sphere

New York State Proposes to Allow Bobcat Hunting and Trapping in Westchester

2012-01-26T07:20:00.003-05:00

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation wants to allow bobcat hunting and trapping in Westchester County (Rockland too), at least if I’m reading a newly-released bobcat management plan correctly.

The reason seems to be not that bobcats are causing trouble or that there are too many but simply that there are enough to allow some to be killed.

In recent years, hunters and trappers have killed 400 to 500 bobcats a year. Under this new management plan, that would rise to 500 to 600. Wildlife managers think that the state’s bobcat population, estimated to be about 5,000 animals, could sustain 1,000 a year being killed.

It’s not clear to me when exactly the hunting and trapping season in Westchester would be, but it would be short and in the fall.

You can find a link to the plan on this DEC webpage. I read about it in the Adirondack Almanack (@adkalmanack on Twitter).

By the way, I find the word “harvest,” which is used repeatedly in the management plan (as in, “We believe that these harvest control measures will allow for a limited and sustainable harvest of bobcats ... ”), to be an insulting euphemism.

Bird Sighting of the Week

2012-01-24T07:08:00.002-05:00

From the CtDailyReport of the Connecticut Ornithological Association:

01/23/12 - Cheshire -- 4 BLACK VULTURES leaving the Dragon Buffet Restaurant and crossing Route 10 to Radio Shack's roof, 2:30 PM.

An hour later they were hungry for carrion.

The Long Island High School Student Who Has Discovered How Mussels are Adapting to Asian Shore Crabs in the Sound

2012-01-23T18:36:00.000-05:00

A terrific little story from the Times just dropped into my inbox. It’s about Samantha Garvey, a high school student on Long Island who is both a semifinalist in the Intel Science Talent Search and (until very recently) homeless. Her area of research is ribbed mussels and Asian shore crabs from Long Island Sound. Here’s what the Times reported:

The mussel species, Geukensia demissa, or ribbed mussel, is native to Long Island Sound. The Asian shore crab, Hemigrapsus sanguineus, is not. It is a predatory interloper that arrived in the waters near Cape May, N.J., in 1988, and has since spread from Maine to North Carolina.
The crabs like to eat mussels.
The scientific question was whether the ribbed mussels would just sit there and be eaten by the new predator, or had nature provided them with a means of defending themselves?
Ms. Garvey collected mussels from different parts of Flax Pond, a salt marsh on the North Shore of Long Island. She compared the shell length, width, weight and other measurements of those that lived where Asian shore crabs were prevalent with those that lived in areas with few crabs.
She found that the mussels that lived in areas where the crabs were prevalent had thicker shells. Was that because the Asian shore crabs ate the mussels they could pry open most easily, leaving thicker-shelled survivors, or were the mussels able to grow greater protection in response to the predators?
In a laboratory at Stony Brook University, Ms. Garvey put some young mussels in tanks with the crabs, although the crabs were in cages. In other tanks, mussels lived alone. After 65 days, she found that the mussels that shared their tank with the crabs had developed thicker shells than the ones that lived alone.
The finding suggests that chemicals released by the Asian shore crabs in the water set off a defense mechanism in the mussels: they produce thicker shells that fend off predators. When the crabs are not around, the mussels do not pad their shells.

And it sounds as if her teacher, Rebecca Grella, of Brentwood High School, has put together a large, impressive team of high school researchers.

Read it all here.

From the Advocate, Big, Big Problems at Stamford's Sewage Plant

2012-01-18T19:00:00.000-05:00

This piece about the much-admired Stamford sewage treatment plant, by Angela Carella, an editor at the Stamford Advocate, is devastating. If what she asserts is true -- and I have no reason to not believe her, although I look forward to possible responses -- it rises to the level of a scandal.

Trouble at the Stamford Sewage Treatment Plant

2012-01-17T07:29:00.001-05:00

The Stamford sewage treatment plant was exemplary for so long that it's a surprise to hear that there seems to be big trouble there.

First, a few months ago, there were complaints from a couple of shellfishermen in the Stamford-Greenwich area about how troubles with the plant's disinfectant system were forcing them to curtail harvesting oysters and clams and therefore costing them money.

Then a couple of weeks ago Stamford figured prominently in a story about how power outages at treatment plants caused sewage spills during the two big storms in the second half of last year.

Now today's Advocate has a long piece about how the cause of the problems might well be poor leadership at the plant and poor oversight in city hall. It's worth reading, here. My only quibble is that I would have liked to have seen a couple more paragraphs about how the administrative troubles have led to water pollution troubles.

Irene and the October Snowstorm Caused 47 Sewage Spills into Long Island Sound and Connecticut Rivers

2012-01-02T11:16:00.000-05:00

You get a glimpse of the environmental havoc caused by Tropical Storm Irene and the late-October snowstorm from a story in the Courant over the weekend.

Reporter Dave Altimari took a vague statement that Connecticut DEEP Commission Dan Esty made to a state panel investigating the storms’ aftermath -- a statement that no one on the panel questioned -- dug a little deeper, and learned that failures in the backup power sources at Connecticut sewage treatment plants caused 47 sewage spills into Long Island Sound and the state’s rivers. A huge amount of sewage -- raw and partially-treated -- was discharged.

Here’s what the commissioner told the panel:

"In the course of the two storms, keeping these systems up and running emerged as a high priority — and a challenge, as backup power failed at a number of facilities, causing several discharges of untreated sewage into the environment,'' Esty said in his testimony.

Esty didn't go into detail about the discharges and the panel members did not question him....

Altimari did valuable follow-up work though. Here’s what he wrote:

… a review of DEEP's incident reports indicates the problem may have been far worse than officials said. The reports show:
--There were 14 spills in which more than one million gallons of sewage spilled.
--Sewage was discharged into 16 rivers across the state, including the Connecticut, Farmington, Housatonic, Quinnipiac and Willimantic.
--Untreated or partially treated sewage was discharged by plants in 26 communities, from the state's biggest city, Bridgeport, to one of its smallest towns, Norfolk.
--Of the 47 spills, 26 occurred during Irene and 21 during the October storm, records show.

