Read the 2026 spring issue of Sound Matters, the Long Island Sound Partnership newsletter. The spring issue highlights three projects funded through the the Long Island Sound Futures Fund – a coastal wetlands habitat restoration project, a conservation plan for a vital bird sanctuary on an island, and a community driven plan to protect and enhance the popular Bluff Point State Park. There are also links to announcements, including the new request for proposals for the 2026 Futures Fund grant program, news headlines, and partner websites.
Long Island Sound Partnership’s new science communicator, Quinn Burkhart, says that she will be focusing on scientific storytelling for the public to learn how the LIS Partnership brings partners together to restore Long Island Sound.
Her background includes a stint working for National Audubon Society’s Project Puffin in Maine where she lived and worked with a research team on a remote seabird island, 22 miles off the coast. There she helped to expand Audubon’s audiences with its website and social media channels with articles and posts. She also managed its wildlife cam, including moderating live virtual events with guests and even holding weekly office hours with a public interested in learning more about the work being done to protect endangered birds. At season’s end, she profiled one of the teams scientist for the project’s newsletter, adding a detail about the positive experience Audubon’s cruise captain discovered volunteering on the seabird island for the first time. The story unveiled the magic of building community in the field to advance scientific research.
“My skillsets in science communication and field work allow me to bridge gaps between science, partners, and the public,” said Burkhart, who began working for NEIWPCC, one of the organizations participating in the LIS Partnership, in January. “I see science communication and engagement as a refocusing of conservation efforts for a non-scholar audience. Scientific stories from the field can be tricky. They can be full of intellectual jargon and political minefields. My job is to demystify these stories by producing compelling narratives in newsletters, social media, and other forms of communication that engage the public and capture their attention.”
A Pennsylvania native, Burkhart earned a bachelor’s degree in editing, publishing and creative writing from Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, PA, and a master’s degree in journalism and environmental reporting from Northwestern University. Other places she worked for besides Audubon includes the Sea Education Association and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute Sea Grant Program in Woods Hole, MA, and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee where she wrote articles on research into supercomputing.
As a Long Island Sound Partnership science communicator, Burkhart will be writing about the projects that are helping the program achieve its major objectives and goals in the new Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan. She also will be writing about the health of the Sound for publications such as a new “State of the Sound” report. Her first article for the LIS Partnership profiled how Audubon New York is restoring up to 80 acres of tidal wetlands in Sunken Meadow State Park in Long Island, a long-term restoration effort that received a major boost when an earthen dam holding back tidal water was breached following Superstorm Sandy in 2012. The article includes a perspective from Audubon New York’s director of coastal resilience on the importance of restoring marsh vegetation and how this project might help the saltmarsh sparrow, a species whose populations are threatened by increasing sea level rise.
“To me, strong science communication is telling a good story about nature and drawing others into the tale,” said Burkhart.
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For over 70 years, ecologists at Great Gull Island in Long Island Sound have managed an important feat for the survival of two migratory coastal birds. With support from thousands of volunteers and researchers they have helped restore roseate terns and common terns to the island after their populations collapsed in the early to mid-20th century when Great Gull Island was used by the US Army as part of the coastal defense system.
Despite their success, however, the scientists remain concerned about the birds’ survival on this 17-acre island east of Plum Island and Orient Point at the tip of the North Fork of Long Island.. Even with steady progress, including over 40,000 adults and chicks populating the island by 2025, they worry that any number of large-scale threats can result in a sudden collapse of the populations, according to Joan Walsh, a researcher at the American Museum of Natural History, which owns the island.
In 2022, Walsh and her colleagues, Margaret Rubega of the University of Connecticut and Peter Paton of the University of Rhode Island applied for a grant with the Long Island Sound Futures Fund to support the island’s first comprehensive conservation plan. They wanted to address looming threats such as sea level rise, erosion, animal predation, disease, failing infrastructure of the island’s legacy infrastructure, human disturbance and existing and new invasive plants, a threat that had been partially addressed in prior years, but needed more attention. The Futures Fund awarded the University of Connecticut $400,000 to develop the plan, using a science-based and action-oriented process called “Open Standards for the Practice of Conservation.” The plan, completed in August, was developed with support from 30 technical experts and dozens of community stakeholders. Through the process 17 direct threats were identified, and with focused decision making, 10 strategic responses were selected and prioritized.
