SOURCE:
https://www.newsday.com/long-island/environment/grants-long-island-sound-fo0asahd
By Olivia Winslow - May 11, 2024
Citizens Campaign for the Environment plans to use grant money to take Uniondale High School students on explorations of Long Island Sound, introducing them to the natural world to help them “fall in love with our marine waters” and become good stewards of the environment, the group's executive director said.
“We don’t feel students are getting enough outdoor experiences with nature,” said Adrienne Esposito, the executive director of the nonprofit, which has an office in Farmingdale. “It’s important because we protect what we love. If they’re only on computers and phones they won’t know enough about the natural world to protect and defend it. … We will take students kayaking, paddleboarding. … The whole thing [grant] is crafted to really get the students on Long Island Sound for a day, to learn, have fun and fall in love with our marine waters.”
Citizens Campaign was awarded a $65,003 grant from the Long Island Sound Community Impact Fund, a partnership between Restore America's Estuaries and the Environmental Protection Agency. The fund provides financial assistance to “environmental justice communities,” which grant recipients describe as underserved communities, “to address environmental issues and improve the quality and accessibility of the Long Island Sound,” according to a release from Restore America's Estuaries.
Restore America's Estuaries said: “Each sub-awardee project was selected based on their ability to address challenges facing overburdened and underserved communities within the Long Island Sound estuary.”
Citizens Campaign is one of two Long Island organizations — among 11 in New York and seven in Connecticut in communities near Long Island Sound — that have received grants from the fund. The other is Seatuck Environmental Association, based in Islip.
Seatuck's $86,933 grant will be used to expand its Half Shells for Habitat program.
“We collect waste oyster shells that are normally thrown out from restaurants” and elsewhere, said Maureen Dunn, a water quality scientist with Seatuck.
Dunn said the oyster shells were used in “projects that restore oyster reefs around Long Island, but also in projects that stabilize our shorelines from erosion … As a water quality scientist I was looking for the best and also the least intrusive way to restore our water quality in Long Island bays.”
The grant that Seatuck received will enable it to expand oyster shell collection efforts in three towns: Huntington, Brookhaven, particularly in the Port Jefferson area, and North Hempstead.
“These three towns were selected because they have a significant disadvantaged or underserved populations,” Dunn said. “We looked for disadvantaged communities that would also be interested in collecting shells” and encourage community members to get involved in the restoration projects.
Grant recipients have a year from July to complete their projects.