And in what might be the understatement of the year, Esty told the panel:

"A better structure of backup [or primary] power for wastewater facilities should be explored.”

I would have liked to have seen Altimari compile some information about the consequences of all those sewage spills. The Sound’s shellfish industry was shut down for weeks, for example. Presumably beaches were closed as well.

Conservatively, the Sound contributes $5.5 billion a year to the local economy, according to EPA. If the businesses that rely on the Sound were shut down for a month because of the storms, you might be able to argue that the economic cost was one-twelfth of $5.5 billion, or $456,500,000.

That’s a lot of money to lose because backup power was inadequate. Here's Altimari's story; it's well worth reading.

Constantine Sidamon-Eristoff ... Prince, Conservationist

2011-12-30T10:21:00.000-05:00

Back in 1990, after five years of research had made it clear that nitrogen in treated sewage was responsible for Long Island Sound's hypoxia problem, the U.S. EPA and the states of Connecticut and New York were taking their first steps toward doing something about the problem.

It was hardly a radical idea -- they would freeze the amount of nitrogen flowing into the Sound from sewage plants at 1990 levels. They called it a nitrogen cap. It wasn't a reduction. They weren't prepared to actually begin cleaning up the Sound yet. But they didn't want it to get worse either.

And yet that recommendation freaked out people in Westchester County, in particular real estate developers, the trade groups they paid to represent them, and elected officials who were beholden to them. They had influence in Albany and for a while it seemed as if they might stop the entire Long Island Sound cleanup effort.

Among the people who would not let that happen was Constantine Sidamon-Eristoff. He was the EPA administrator in the New York region, an appointee of President George H.W. Bush, and he decided the nitrogen cap was important -- and he said so, publicly, in a way that made it seem completely sane and rational (which of course it was):

"I, at this point, think it would be wise to go ahead. I think time is of the essence. Why not take steps now if you know what you can do and it's doable?"

His EPA counterpart in New England, Julie Belaga, agreed, and their position became policy, as both EPA regions and both states approved the nitrogen cap.

I didn't know Connie Eristoff well. He was gentlemanly the few times I met him and when I asked him questions, either in person or on the phone, he answered them (which is how I got the quote above). There's not much more a reporter can ask for.

I was reminded by his obituary, in today's New York Times, that he also strongly fought to allow New York City to keep its drinking water clean by protecting its watershed rather than by building a filtration plant, a decision that seems as common-sensical now as it was controversial 15 years ago.

Connie Eristoff got his start in government under John V. Lindsay. He was actively involved in Audubon New York. And he was a prince "whose family nobility dates to the 15th century in the Eurasian kingdom of Georgia."

I always assumed he was a Republican. That matters only because we need more like him.

State of the Sound

2011-12-28T18:22:00.002-05:00

Connecticut Fund for the Environment/Save the Sound released its first "State of the Sound" report today (although in truth that's a bit of a misnomer: a more accurate name would have been "State of How We the People Who Live Near Long Island Sound are Doing in Protecting and Restoring It," but that's not quite as pithy).

They found that by some measures, we're doing OK and by others we're doing considerably worse than OK. All in all, the grade they assigned was a C-plus.

You can find a pdf here, and there's coverage by the Connecticut Post here and Patch.com here (Newsday also wrote about it but you have to pay to see it).

I wrote the foreword (several years ago, actually -- that's how long it took to publish the report.) Here it is;

     Long Island Sound was in bad shape back in mid and late 1980s, when I first started paying attention. If you think of the Sound as a big forest, it was as if all the air had been removed from a third of that forest, and all the warblers, thrushes, butterflies, spiders, bats, squirrels, cicadas, katydids, and deer suffocated or, if they were lucky, crowded into other areas. That's how bad hypoxia was in the summer. Virtually all forms of marine life were unable to survive in the western third of Long Island Sound.
    But that was 20 years ago. What's happened since?
    Lobsters have all but vanished. Oysters, carefully restored with infusions of money from taxpayers and the private sector, succumbed to two diseases and are only now starting to revive. Winter flounder disappeared. The water on average has gotten warmer; warm-water species are replacing cold water species. Salt marshes are dying. And hypoxia returns every summer -- sometimes bad, sometimes not so bad, sometimes critically bad.
    Last year I was on a conference call, planning a public forum with a handful of college professors who teach on the far eastern end of the Sound, and when I used the word "crisis" to describe the late 1980s, one of them interrupted and told me quite peremptorily that there is not now nor has there ever been a crisis in Long Island Sound.
    On the contrary. Long Island Sound exists now in a state of permanent crisis. That's my opinion, of course. But what other conclusion are we to draw? Twenty years ago the U.S government and the states of New York and Connecticut created what has become a permanent -- as well as knowledgeable and dedicated -- bureaucracy to manage Long Island Sound, and yet there's so much going wrong in the Sound we can hardly keep track.
    When I was in elementary school I tried to cover up a failing grade by dropping a strategically-located blot of blue ink from a cartridge pen onto my report card. Reading this "State of the Sound" report card, I see a lot of places where I'd like to drop blots of blue ink.
    After 20 years of anti-pollution efforts, we get a D-plus in raw sewage? Spill an ink blot there. C-minus in low oxygen? Ink blot, please. Adapting to the rise in sea level, and conflicts among the people who use the Sound -- a D in each? Blot, and another blot. A C-minus in keeping stormwater that is contaminated with dog crap and motor oil and chemical fertilizers away from our beaches and shellfish beds? A big ink blot there.
    But we must be doing well in something, yes?
    We get an A in fish ladders. Fish ladders open up rivers blocked by dams, letting anadromous fish swim upstream to spawn (although as the biologist in charge of Connecticut's program has said, swimming upstream is one thing; getting back down past the dams and ladders is another).
    We get a B in coastal habitat, for restoring 600 acres, mainly of coastal marshes.
    And we get a B in beach litter, although not because there's any less of it now. The amount of litter is about the same as it was a decade ago. We earn a B because more people are volunteering to participate in beach clean-ups -- in other words, more people are picking up other people's trash.