“Great Gull Island is a very complicated place, so you have to allow yourself to come in with your ears wide open to hear what the other experts have to say about priorities,” said Walsh. “I thought it was a really amazing process to a be a part of.”
For decades, said Walsh, ecologists with volunteer support succeeded largely by responding to immediate threats to the bird populations, such as removing debris left over from the military installations. The conservation plan fills a critically important need to be proactive to prevent large-scale ecological impacts from threatening the bird populations.
“When Margaret, Peter and I came on to codirect the project, we realized that we needed a comprehensive plan to help us rank the threats to understand what is most important,” said Walsh. “It’s very easy to get distracted by a single chick falling into a hole. Right? That’s a tragedy and it may take you quite a while to fix that small problem so that no more chicks fall in that hole when your time is better spent finding how you restore the whole area so that no chicks fall into any holes over the next 50 years.”
High on their action list was to safeguard against an accidental introduction of ground animals such as rats, mice, mink, and raccoons to the island. These mammals can prey on the terns and their chicks or spread disease. In 2025, the co-directors applied and were awarded additional funds from the Futures Fund to develop a strategic response for biosecurity, which will include protocols to ensure that staff don’t accidentally introduce rodents in the boats they use to commute to the island.
“Rats are our number one concern,” said Walsh. “They are voracious predators and reproduce rapidly. And rats along the coast are very common, and warming winters are allowing rats to persist in higher numbers. We have to have a real security plan for every one of our boats to ensure that we don’t get rats out there. We don’t have any ground predators.”
Another high priority is to enhance the existing plan for controlling invasive plants. It will build upon one that had also been supported with a Futures Fund grant in 2012. That plan resulted in a successful effort to remove invasive wild radish, a plant that had blanketed much of the island and could entangle and kill young terns and replacing it with native seaside goldenrod. Walsh said that in the past after a heavy rain the leaves of the plant would fall down “like a mat” on young chicks. “It was killing hundreds of chicks every year,” she said. “The adults couldn’t get to them if it rained and they would get hypothermic and die.”
Roseate and common terns share similar features such as a forked tail and a black cap. Roseate terns, designated an endangered species by the federal government, are thinner and, when breeding, have a reddish color on their breast and belly, which is how they get their name. They inhabit Great Gull Island from May to September for breeding before they head south for the winter. In 2025, there were about 2,331 pairs of adult roseate terns on Great Gull Island, which represents about 36 percent of the population of breeding pairs for that species in North America. Also in 2025, the island had about 11,190 pairs of common terns, which represents about 10 to 15 percent of the population in the northeast, but about 90-95 percent in Long Island Sound. This species is designated as threatened in New York and Connecticut.
The terns have populated Great Gull Island for centuries, but they largely disappeared starting in 1897 when the US Army began using the island as part of a coastal defense system. After World War II, the Army decommissioned the island and sold it to the American Museum of Natural History for $1 for the sole purpose of restoring it as a bird sanctuary. Today, legacy infrastructure, such as tunnels that could potentially collapse and lead to salt-water intrusion, are imminent threats that concern ecologists. But scientists and resource managers have also recognized that there are ecological benefits from the 19th and 20th century development. For example, a stone revetment was built to fortify the island when it was a military base today protects the island from erosion and sea level rise. The Army also elevated part of the island for some of its’ military installations, and as a result today some of the terns nest in areas that are as high as 40 feet above sea level. While other tern habitats in Long Island are losing ground to sea level rise and erosion, and changes in land use, Great Gull Island is expected to remain a bird habitat for decades to come as well as a source population for any efforts to restore colonies lost in other Long Island Sound habitats or elsewhere in the northeast.
