Plan

The Long Island Watershed Action Agenda is a clear-cut blueprint for water quality improvements, aquatic habitat conservation, groundwater protection, and the public engagement necessary to ensure success for the surface, coastal, and ground waters of Nassau and Suffolk counties. The Long Island Watershed Action Agenda is an evolution of the success of the Long Island Nitrogen Action Plan (LINAP) and will expand the scope of its work beyond nitrogen reduction.

With support from the Long Island Sound Resilience Grant Writing Assistance (GWA) Program, in December 2024 the Town of Old Saybrook was awarded $323,400 from the Long Island Sound Futures Fund to support the project: Planning to Restore Chalker and Chapman Beach Marshes and Mitigate Marsh-Associated Flooding (CT).

The project will conduct a feasibility analysis for restoring the degraded Chalker Beach Marsh and mitigate erosion of Cold Spring Brook marsh, examine potential residential neighborhood flood mitigation strategies and evaluate alternative concepts to restore the Cold Spring Brook marsh. Project will provide Chalker Beach marsh restoration plan and design alternatives, concept-level neighborhood-scale flood mitigation strategies and a concept-level Cold Spring Brook marsh erosion control/restoration practices.

LIS Resilience Grant Writing Assistance Program Details:

Grant Writing Consultant: David Kozak
Grant Writing Assistance Award: $6,375

With support from the Long Island Sound Resilience Grant Writing Assistance (GWA) Program, in December 2024 the Alliance for the Mystic River Watershed was awarded $419,900 from the Long Island Sound Futures Fund to support the project: Developing a Mystic River Watershed Resilience Action Plan Using Equitable Community Engagement, CT.

The project will launch a robust engagement effort and planning process throughout four municipalities and two Tribal Nations within Mystic, Connecticut, in order to initiate efforts to improve the watershed health along the 30.6-square-mile Mystic River Watershed. The project will develop a community- and stakeholder-supported EPA Nine Element watershed-based plan, which will strive to address water quality impairments, community inequities and resilience challenges in the watershed.

LIS Resilience Grant Writing Assistance Program Details:

Grant Writing Consultant: Resilient Land and Water, LLC.
Grant Writing Assistance Award: $9,950

In 2023, Long Island Sound Study and Warren Pinnacle, in partnership with Westchester County and conservation groups/organizations, have developed a Plan to understand the benefits of, threats to, and recommended conservation actions for marsh ecosystems on Glen Island Park in New Rochelle, NY. The goal of the Plan is to help inform conservation and restoration efforts to maximize marsh ecosystem services under rising sea levels.

This comprehensive study and plan, funded through the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Long Island Sound Futures Fund, identifies initial strategies to maintain and enhance the local watershed resources of Crab Meadow. It is meant to be a land management tool to guide the implementation of best practices. The plan was developed in consultation with many partners and stakeholders. There is now significant community buy-in to take action to protect and restore this important watershed. 

Following adoption of the plan, the Town of Huntington began working with US Fish and Wildlife Service and Audubon to study and restore Crab Meadow marsh and implement recommendations from the Stewardship Plan. Audubon, in partnership with Town of Huntington and USFWS, received a 2024 Long Island Sound Futures Fund Grant ($429K) to develop design plans for marsh restoration at Crab Meadow.

In 2023, Long Island Sound Study and Warren Pinnacle, in partnership with committed municipalities and conservation groups/organizations, developed a Plan to understand the benefits, threats, and recommended conservation actions for the Stony Brook Harbor and West Meadow Creek marsh ecosystem. The goal of the Plan is to help inform conservation and restoration efforts to maximize marsh ecosystem services under rising sea levels.

In 2023, Long Island Sound Study, New York Sea Grant and Warren Pinnacle, in partnership with committed municipalities and marsh-conservation groups/organizations, developed a Plan to understand the benefits, threats and recommended conservation actions at seven focal areas across the harbors. The goal of the Plan is to inform local municipalities and marsh-conservation groups as to where they might focus their conservation efforts to maximize the conservation of marsh ecosystem services under sea-level rise conditions. This process brought together a diversity of stakeholders to develop a cohesive strategy for seven focal areas across Oyster Bay and Cold Spring Harbor: Frost Creek, Mill Neck Creek, West Shore Road, Bayville Bridge to Centre Island, Centre Island, Shore Road, and Lower Cold Spring Harbor. The partners will now work to implement the recommendations in the plan.

St. John’s Episcopal Church (lower Cold Spring Harbor) and Village of Lattingtown (Frost Creek) were 2024 LIS Resilience Planning Support Program awardees. Their projects will build off the Oyster Bay & Cold Spring Harbor marsh conservation plan and develop specific recommendations to enhance and restore marsh habitat in lower Cold Spring Harbor and Frost Creek.