     It takes an act of will not to feel pessimistic in the face of all this, and I'd be lying if I said that at times I don't. But those of us who care about Long Island Sound can't afford to be too pessimistic – or rather, we can't afford to let pessimism deter us from doing what needs to be done.
    What exactly is that? We need to make sure our elected officials know that Long Island Sound is a priority, and that they continue to provide money for sewage treatment plant upgrades and stormwater management, and for increasing and improving public access to the Sound. We need to help organizations like Save the Sound continue to promote the notion that what we as individuals do has an effect on what Long Island Sound is.
     When anyone – a municipality operating a sewage plant, a boat owner heedless about where he dumps his vessel's head, a multinational corporation that wants to industrialize the Sound, a homeowner with a bad fertilizer habit – damages the Sound, we need to take it personally. We need to remember that Long Island Sound is ours.
    And one more thing: although the state of the Sound seems grim, this "State of the Sound" report is excellent – read it, and do what it says.

Happy to be Working With Connecticut Audubon

2011-12-19T07:14:00.001-05:00

At least a couple dozen people have sent me good wishes and congratulations on the new Connecticut Audubon Society position. It's a good organization and I had a good first week (in my estimation anyway). You can keep up with Connecticut Audubon by signing up for its newsletter, here, and by reading or subscribing to its conservation blog, here.

I've been doing communications and fundraising consulting for a number of other non-profits, and I'll continue to do that as well. Here's the full Connecticut Audubon announcement:

December 15, 2011 -- Connecticut Audubon Society, the state's leading independent conservation and environmental education organization, has named conservationist and author Tom Andersen as its director of communications and community outreach.

Andersen will oversee all of Connecticut Audubon's communications with members, the general public, and the press, and will also coordinate the organization's public policy and advocacy work.

Founded in 1898, Connecticut Audubon Society is an independent conservation and environmental education organization, with headquarters in Fairfield. Connecticut Audubon operates five centers -- Pomfret, Glastonbury, Milford, Fairfield and Birdcraft Museum -- and owns 19 sanctuaries covering 2,600 acres.

Connecticut Audubon's education program has worked with more than 70 percent of the state's school districts, and its conservation scientists write and carry out conservation management plans for landowners throughout the state.

"We're poised to grow and to play a bigger role in conservation issues in Connecticut," said CAS President Robert Martinez. "Tom Andersen's knowledge and experience in the not-for-profit world and in conservation will help us focus our message and our work, reach more people, and be even more effective in protecting Connecticut's critical natural habitats."

Andersen will oversee Connecticut Audubon's website and direct communications with members and the general public, social media, and press relations. He will lead a team of Connecticut Audubon staff and board members in identifying, and then formulating positions on, the public policy issues that make up the core of Connecticut Audubon's advocacy work.

He is the author of This Fine Piece of Water: An Environmental History of Long Island Sound, published by Yale University Press. Andersen spent 10 years at Westchester Land Trust, in Bedford Hills, N.Y., as director of communications and special projects and as acting executive director. He helped Westchester Land Trust protect an average of more than 600 acres a year from 2000 through 2010, a decade during which the total amount of land the organization protected rose from 900 acres to more than 7,000 acres.

Previously he worked as a newspaper reporter in Westchester County, mainly writing about environmental issues. A former 15-year New Canaan, Ct., resident, he now lives in Pound Ridge, N.Y.

Diving Ducks and Oyster Beds

2011-12-13T19:05:00.000-05:00

The mouth of the Housatonic River and the stretch of Long Island Sound immediately to the east and west is one of the richest natural spawning areas for oysters not only in the Sound but probably in the northeast.

Oysters that spawn in the Housatonic populate the mouth of the river, and currents sweep oyster larvae around Stratford Point, where they settle out on Bridgeport Natural Bed, a four-square mile area from Point No Point to Black Rock that is so important to the Sound’s oystermen that state regulators allow oyster boats to use hand-powered dredges only, so as not to damage the beds with power dredges.

I visited Stratford Point today to learn about Connecticut Audubon Society’s habitat restoration project there, and in the course of an hour’s conversation with Scott Kruitbosch, Connecticut Audubon’s conservation technician, some interesting speculation about the Housatonic oyster beds emerged.

Last year at this time, Scott told me, there were “massive” numbers of diving ducks on the mouth of the river. Greater and Lesser Scaup. White-winged Scoters and Surf Scoters, maybe Black Scoters, as well as Redheads and King Eider.

This year, nothing. The protected cove to the north has plenty of dabblers -- American Wigeon, Black Ducks, Gadwall -- but the diving ducks are not around.

The diet of diving ducks includes small oysters. The speculation by Connecticut Audubon’s conservation staff -- a guess, really -- is that something happened to the oyster beds. And the further speculation is that what happened was Hurricane Irene.

Numerous oystermen reported in September that the storm had damaged their equipment and smothered their oyster beds with sand and mud. Historically, the infamous hurricane of 1938 did so much damage -- wrecking oyster boats and oyster beds -- that it almost wiped out the Sound’s oyster industry. It took two decades for it to recover.

I haven’t seen a full assessment of the damage that Irene did to the Sound’s oysters. But if the lack of diving ducks on the Housatonic is an indication, the damage includes not only the Sound’s oystermen but possibly the wildlife that relies on the Sound’s oysters as well.

[This is also my first post for Connecticut Audubon Society's blog, which you can read here.]

Westchester's Nature Centers Will Stay Open

2011-12-08T13:55:00.001-05:00

It looks like the Westchester County Board of Legislators has worked out a budget that keeps the county's six nature centers open (and restores lots of other programs and jobs as well). It also looks like at least part of it was done with the support of the county board's Republican minority. The Journal News has a few details.

Snowy Owl at Stratford Point

2011-11-30T18:09:00.001-05:00

This short HD video of the snowy owl that showed up at Stratford Point today is worth a look. The guys at Connecticut Audubon shot it, and also have a good number of great photos on their blog, here.

Snowy Owl at Stratford Point from Connecticut Audubon Society on Vimeo.

Keep Westchester's Nature Centers Open

2011-11-23T09:01:00.001-05:00

Lots of organizations and environmental advocates are mobilizing to convince the Westchester County Board of Legislators to restore funding for the county's six nature centers in next year's budget. I had a few more thoughts about it this morning.

