Long Island Sound Futures Fund

What is the Long Island Sound Futures Fund?

Stretching more than 110 miles into the Atlantic, with 600 miles of coastline, the Long Island Sound is home to hundreds of species of fish, birds, and other animals. Millions of people visit the Sound each year to swim, boat, and enjoy its beauty, enriching their own lives and stimulating the local economy.

Maintaining the Sound as a healthy ecosystem, while balancing human uses, presents a challenge. Over centuries, stormwater runoff, debris and other sources of man-made pollution have degraded the Sound and compromised its vitality.

The Long Island Sound Futures Fund supports projects in local communities that aim to protect and restore Long Island Sound. It unites federal and state agencies, foundations and corporations to achieve high-priority conservation objectives. Funded activities demonstrate a real, on-the-ground commitment to securing a healthy future for Long Island Sound.

Funding priorities for this program include:

• Clean waters and healthy watersheds: improve water quality by reducing nitrogen pollution, combined sewer overflows, impervious cover, stormwater runoff and point and nonpoint source loading into Long Island Sound.
• Thriving Habitats and Abundant Wildlife: enhance or restore coastal habitats to maintain habitat health and function and to support populations of fish, birds and wildlife; sustain the ecological balance of the Sound in a healthy, productive and resilient state for the benefit of people, wildlife and the natural environment.
• Sustainable and Resilient Communities: support vibrant, informed and engaged communities that use, appreciate and help protect and sustain the Sound. Projects providing hands-on conservation experiences will be more competitive
• Informed and Engaged Public: Inspire and empower the public to appreciate, value, and protect Long Island Sound and the waters that flow into the Sound through increasing public access and sense of belonging, expanding educational opportunities, and fostering stewardship.

The Long Island Sound Partnership initiated the Futures Fund grant program in 2005 through EPA’s Long Island Sound Office and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF). The grant program has a strong history of making tangible environmental improvements by supporting people and communities who value the sound and take a direct role in its future. Since its inception, the Futures Fund has invested $68 million in 688 projects. The program has generated an additional $87 million of grantee matching contributions toward these projects for a total conservation impact of $167 million. The projects have reduced 130,000 pounds of nitrogen from entering the Sound, restored 862 acres of fish and wildlife habitat, treated 212 million gallons of stormwater pollution, and engaged 5 million people in protection and restoration of the Sound.

Who Manages the Program?

NFWF manages the Long Island Sound Futures Fund in partnership with the Long Island Sound Partnership through EPA’s Long Island Sound Office. Major funding for the program is provided by the US Environmental Protection Agency, Long Island Sound Partnership, and US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).

EPA Regions I and II, FWS, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, New York and Connecticut Sea Grant programs, Interstate Environmental Commission, and the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission review proposals and provide technical assistance to applicants and recipients.

Where Can I Get More Information on the Grant Program?

Visit the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Sound Futures Fund Grant web page to find out what projects are eligible, and details on how to apply.

Questions?

For more information please call Carrie Clingan, program director, Northeast Watersheds, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, at (202) 595-2471 or email her at: carrie.clingan@nfwf.org.