“Pete Dunne, the nature writer, talks about the metaphor of the game of musical chairs for habitat loss,” said Walsh. “We just keep taking away their chairs and there just aren’t many places left for them to go.
“And that’s happened in our lifetime. When I first started working at Great Gull Island (in the 1980s), my job was to go to the surrounding islands during the day. We had a Boston Whaler and we’d look and see how many of our birds were nesting in all these small colonies all around Great Gull Island. Most of those colonies don’t exist anymore because of sea level rise or because of land use changes. So, in this game of musical chairs, you know, Great Gull is more than a chair – we’re kind of a couch.”
Visit the Great Gull Island website to download the plan, learn more about protecting the terns, and see more photos as well as videos about life on the island.
At Bluff Point, visitors – more than 500,000 each year! – come to walk the trails, weave though wooded coastal forest, and watch for the more than 200 bird species that can be found in the park. With trails that pass through wooded forest, tidal wetlands, coastal bluff, rocky shorelines, sandy beaches and dunes, and grasslands, there’s always something new to see around every corner. Along the way, hikers can take in views of the Poquonnock River and even “choose their own adventure” – walking the bluff for panoramic vistas of Long Island Sound, detouring along Bushy Beach where shorebirds feed, or looping back through the wooded forest to the parking lot. It’s no wonder many visitors return time and again.
“Bluff Point is my happy place. It’s such a beautiful place to hike and enjoy the outdoors while surrounded by water views.” – Bluff Point visitor
It’s not hard to understand why Bluff Point is so special. Yet despite its beauty and ecological importance, Bluff Point faces challenges. High tides and heavy rain can flood trails and parking areas, making parts of the park impassable. Visitors walking to the beach may find the path back covered in several inches of water, and the main entrance under the Amtrak tracks can be completely blocked after storms.
To address these issues, park managers turned to the people who know Bluff Point best: its visitors. Parkgoers were invited to share their experiences and priorities, helping guide the development of a new Site Plan for the property.
The Connecticut Reserve, Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CT DEEP), and SLR Consulting received a Long Island Sound Futures Fund grant in October 2023 to assess the area, collect visitor feedback, and develop a Site Plan for the property. With this support, the project team collected feedback from 640 parkgoers, more than half of whom frequent the property at least monthly, and hosted public meetings to hear in-depth input about challenges and potential improvements.
“The parking lot is insufficient and floods regularly, as does the main entrance under the railroad tracks.”
“The parking lot has huge holesthat make it difficult to drive.”
“I can’t go with a family member who is partially blind because of the roots and uneven path.”
– Survey responses from Bluff Point visitors
Based on this feedback and from the assessment of the area, the project team developed a series of improvements:
Improvements to the park won’t just affect visitors’ enjoyment of the area. They’ll also help ensure the continued protection of this ecologically and recreationally important area. Bluff Point is the largest undeveloped wooded coastal peninsula between New York and Cape Cod, supporting a wide range of wildlife. Visitors pass through six different habitat types with over 200 bird species, including herons, hawks, cormorants, and the federally threatened piping plover.
The property is divided among three state designations: Bluff Point State Park, Bluff Point Coastal Reserve, and Bluff Point Natural Area Preserve. Each of these areas has special rules and regulations to balance sensitive habitats and recreational use. The property is also a Long Island Sound Stewardship Site and part of the Connecticut National Estuarine Research Reserve.
Each of these areas has special rules and regulations to balance sensitive habitats and recreational use. The Project Team received just under $3 million through the NOAA Bipartisan Infrastructure Law National Estuarine Research Reserve System Habitat Protection and Restoration Competition. This funding will address flooding along the main trail and improve emergency access—efforts made possible by the Long Island Sound Futures Fund’s initial investment and, importantly, the community members whose input shaped the plan.
To learn more about this project, visit https://s.uconn.edu/bluffpoint or contact BluffPoint@uconn.edu.
Sometimes Mother Nature surprises us. When Hurricane Sandy barreled through the New York metropolitan area in 2012, it earned the nickname “Superstorm Sandy.” But along Long Island’s North Shore, the storm unexpectedly helped save a local ecosystem. When it destroyed a dam that had been choking a vital salt marsh in Sunken Meadow State Park, Sandy opened the door to fully restoring the marsh—and protecting the wildlife that depends on it.
