implement the various components of the CAC’s “Action Agenda.”

Called "comprehensive"

Curt Spalding, EPA Region 1 Administrator, said he was impressed with the Action Agenda’s comprehensiveness.

“These goals speak to the whole sound — not just a piece of it — and that’s a true innovation,” he said. “Our environment and our economy are really the same thing, looked at through different prisms. In fact, you build your economy on your environment.”

Johnson said a major piece of the four-point Agenda is improving water quality.

“This is not just about the traditional pollution we’re used to discussing,” he said. “It’s about controlling and managing things like geese populations, because they poop into our waters… and there’s a whole bunch of complicated issues surrounding non-point source pollution.”

Another major component of the Agenda, he said, is “creating safe and thriving places for all Sound creatures.”

Spalding said environmental change — he cited the recent increase in rain and floods — means the Action Agenda will need to be flexible.

“Bottom line is the climate is changing and it’s going to affect the Sound in dramatic ways,” Spalding said. “So as this plan moves forward, it’s going to have to change, it’s going to have to be dynamic.”

Editor's note: See also:

• For more information about the Long Island Sound Study and its Action Agenda: www.longislandsoundstudy.net/
• For more information about the CAC’s SoundVision: www.lisoundvision.org
• Patch article: ""
• Patch article: "