When County Executive Rob Astorino says he's shutting down the six centers, he means the buildings at six preserves; the preserves themselves will stay open for passive use, though they will not be staffed. All the programs will end, including camps and whatever conservation-maintenance work is done by the six curators. But the public will still be able to visit those preserves and, in the cases of Marshlands and Edith G. Read preserves, in Rye, have access to Long Island Sound.

Nevertheless, those curators play an important role. They help educate visitors -- an in particular, the curators at Marshlands and Read help educate visitors about the Sound and its habitats, which helps build support for restoring and protecting the Sound.

The curators keep an eye out for vandalism or other destructive behavior. They pick up trash on the shoreline, which makes the experience of visiting a whole lot nicer.

They watch and record the goings-on in the natural world, which I happen to think is a valuable function. When I worked in Mamaroneck and New Rochelle, I would not occasionally call Marshlands and ask for information (When was it that the dead sea turtle washed up onto your marsh? When do you start seeing terrapins nesting? What year was it that a black rail visited?) and the curator would look in her records and tell me. The record-keeping at Trailside Museum, at Ward Pound Ridge Reservation, is even more comprehensive. They have an old-fashioned library-type card-catalogue for all the species seen in the reservation (which is 4,300 acres and very varied) going back to the first curator, in the 1930s. At Lenoir Preserve in Yonkers, a rufous hummingbird (a rare visitor from the west) has been visiting the hummingbird feeder this month, to the great excitement of birders. Those observations and activities will be curtailed if the centers close.

Are they essential? No. Are they important and do they make life here in Westchester better for a fair number of us? Unquestionably.

I hope the county board puts money for the nature centers back into the budget.

Closing Westchester's Nature Centers: Will the Backlash Succeed?

2011-11-18T17:12:00.001-05:00

Federated Conservationists of Westchester County emailed an action alert today, asking Westchester residents to call their county legislators and tell them to restore funding for the six nature centers that County Executive Rob Astorino wants to shut down:

Dear FCWC Members and Friends,

As you may be aware, Westchester County's proposed 2012 budget includes 210 layoffs and further cuts across many departments. A large percentage of these layoffs and cuts have come from the Conservation Division of the Department of Parks, Recreation and Conservation, including the defunding of all six (6) nature centers and the wildlife biology monitoring program. This Division is tasked with protecting the natural resources of County parkland, and these layoffs further erode environmental programs that have already been reduced.

In the past when such cuts have been proposed, FCWC and its members have acted aggressively against them, as they undermine the importance of the environmental aspects of County government and Westchester County as a whole. That time has come again. We urge you to reach out to your local legislators through emails, phone calls, and letters, and to attend one of the public budget hearings to let your concerns with these proceedings be known. Further information on the budget hearings, and a directory of legislators can be found here.

And someone else -- probably Friends of Trailside but I'm not sure -- has started an online petition to keep it open. I read about it in Patch, here.

We Regret to Inform You that Trailside is Closing

2011-11-17T16:36:00.001-05:00

The staff at Trailside Nature Museum, at Ward Pound Ridge Reservation, responded to the news that County Executive Rob Astorino is laying them off and closing Trailside with this email, which I received from someone else today:

It is with great sadness that we inform you that after 74 years of continuous operation Trailside Museum will be closing its doors effective January 1st. This includes a layoff of all museum staff. Built during the Great Depression by the CCC, the Museum has provided countless learning and enjoyment opportunities to Westchester and other area residents. While the Reservation will remain open, the programs and camp run out of the Museum will cease to exist. We apologize to all of you who will be personally affected by this change, and urge you to let your local County legislators know how you feel. For more information on how you can help, please contact us at: (914) 864-7322.

I haven't heard if any of the Friends groups that support the six county nature centers are planning to rally the troops. If anyone knows, email me.

I publish anonymous comments, by the way, but only if they're substantive and avoid attacks on individuals. If you're going to attack someone, I'd like to know who you are.

Greenwich Oysterman Is Thinking About Suing the Town

2011-11-17T13:20:00.001-05:00

The Greenwich oysterman whose Fjord Fisheries business was shut down after raw sewage spilled into Long Island Sound near his oyster beds is indeed considering suing the town.

What Westchester Means When It Says It will Close Its Six Nature Centers

2011-11-16T08:39:00.001-05:00

Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino is planning to close the county’s six nature centers -- Marshlands Conservancy and Edith G. Read preserve, both in Rye; Trailside Museum, at Ward Pound Ridge Reservation; Croton Point; Cranberry Lake, in North White Plains; and Lenoir Preserve, in Yonkers.

The decision was part of his 2012 budget, which was released yesterday.

The Parks department is only a small part of the budget, and there are social services that are more important, but nonetheless there were few details either in the budget message or in today’s Journal News story.

For example, I wondered whether by closing Marshlands, did Astorino mean that the building will be shut and the staff laid off but that the park and the pubic access to Long Island Sound will remain open? Or did he mean a chain will be put across the driveway and no one will be allowed in? Ditto for Edith Read.

Other nature centers pose a different question. If he closes Trailside and the Croton Point nature center, obviously he will not be closing those entire parks. But in the case of Trailside, it's not just a nature center; it's a museum with collections that have some value. What will happen to them?

This morning I emailed Donna Greene’s, the county’s deputy communications director. She responded that the buildings at all six centers will be closed and the staff laid off, but the preserves themselves will remain open for passive recreation. Here are the reasons, from her email (with my interpretation in parentheses):

Least impact on revenues. (Nobody pays to get into Marshlands or Cranberry Lake, for example, so no revenue will be lost by closing them.)
Facilities can be physically "closed."
Local facilities offer similar services (Beczak, Greenburgh Nature Center, Rye Nature Center, Teatown) (Westchester County has many nature centers -- which is true -- so we can do without these, or so the reasoning goes.)
Conservation continues at Muscoot, Ward Pound Ridge Reservation, Lasdon Park, Bronx River Parkway Reservation (presumably this means that the staffs at those parks will continue conservation work -- whatever conservation work is: habitat management? -- but that conservation work will not continue at Croton Point, Lenoir, Cranberry Lake, Lenoir, Marshlands or Edith G. Read).