Sunken Meadow’s salt marsh will soon be a safer home for the vulnerable saltmarsh sparrow, thanks to a recently awarded $1.5 million grant from the Long Island Sound Futures Fund to the National Audubon Society. Saltmarsh sparrows are an Audubon Priority Bird, considered especially at risk due to steep population decline.
The funding allows Audubon to start construction for “Phase 1” of a long-planned restoration project to keep Sunken Meadow healthy. In Phase 1, soil will be returned to the marsh, raising 14 acres of land to protect the sparrows’ habitat from sea-level rise. This is the third Futures Funds grant supporting the project; two earlier grants funded a redesign of the park’s marsh system.
Projects like Sunken Meadow support the broader goals of the Long Island Sound Partnership: clean water, thriving habitats, and resilient communities. Salt marshes are natural buffers against flooding, reduce erosion, absorb pollutants, and provide a front-row seat to nature for visitors. Without them, coastal communities face greater environmental risks.
Sunken Meadow Creek in Kings Park, New York, was once a large salt marsh creek that flowed freely into the mouth of the Nissequogue River—the North Shore’s largest—and then into the Sound. For decades, the area was mostly untouched aside from fishing shacks. After World War II, Long Island’s urban growth reshaped the park.
Roads, parking lots, and other facilities were built for a family day out. To connect and stabilize the park, developers rerouted and dammed the creek with an earthen berm bridge. Water only passed through two small tunnels, called culverts, under the dam. These changes blocked natural water flow through the park, reducing the healthy salt marsh to mudflats that cannot support water quality the way healthy marshes can. Invasive plants, like common reed, overcrowded native plants.
“Back then, they didn’t understand the value of salt marshes or how they affect water quality and wildlife. None of that,” said Vicky O’Neill, Director of Coastal Resilience for Audubon’s Connecticut and New York regional program. “It was more, ‘let’s get this recreation area developed’.”
By Hurricane Sandy’s arrival, the marsh no longer functioned as it should. When the storm destroyed the dam, tides began to flow freely again. The remaining soil and root system, however, is too weak to hold the marsh together, and rising sea levels have made the area too low to sustain an ecosystem. The restoration aims to reverse this damage, eventually restoring about 70-80 total acres of tidal habitat.
Fixing Sunken Meadow will not be easy. Earlier projects funded through Future Funds helped researchers study how wildlife, like fish, crabs, and birds, use the area. The results informed where restoration is most important.
In Phase 1 of construction, soil and mud–collectively called sediment–will be moved from the creek and added back to the marsh surface. Certain areas will be raised higher than others, depending on the needs of the wildlife living there. Higher sections are especially important for the saltmarsh sparrow.
Salt marshes flood regularly with ocean tides, and the saltmarsh sparrow has adapted their hatching season to this rhythm. They time their nesting between new moon phases, laying eggs when tides are lowest, so their nests don’t flood and drown chicks. But these sparrows nest in high areas of the marsh, which are disappearing because of earlier development and rising oceans. Without elevated marshland, the saltmarsh sparrow could disappear from the area entirely.
But Audubon is optimistic, especially since similar efforts have worked elsewhere. At Great Meadows Marsh in Stratford, CT, areas of raised soil mounds, called hummocks, were built in 2022 to support nesting saltmarsh sparrows. As the birds nested in the hummocks, the species started to rebound. Because saltmarsh sparrows are not territorial, more high marsh means more space for other birds, too.
As O’Neill puts it: “To know you can help the whole species by restoring just one marsh is a pretty remarkable thing.”
Construction is expected to begin in late 2026 after permits are approved. But raising the marsh is only one piece of the puzzle. Invasive species, like common reeds, will need to be managed. Old infrastructure, like leftover park construction, will eventually be removed. Both of those phases are years away, but the intervening time allows wildlife to adjust. For instance, birds like the red winged blackbird can move their nests to other vegetation during construction.
