From the Long Island Sound Study to the Long Island Sound Partnership

After 40 years, the Long Island Sound Study has changed its name to the Long Island Sound Partnership. Here’s why.

Have you heard?

In June, after 40 years, the program dedicated to restoring and caring for Long Island Sound has changed its name. We are now the Long Island Sound Partnership or the LIS Partnership. The new name reflects our renewed focus on collaboration and implementation as part of our mission to restore and care for the Sound. It emphasizes that the program brings together local, state, and federal governments, universities, communities, environmental organizations, private industries, and other user groups to work toward a healthy Long Island Sound with the support from the public.

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The evolution of the LIS Partnership’s logos since 1985.

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Besides our new name, we have a new logo that symbolizes a healthy, thriving ecosystem—rising sun, ocean waves, an airborne seabird, and a school of fish—all connected by a shared vision for the future.

The long island sound partnership got its name in 1985 with the release of a single 5-year, $1 million federal grant for a federal and bi-state effort focusing on three major problems in the Sound: toxic contamination, low dissolved oxygen, and the health of fish and shellfish. The initial study also included an effort to develop a “Master Plan.” Since then, the program has grown with a budget of over $40 million with its most recent Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan outlining a roadmap to achieve four major goals: Clean Waters and Healthy Watersheds, Thriving Habitats and Abundant Wildlife, Sustainable and Resilient Communities, and an Informed and Engaged Public.

In 2022, a new Long Island Sound Strategic Communications Plan recommended a name change to “more accurately characterize the sweep of the organization’s effort, which is far beyond simply undertaking or funding studies.” The Long Island Sound Management Committee made its decision on the new name in January 2025 after getting feedback from the program’s work groups, committees, and from community residents.

Despite the name change from “Study,” research studies are not taking a back seat to implementation. The Partnership relies on research and environmental monitoring for its management. Since 2008, the Long Island Sound Partnership has invested $11.7 million in 35 research projects related to Long Island Sound.

The website includes a logo styles page where you can load different variations of the logo and a style guide to learn how to apply them.