One question that Donna did not yet know the answer to is what will happen to the collections at Trailside. I’m familiar with only a little of what is there but it’s impressive: a detailed card catalogue of biodiversity data at the park going back decades; a big, important nature library; a collection of Native American literature and artifacts. The museum even has the fossilized bones of a mastodon dug up in the 1970s on the shores of Lake Kitchawan in Pound Ridge.

Great curators and naturalists have worked for the county nature centers -- Nick Shoumatoff, Ed Kanze, Beth Herr, Alison Beall, Jason Klein, Ken Soltesz, Leah Cullen, to name just the ones that pop into my head now.

It’s a shame their legacy is being washed downstream.

As I Suggested, Asian Shore Crabs Are Now On the Menu

2011-11-15T12:57:00.001-05:00

Bun Lai, the chef at Miya's Sushi in New Haven, is serving Asian Shore Crabs, an invasive species that have become abundant in Long Island Sound and other nearby waters.

The dish “kanibaba”— made with Asian shore and Dungeness crabs and spinach, rolled up tightly in potato skin, infused with Asian shore crab stock, and topped with toasted havarti cheese and lemon dill sauce — is now one of the most popular items at Lai’s restaurant, Miya’s, in downtown New Haven. “We run out of them at this point,” he says. “We go out and get thousands of them, and we sell thousands of them every week or so.” Kanibaba has become the signature dish of his “Invasive Species Menu,” a chapter in Miya’s 60-page menu that reads like a manifesto on sustainability, spirituality, and the creative process.

I'd like to point out, with all due modesty, that I had unusual foresight, culinarily-speaking, when I suggested cooking them back in 2005 (here).

Next time I'm in New Haven, I'll stop in for lunch. This is actually a fascinating story, I came upon it on Stumbleupon.com. Read it here.

Nuclear New York City

2011-11-14T08:59:00.001-05:00

Rod Adams, who runs a website called AtomicInsights.com, wrote in the other day in response to a post of mine about Entergy’s vision of providing electricity to New York City by building small nuclear power plants throughout the five boroughs.

He pointed out that small nuclear reactors are fairly common, on submarines and ships, for example. He added, “I really like the idea of building and operating networks of small nuclear reactors to power our modern society.”

So I responded:

I'd be interested in hearing more about nuclear-powered cities, with the understanding that in New York City they can't even put bicycle lanes on the roads without causing civic unrest. Nuke plants are unthinkable for reasons of public acceptance alone.

Among the questions I have are: Where would they be located? A quick look at the maps that were produced as part of the Hurricane Irene evacuation plan shows that a good part of the city is already threatened by sea level rise. Where would spent fuel be kept? And if a permanent spent fuel repository was ever built, how would you get it safely out of the city? How big of a security area around each would there have to be?

He wrote back and said that while he hasn’t spent much time in New York, what he saw when he was there leads him to believe it’s an idea worth pursuing:

I saw a lot of industrial facilities and power plants whose sites would be substantially improved if they were converted into being the home of small nuclear power plants that are similar in size to the ones that power aircraft carriers or submarines. Interestingly enough, NYC residents have already demonstrated on numerous occasions that they accept small reactors in their city when they are moored in the harbor.

Servicing either a floating nuclear plant or one that is built with ready access to the water would be relatively straightforward. Handling waste material would be easier - due to far lower volumes - than handling the industrial waste that is already being generated to produce electricity.

Our current perception of public acceptance is no reason to take viable options off of the table. People in NYC need reliable electrical power in order to survive. If you took a poll, some (perhaps most) might indicate a preference for anything other than nuclear, but that is a matter of not understanding the physical limitations and impacts of the alternatives. I can just imagine what the city would be like if it tried to obtain a significant fraction of its power needs from the wind or the sun - especially on a day like the one that we experienced during the OpSail parade.

If people worried about nuclear energy are reminded of events like the power plant explosion in Middletown, CT in January 2010 or the San Bruno pipeline explosion in September 2010, they will understand that natural gas may be relatively clean compared to other fossil fuels, but using it is certainly not without risk.

Since you mention the sea level rise that might come as a result of continuing to pump about 20 billion tons per year of CO2 into the atmosphere, don't you think that it is time to take more advantage of a power source that is clean enough to run inside a submarine - and safe enough to power floating cities carrying thousands of patriotic young Americans?

Bridgeport's Present and Future

2011-11-13T12:38:00.001-05:00

I spent about 15 minutes strolling around downtown Bridgeport after the Long Island Sound Citizens Summit a couple of weeks ago. Among my impressions were that this compact area still had plenty of beautiful buildings, still in good shape, from its golden era. Another impression was that in the middle of a Friday afternoon, there was no street life at all.

Every time I hear Mayor Bill Finch speak (including at the Citizens Summit) I’m impressed with his vision for the city. I came away from my walk with a dozen questions about Bridgeport’s future.

Then this morning, the mayor himself (@MayorBillFinch) tweeted a link to this story, from Metropolis magazine, which answers virtually every question I had.

A few key paragraphs:

A short stroll from the train station, the downtown area is tantalizing. It’s small but has a decent mix of handsome historic buildings, inoffensive modern ones, and the usual oversupply of parking garages. Unlike downtown Stamford, 23 miles west, it hasn’t been redeveloped into one seamless, soulless office park. …

So this is it, the moment for Bridgeport and other struggling cities (like Detroit, Buffalo, Cleveland…) to blossom. It’s time for a revival of those cities that were abandoned by the industries that once sustained them and have thus far been untouched by the waves of prosperity that have buoyed our showcase cities. Why now? The conventional wisdom about cities has finally changed. …

So far, the evidence in Bridgeport of a newfound love affair with the city is real but modest. Eversley takes me on a walking tour of downtown. There are old banks, like Citytrust, whose offices have been converted to desirable rental apartments, and ones like the squat, temple-shaped Mechanics and Farmers Savings Bank building, which is still awaiting rescue. The developer Eric Anderson restored the old Arcade Hotel and has attracted a cupcake bakery, a Mexican café, and a nonchain pharmacy to the downtown’s lovely 19th-century light court. Another developer, Philip Kuchma, recently completed a complex called Bijou Square, a historic restoration paired with new construction, which includes 84 units of housing and a 1910 theater reopening this summer with indie films, live entertainment, and a lobby bar.