While the saltmarsh sparrow’s recovery will be one of the clearest measures of success, O’Neill notes that seeing the marsh slowing returning to its natural state will be a major achievement of itself.
The timing is helpful for community connection, too. The park will remain fully open, with visitors able to watch the ongoing construction from nearby trails. Visitors looking to volunteer on the project can contact the park’s office to help grow native plant seeds that will later be planted in the marsh.
Restoring Sunken Meadow has been a vision long before Superstorm Sandy. New York State Parks, New York Sea Grant, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Save the Sound, Audubon, New York Natural Heritage Program, and Long Island Sound Partnership have all contributed to the marsh’s future.
O’Neill credits the project’s progress to the can-do attitudes and dedication of these organizations. “These big projects involve a lot of people and time,” she said. “But they’re spectacular when they work out.”
Editor’s note: this story has been corrected to confirm that the breach in the first photo has already been stabalized by Audubon.
More information: Judy Benson, communications coordinator, Connecticut Sea Grantjudy.benson@uconn.edu
March 3, 2026 – Two additional CT shoreline communities awarded funding for resilience planning Branford and Old Lyme are the latest towns receiving support for resilience planning through a Long Island Sound-wide collaboration, joining 14 other awardees in Connecticut and New York announced in November.
With the two awards for Branford and Old Lyme, more than $1 million is being provided for seven Connecticut and nine New York projects in the second round of the Long Island Sound Resilience Planning Support program, a joint effort of the Long Island Sound Partnership, Connecticut Sea Grant and New York Sea Grant, funded by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
“With this support we will be able to begin a comprehensive assessment of the serious threats that our town faces from hurricanes, wildfires and other natural disasters and formulate and prioritize strategies for protecting our most vulnerable citizens, our essential infrastructure and our environment,” said Jim Lampos, Old Lyme selectman.
Old Lyme will develop a townwide Strategic Resiliency Action Plan with SLR Consultants. This will build on a 2021 Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan with new findings that assess risks from sea level rise, saltwater intrusion, coastal and riverine flooding, drought, wildfires and impacts to roads, public utilities and neighborhoods. The new plan will prioritize actions related to land use that can help reduce impacts.
Branford will work with Tighe & Bond to develop feasibility and design alternatives to reduce significant flood risks at the town’s water pollution control facility, which treats 3.5 million gallons of sewage per day. Located on the Branford River, which flows directly into Long Island Sound, the plant is vulnerable to coastal flooding and future sea level rise. The plan will evaluate floodproofing options, nature-based and hybrid strategies, cost considerations and other factors, and lead to a preliminary project design.
“We are grateful to Connecticut Sea Grant for our recent grant award to assist with the development of conceptual plans for protecting the Wastewater Pollution Control Facility,” said Branford First Selectman Joshua Brooks. “The findings of the study will help to form the basis of an appropriate engineering project that will improve the resilience of the existing WPCF to sea level rise, storm surge and intense storm flooding. This grant award will help our community continue to take critical steps toward achieving resilience and sustainability goals to protect our community and Long Island Sound.”
Connecticut Sea Grant Director Sylvain De Guise said the two awards further demonstrate the need for funding to help communities assess and plan resilience projects.
“I am glad that through our partnership with EPA, we can support projects that are actionable and help communities achieve their own priority goals to increase community resilience,” De Guise said. “Such funds are not broadly available, but address immediate needs.”
The list of all 16 awards can be found by clicking here.
This document describes the governance of the organizational structure and functions of the Long Island Sound Partnership in advancing actions for the protection and restoration of Long Island Sound under the Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP).
Along the banks of the Thames River in New London, lines of dome-shaped reef balls now shelter schools of fish, stabilize the shoreline, and bring new life to an area once threatened by erosion. What began as a small pilot in 2021 has grown into a thriving example of how science and community partnerships can protect the health of Long Island Sound.
