The Long Island Sound Study (LISS) is one of 28 National Estuary Programs funded by EPA under §320 of the Clean Water Act.
The LISS Management Conference, stakeholders representing citizen and environmental groups, businesses and industries, academic institutions, and local, state, and federal governments, are working together to implement the 1994 Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP). Involving and educating the public in the restoration and protection of this vital estuary and in the implementation of the CCMP are the main goals of NEIWPCC's participation in the LISS. Long Island Sound is an estuary, a body of water that is partially enclosed by land and where freshwater from rivers and streams flows into the ocean, mixing with the salty sea water. Estuaries are among the most productive and diverse ecosystems on the planet. Estuaries are critical to the health of coastal environments and to our enjoyment of them. They provide calm, protected waters, shorelines, and wetlands for plants, animals, and humans. Estuaries are nurseries for young fish, birds, and sea mammals, and provide resting places for millions of migratory birds. For more information on estuaries, visit EPA’s National Estuary Program web site.
Long Island Sound is one of the northeast region’s most important and valuable estuaries. The Sound provides feeding, breeding, nesting and nursery areas for a diversity of plant and animal life, and contributes an estimated $5.5 billion per year to the regional economy from boating, commercial and sport fishing, swimming, and sight-seeing. People throughout New England and New York all have a stake in Long Island Sound. The entire coastline of Connecticut and part of New York sit on Long Island Sound. Eighty percent of the freshwater entering the Sound comes from rivers that drain states as far north as Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont. More than 8 million people live in the Long Island Sound watershed, and the associated development has increased some types of pollution, altered land surfaces, reduced open spaces, and restricted access to the Sound. Protecting and restoring the quality of the Sound is a critical goal for NEIWPCC.
In 1985, EPA, New York, and Connecticut formed the Long Island Sound Study (LISS), a bi-state partnership consisting of state, interstate, and federal agencies, academic institutions, environmental groups, businesses and industries, concerned organizations, and individuals dedicated to restoring and protecting the Sound. In 1987, EPA designated Long Island Sound (along with twenty-seven other estuaries) as an estuary of national importance. In 1994, the LISS completed a Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan that identifies seven issues meriting special attention, including: (1) low dissolved oxygen (hypoxia), (2) toxic contamination, (3) pathogen contamination, (4) floatable debris, (5) living resources and habitat management, (6) land use and development, and (7) public involvement and education.
The LISS partners, including NEIWPCC, are working together to implement the goals of the 1994 CCMP. NEIWPCC staff play a critical role in the implementation of the LISS Public Information and Education Program, whose goals are to promote an understanding and appreciation of the Sound as a regional ecosystem and a national treasure, to help people in all parts of the community feel connected to the Sound, to build community awareness and encourage action to restore and protect the Sound, and to provide feedback to the Management Conference on the future direction of the outreach program. In support of this program, NEIWPCC produces numerous outreach and educational products, including Sound Health and the LISS Biennial Report.
NEIWPCC also manages the LISS CCMP Enhancement Grants Program. This annual competitive grant program funds priority projects that further the effort to achieve the goals established in the 1994 CCMP. In addition, NEIWPCC staff are also engaged in an effort to reduce nitrogen loading to the Sound from the upper states in the Sound’s watershed through NEIWPCC’s Connecticut River Nitrogen Assessment Project.
For more information, contact Clair Ryan, NEIWPCC’s Long Island Sound Program Manager.