By the way, here a some things I had to say in August about Bridgeport’s really big, really expensive sewage infrastructure needs, which are essential to a thriving waterfront.

It’s time to show Bridgeport some love -- I just wish at this point it had more to love.

Will Greenwich Make Good to the Oysterman Whose Business Was Shut Down by the Town's 40-60,000 Gallon Sewage Spill?

2011-11-13T12:09:00.001-05:00

The Town of Greenwich spilled 40,000 to 60,000 gallons of raw sewage into a cove on Long Island Sound, shutting down Jardar Nygaard and his Fjord Fisheries oyster business for at least 10 days.

Nygaard is rightly upset because the holidays are coming and he has orders to fill. The Greenwich Time reported:

Nygaard is concerned about the effect the closure will have on his business, especially with the Thanksgiving holiday less than two weeks away.

"When you miss key dates on deliveries you lose customers, and you lose them for good," he said.

Whether sewage spills are accidents or not, they generally are permit violations.

I would hope the Town of Greenwich makes restitution somehow to Nygaard, or that Nygaard is successful in a natural resources damages suit.

Entergy, the Company that Owns Indian Point, Wants to Build Nuclear Power Plants Throughout New York City

2011-11-10T21:40:00.001-05:00

The people who own and operate the Indian Point nuclear power plants have this amazing vision: powering New York City by building a bunch a small nuclear power plants and scattering them through city neighborhoods. Seriously.

They have this vision because they think that we the public are exaggerating the risks of radiation exposure.

I learned about it just now when I finally read New York magazine's current piece about Indian Point and New York's energy issues, called "A Slight Chance of Meltdown."

It's a good piece, carefully reported, clearly written, and lays out the issues for and against Indian Point. Those issues aren't simple.

And then near the end, there's this little scene, featuring two Entergy employees, Jim Steets, the spokesman for Indian Point, and Rick Smith, an Entergy vice president:

Sitting next to Smith is Jim Steets, director of communications for Indian Point, and together they begin to sketch their vision of a New York City populated with small nuclear plants dotted throughout the boroughs. “It’s a little like an aircraft carrier,” Smith says. “I think modular.”

“I grew up in grade school diving under the desk,” he goes on. “People still have the bomb theory, but a couple of generations down from now, everyone becomes more comfortable with nuclear power. That’s why we try so hard to get the facts out. Everyone who goes through the plant comes away with a better understanding.”

Steets pipes in. “The thing is, there isn’t really anything about dealing with radiation that we don’t understand.”

“You know,” says Smith. “I had an MIT professor, he did a presentation on Fukushima, and I said, ‘Listen, you have to explain what’s going on there and how it’s different from here.’ And he said to me, ‘Rick, you know what the problem is? Today we can monitor radiation to the finest detail, and we report it to the finest detail.’ ” This precision, industry officials believe, has distorted public opinion and led to overregulation; by their thinking, a little exposure to radiation isn’t a big deal. “Even the releases at Fukushima,” Smith says, “most of them would have very little effect on public health and safety.”

“Unfortunately,” Steets adds, “our detractors rely so much on fear.”

Smith nods in agreement.

“They refuse to look analytically.”

That's how the piece ends. It's not satire. I knew Jim Steets years ago when I was a reporter covering Indian Point. He's not given to joking around about nuclear power. And he's sitting there with the vice president of Entergy. And they apparently want to see "New York City populated with small nuclear plants dotted throughout the boroughs."

Mind boggling.

Who Cares About the Link Between Pesticides and Lobsters? Let's Just Stop Using Pesticides

2011-11-10T13:56:00.002-05:00

For years lobster fishermen have been complaining about how pesticides were killing Long Island Sound’s lobsters and putting the lobstermen out of business, and for years reporters have been gullibly reporting the lobstermen’s complaints, and for years I’ve been complaining that the link between pesticides and the Sound’s lobster die-off is a myth.

But lately I’ve come to another conclusion: It doesn’t matter.

It doesn’t matter because what the lobstermen want is for communities near the Sound to stop using pesticides to kill mosquitoes.

I want that too. There are plenty of good reasons to stop putting poisons into the environment, and few downsides to stopping.

So my new position is that I agree with the lobstermen. I still think they are wrong about the link between pesticides and dead lobsters but it doesn’t matter. Let’s stop using pesticides to kill mosquitoes and we’ll probably find out soon enough if they are right or wrong.

Either way, something good will result: we will be reducing the amount of pesticides in the environment.

Our Old Broadwater Foe Resurfaces in Keystone XL Pipeline Proposal

2011-11-08T08:38:00.002-05:00

I guess haven't been paying enough attention to the Keystone XL pipeline proposal that is causing so much controversy in Washington because I just realized today that the company that wants to build it is our old friend TransCanada.

TransCanada, as I'm sure you remember, is the the company which -- along with Shell -- brought us the Broadwater fiasco.

That proposal, to build a huge natural gas terminal in the publicly-owned waters of Long Island Sound, wasted our time, energy and money from when it was first proposed, in late 2004, to when Governor David Patterson finally killed it in 2008.

The only reason it wasn't a complete and utter waste was that it showed that occasionally governments recognize a bad idea when they see one.

A Thought About Compiling and Reporting Water Quality Data

2011-10-31T08:52:00.001-04:00

A fellow who signed in as jerryjjar left a worthwhile comment to my previous post, about water quality testing. The power was out in Pound Ridge and when I sent to click "publish comment" using my tiny Iphone screen, I clicked delete instead and it vanished, except for the version that showed up in my email notifications. My apologies.

So instead of a comment jerryjjar now gets a post to himself. Here's what he said:

... it would be great if sound-wide volunteers could collect water quality readings from local harbors and submit it to a long island sound database. As I learned, however, while attending the HW/RW Water Quality Monitoring Workshop taught by Dick Harris and Pete Fraboni (who are both dedicated, patient scientists) it is not simple or easy to collect good data. We would need guidelines and procedures in place to make the data meaningful.