Led by Maria Rosa, Associate Professor of Biology at Connecticut College, the project, supported in part by the Long Island Sound Futures Fund, uses reef balls – concrete domes created by the Reef Ball Foundation that mimic natural reefs – to protect shorelines while creating new habitat for marine life.
Building a Living Shoreline
The Thames River, Connecticut’s third largest river, runs along the edge of Connecticut College’s campus before flowing into Long Island Sound. It’s a busy waterway that supports naval operations, shipbuilding, and commercial traffic and it has been continuously dredged since the 1800s. Combined with sea-level rise and stronger storms, those pressures have left its shorelines, including the College’s waterfront, vulnerable to erosion.
Recognizing the need to protect both the campus shoreline and the river’s natural habitat, Rosa began searching for sustainable solutions. She first considered re-introducing an oyster reef, but after learning the project would not be permittable at this site, she turned to reef balls, a nature-based approach known as a living shoreline. Unlike seawalls or jetties, which block waves but also prevent natural sediment movement, living shorelines work with nature. The reef balls help slow waves, trap sediment, and provide shelter for fish and other marine life, allowing the shoreline to rebuild over time.
The first phase of the project, launched in 2021 with support from Kenny Chesney’s No Shoes Reefs initiative, installed 30 reef balls protecting about 35 linear feet of shoreline. Rosa and her students named the site Camels Reef, after the Connecticut College mascot. With additional funding in 2023, the project expanded to include 350 more reef balls, protecting 200 linear feet of shoreline and more than 1,200 square feet of habitat.
Within the first year, the team saw signs of success that most projects wouldn’t expect for five to ten years: sediment began to accumulate and new species appeared. At the start of the project in 2019, Rosa documented just five species at the site. By 2023, there were more than 30, including larval animals suggesting the reef was serving as a nursery ground. This fall for example, juvenile oyster toadfish and other larval fish were found in the reef for the first time, following records of adults of the same species from the past year.
The sediment has also changed dramatically. Rosa’s team measured an average of three centimeters of new soil, with some areas gaining up to five. “We’re seeing both terrestrial and marine sediment being added to the reef,” she said. “It’s enough to begin planting.”
This fall, Rosa and her students planted 1,000 plugs of smooth cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora), a native marsh plant, and plan to plant another 1,000 in the spring to help jump-start marsh formation. While the reef balls themselves provide habitat and help trap sediment, the true measure of the project’s success will be the growth of healthy marsh. A thriving marsh acts as a natural buffer, diffusing wave energy and reducing erosion, while also supporting greater biodiversity. Next summer they also plan to conduct a comprehensive biodiversity survey to document how species diversity and abundance have changed five years into the project.
Nature Thrives — and So Do Students
Rosa says one of the most exciting aspects of the project has been watching the site come alive. Bald eagles, mink, osprey, seals, blue crabs, and striped bass have all been spotted near the reef. “The difference between our reef site and the downstream control site is striking,” she said. “The sediment, the biodiversity—it’s a whole different environment.”
Students and volunteers have been involved in every step of the process, from building and deploying reef balls (each weighing hundreds of pounds) to planting grasses and conducting monitoring surveys. “Seeing the impact of their work firsthand motivates them to keep coming back,” Rosa said.
A Ripple Effect for Long Island Sound
The Thames River is a major tributary to Long Island Sound, carrying freshwater, sediment, and nutrients downstream. Healthy shoreline habitats here have far-reaching benefits for the Sound’s ecosystem, providing nursery grounds for fish, filtering pollutants, and buffering against erosion.
Projects like Camels Reef directly support the Long Island Sound Partnership’s goals of clean water, thriving habitats and abundant wildlife, resilient communities, and an informed public. As the reef grows, it helps improve water quality, trap excess nutrients, and build resilience to sea-level rise and storm surge – all while serving as a hands-on learning site for students and volunteers.
Lessons Learned and Looking Ahead
Rosa admits the project wasn’t easy to get off the ground. “When I first started, people told me it wouldn’t work,” she said. “But I thought, if you build the habitat, the species will come—and they have.”