We Need a Simple, Understandable Way to Compile and Report Water Quality Info from the Sound's Harbors

2011-10-29T09:13:00.000-04:00

Someone should determine how many local water quality testing programs there are in harbors and bays around Long Island Sound, and devise a process to collect the data and report them online quickly and understandably.

Adrienne Esposito, of Citizens Campaign for the Environment, talked about the need for this at yesterday’s Long Island Sound Citizens Summit, in Bridgeport.

Coincidentally in today’s Norwalk Hour there was a story about Harbor Watch, which, under the direction of Dick Harris, has been collecting data in Norwalk and Westport, since the mid 1980s. I thought it was a good idea when Adrienne said it yesterday, and when I read the Hour story and started searching for more information, I thought it was an even better idea.

I also think it’s a great idea for grant funding, maybe from the Long Island Sound Futures Fund, for a grad student or a smart intern at the environmental organization. Here’s why I think that:

After reading the Hour story, I Googled Dick Harris and Harbor Watch and learned that Harbor Watch is a program of Earthplace, a great-sounding nature center-environmental education organization in Westport (which I was only vaguely aware of). The Harbor Watch page on the Earthplace website explains the water quality testing program beautifully.

But as I was noting to myself that the explanation was perfectly clear, I was also thinking: where’s the data? One paragraph says they send the data to the Connecticut DEEP, which is good, although given the reality of staff cuts at the DEEP, who knows what they do with it. Then about three-quarters of the way down the page, I found this paragraph:

Each month HW/RW compiles a water quality report on data collected at 10 established water-sampling sites. Thanks to the Norwalk River Watershed Association (NRWA), these reports are available at www.norwalkriver.org/waterreadings.htm. The reports contain information on indicator bacteria levels, dissolved oxygen conditions, and conductivity. and also says it provides its data to the Norwalk River Watershed Association.

Beautiful. Exactly what I wanted. So I clicked. And I found this at the top of the page:

New: View water quality readings for the months of May 2008 through Sept. 2008
The Norwalk River Watershed Project Water Quality Report for the April-May 2004 monitoring period …

Which is not quite as up-to-date as I had hoped.

I’m not criticizing Dick Harris, Earthplace or the Norwalk River Watershed Association even slightly. They just happened to be in the news on a morning I was thinking about this. Logically, I could no more expect them to take on a consistent, easy-to-understand public reporting project than they could expect me to take on a 25-year data collection program in Norwalk Harbor.

And yet their data is being collected, as is data collected elsewhere (by Friends of the Bay, on Long Island, for example).

It would be really useful if it were compiled, made understandable, and put online.

Fox News Promotes the Myth that Pesticides are Killing the Sound's Lobsters

2011-10-27T18:28:00.001-04:00

I never watch Fox News and I don't know who the people are on this news piece about the lobster die-off in Long Island Sound, but I do know that the piece is irrational to the point of being idiotic.

It gives prominent play to lobstermen who think pesticides are responsible for the Sound's lobster die-off. The piece starts with the lobstermen and ends with the lobstermen.

And then in the middle it manages to squeeze in the opinion of someone else. Who? An actual scientist who has studied the problem and is familiar with the actual scientist. Her reality-based scientific opinion gets about one-tenth the space as the lobstermen who blame pesticides and whose reasoning is really nothing than more than, "It is because I say it is."

Silly. Although in truth I think it's harmless except perhaps to the lobstermen who continue to have their delusions enabled by news people who are misinterpreting the situation on purpose.

EcoWatch: a New National Information Site for Conservation Organizations

2011-10-27T11:36:00.001-04:00

This seems like a good idea: EcoWatch, which for the last six years has been promoting information from Ohio's conservation groups, is expanding to a national model, in partnership with Waterkeeper Alliance. Their official launch is today. I'll follow them on Twitter (@ecowatchorg).

King Tide

2011-10-26T08:15:00.001-04:00

I'll be at Stratford Point right around the time of this morning king tide, although since I've never been to Stratford Point before it will be hard to tell the difference. Jim Dwyer writes about the king tide in the About New York column in today's Times:

A king tide will be running Wednesday and Thursday because gravitational forces of the sun, the moon and the earth will be lined up in a cue shot of fleeting geometry and rare power. It will raise the water level between one and two feet above normal high tides for many areas on the Atlantic coast. It’s an entirely natural phenomenon. This year, a network of scientists is asking members of the public to take pictures of the tides at their peak, and then again in a week, at their ordinary heights.

An extreme tide can give a telescopic view of a future with rising seas, when tides might routinely reach levels that they now get to only twice a year, said Kate Boicourt, an ecologist with the New York-New Jersey Harbor Estuary Program.

“What we’re seeing Wednesday and Thursday is probably what we normally will be seeing by 2080,” Ms. Boicourt said.

The Long Island Sound Study is looking for before and after photos. Here's how Larissa Graham of New York Sea Grant described it:

The Long Island Sound Study is participating in the Climate Ready Estuary's King Tide Program and looking for photos of this month's King Tide. More details below and at: http://longislandsoundstudy.net/2011/09/capture-the-king-tide/

Here’s how you can “Capture the King Tide”:

1. Pick a site! Choose a site around Long Island Sound that is easy to access during high tide. (Please remember to exercise caution and do not go to areas where dangerous conditions exist!)

2. Know the tides! Determine when the high tide will be for the daylight hours of Oct. 19 or 20 (for comparison) and the daylight hours of Oct. 26 or 27 (the King Tide!). You can do this by using the tide charts on the following Web sites:
Connecticut tides: http://www.ct.gov/dep/cwp/view.asp?A=2686&Q=322298
New York tides: http://www.saltwatertides.com/dynamic.dir/newyorksites.html

3. Capture the King! Take photos of your site during HIGH TIDE and daylight hours of Oct. 19 or 20 (for comparison) and Oct. 26 or 27 (the King Tide!). IMPORTANT: Make sure the photos are taken from the same spot (or as close as possible) so we can be compare the water levels among the dates!!