From her initial vision of an oyster reef to today’s thriving living shoreline, Rosa sees success not just in the ecological results, but in the engagement the project inspires. “This wouldn’t have been possible without our students and volunteers,” she said. “Their work has made a real difference.”
Looking ahead, Rosa hopes to expand the reef even further, potentially adding another 200 linear feet of reef balls to extend protection toward the mouth of the Thames River. That will require new permits and careful design to match the varying shoreline slopes and habitats along the river, but Rosa is confident in the project’s future.
“This is just the beginning,” she said. “We’re building something that protects our campus, supports wildlife, and strengthens Long Island Sound for years to come.”
Visitors explore the Camels Reef site, where an “Experiment in Progress” sign highlights the ongoing research and monitoring behind this living shoreline project. Photo by Erica Casper/CT Sea Grant.
The Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) has always played an important role in advancing the goals of the LIS Partnership and strengthening collaboration across stakeholders. It has been my privilege to be a member representative of the CAC for over thirty years and the NY Co-chair for the past twenty years. Now more than ever, the CAC is indispensable to the on-going success and productivity of the LIS Partnership.
As I step down from my NY Co-chair role on the CAC, I’m reminded of how far we’ve come. Thirty years ago, citizen voices and contributions to science were often overlooked or undervalued by the Partnership. Discussions were largely driven by existing federal and state budgets and competition between agencies and partners to secure the biggest share rather than collaborative decision-making for impact.
As funding fluctuated with the political winds, the CAC remained a steady voice working consistently to educate our congressional leaders and make the case for the critical need and national importance of cleaning up Long Island Sound. Our CAC membership ranges from very local site-specific organizations to regional and national nonprofits. Through our extensive networks and relationships, CAC members have significantly contributed to success of the Partnership at every level.
It has been such a pleasure to watch CAC members grow more sophisticated in engaging with their networks, the public, legislators, federal agencies, and LIS Partnership leadership. My NY Co-chair predecessor David Miller, along with CT Co-chairs John Atkin, Sandy Breslin, Curt Johnson and Holly Drinkuth played pivotal roles in strengthening communication, quantifying needs, drafting legislation, contributing to management plans, and securing attention and funding for the extensive work needed to restore Long Island Sound.
As the Partnership has grown in budget, staff and programs, the advisory role of the CAC has become increasingly integral to the success of the Partnership. Each year, the CAC provides a Priority Letter to the Management Conference outlining the most pressing needs for the upcoming year – now enhanced by input and guidance from the Science and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC). To further increase our collaboration and impact, we hold an annual joint meeting with the STAC to discuss science and implementation priorities.
Each year, the CAC travels to Washington D.C. to meet in-person with our congressional representatives sharing updates on successes, on-going needs and emerging issues critical to the LIS Partnership. Our fabulous CAC Policy Subcommittee actively tracks federal, NY and CT legislative sessions and our members work together to provide expert letters to agencies and lawmakers.
Recently, with our eyes on succession, we amended the CAC Bylaws to include four Vice Chair positions: two from NY and two from CT. The impressive level of experience, expertise and commitment of our new Vice Chairs gives me confidence that the CAC will continue to grow in influence and play an even more integral role supporting and guiding management of the LIS Partnership in the future.
I leave the CAC with a heart full of great feelings for the work we’ve accomplished together, the close friendships, the mentors and mentees, and the lessons learned along the way. From moments of laughter and exhausting meetings to the expansive knowledge and riveting science, the successes in all areas of LIS cleanup and protection – especially decreases in hypoxia, and seeing dolphins return to LIS – have kept me going.
Of the many roles I’ve had in my career, serving as CAC co-chair has been the most rewarding. Thank you LIS Partnership partners!
Read the 2025 Fall/Winter issue of Sound Matters, the Long Island Sound Partnership newsletter. The Fall issue highlights the Long Island Sound Partnership’s busy summer, including the launch of a new management plan with new goals and objectives for the next 10 years, celebrating 40 years of the Partnership’s efforts to restore Long Island Sound, and unveiling a name change from the Long Island Sound Study to the LIS Partnership. You can view a PDF here.
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