4. Show us your stuff! Submit your photos, along with the location, time, and date each photo was taken, to info@longislandsoundstudy.net or post them to our Facebook page by Nov. 4. Selected photographs will be posted to the Long Island Sound Study’s Web site in early December!

My Schedule of Talks, Including a New Long Island Sound Quadricentennial Talk

2011-10-24T09:11:00.001-04:00

I’ve got a new schedule of appearances in the works, including a new talk I’m working on about the 400th anniversary of the European discovery of Long Island Sound and the Connecticut River. Here's where I'll be (some of these organizations REALLY plan ahead):

Wednesday, November 16, 7 p.m., in the Stamford Government Center. Stamford Land Conservation Trust annual meeting. I’ll be talking about the environmental history of Long Island Sound and whether we have reasons to be optimistic about where the Sound is headed.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012, 6 p.m., New Haven Museum. Adriaen Block and the Long Island Sound Quadricentennial.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012, 7 p.m, Essex (Ct.) Town Hall. Adriaen Block and the Long Island Sound Quadricentennial.

I’ll also be talking about the Sound on Chris Bosak’s Birdcalls Radio

My quadricentennial talk, by the way, is a good one. Block's story is an adventure tale of mutiny, gun battles, fierce economic competition, burning ships, and explorations of uncharted harbors and bays.

Very few people know the full story of Adriaen Block and the other Dutch sailors who first ventured into the Sound and the Connecticut River. And even while the quadricentennial of Henry Hudson’s first voyage up the Hudson was widely celebrated, little attention is being paid to the quadricentennial of the Sound and the Connecticut River.

In fact, we're not even sure when exactly Block made his voyage of discovery. It might have been in 1612, or in 1613, although it seems certain that it was not in 1614, as many books and websites claim.

I wrote about Block’s voyage in This Fine Piece of Water: An Environmental History of Long Island Sound and am expanding and adapting that chapter of the book into the new presentation.

Let me know if you are interested in having me talk to your organization.

Long Island Sound Citizens Summit

2011-10-23T18:46:00.002-04:00

I published this post a week or so ago, but it's worth doing so again:

This year’s Long Island Sound Citizens Summit, which Connecticut Fund for the Environment/Save the Sound is organizing, will be as much a work session as a conference and will be a chance for those who attend to shape the future of Long Island Sound activism.

The goal is to come out of the event with a two-year work plan, based on the Long Island SoundVision agenda, for restoring and protecting the Sound, and so anyone who attends will have a say in that work plan.

I see this as a rare, if not unique, opportunity. In my previous job, I organized eight conferences in 10 years, and I’ve attended plenty of others, and I don’t remember any in which the people who attended the event helped devise such a broad, potentially important document -- that is, the two-year work plan.

The format is simple and conventional -- four morning work sessions, each one facilitated by an expert in some facet of the Sound's restoration and protection. The topics of the sessions are:

A Clean and Healthy Sound: Water Quality
The Sound People Love: Business, Tourism and Recreation
The Sound Environment: Habitat and Wildlife
Getting it Together: The Bi-State Working Group

Participants in each session will use the SoundVision agenda as a guide. Over an hour and 45 minutes, each group will come up with three priorities, hurdles to overcome, strategies to achieve what they want to achieve, key points to make to the public, and target audiences and partners.

Then everyone will re-assemble in the main conference room for a panel discussion among the leaders of the work groups and the audience. I’ll be moderating that discussion and the question and answer session that is part of it.

We’re thinking of trying to employ Twitter as a communications tool during the session I moderate. The plan is to have a laptop project a Twitter page onto a screen. People in the audience can then tweet their thoughts and questions, using the #LiSoundVision hashtag. The panelists and I will keep our eyes on it and react accordingly. We think it might be a good way of hearing from people without having to force them to stand up, wait for the microphone, and then ask their question (which we’ll also do as well).

In addition to all this, Senator Richard Blumenthal and Bridgeport Mayor William Finch will speak.

The Citizens Summit is scheduled 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday, October 28, at Housatonic Community College in Bridgeport.

Click here to register. And if you’re a Twitter user, include your Twitter user name as well.

Is Hypoxia in Long Island Sound Improving? It's Hard to Say

2011-10-21T12:10:00.003-04:00

Everyone concerned about Long Island Sound wants to know if things are getting better or worse. The answer, of course, is yes.

Except where hypoxia is concerned. Then the answer is: who knows?

Hypoxia is defined as dissolved oxygen concentrations below 3.0 milligrams per liter. The Connecticut DEEP sent out its end-of-the-season hypoxia review the other day and it put 2011 in the context of the last 21 years, since 1991.

Average number of days hypoxia has lasted since 1991 -- 55.
In 2011 -- 54 days
in 2010 -- 40 days
in 2009 -- 45 days

So 2011 was average after a couple of better-than-average years.

Average number of square miles affected by hypoxia since 1991 -- 178
In 2011 -- 130 square miles
in 2010 -- 101 square miles
in 2009 -- 169 square miles

So for three years in a row it’s been better-than-average.

But I’m skeptical of averages because they can be skewed by the extremes. So I looked at the median.

Median number of days hypoxia has lasted since 1991 -- 55 (coincidentally, the same as the average).
in 2011 -- 54
in 2010 -- 40
in 2009 -- 45

Median number of square miles hypoxia has affected since 1991 -- 169.
in 2011 -- 130
in 2010 -- 101
in 2009 -- 169

So two of the last three years were below the median in both categories; and one year was just about at the median.

So it’s possible that things are getting slightly better. But it’s hard to know definitively. The DEEP says the full end-of-season report will be going up on their website. I couldn’t find it but will link to it when it’s up.

Westchester and Rye Town Shut Off Access to Long Island Sound

2011-10-19T08:58:00.000-04:00

I've said this before: Those of us who live in New York or Connecticut own Long Island Sound, literally, not figuratively. The waters of Long Island Sound below the mean high tide line belong to the people of New York and Connecticut, and are held in trust by the government for everyone to use.

But in Rye, the Westchester County government and the Rye Town government have locked two Long Island Sound beaches because it's too expensive to keep them open for the winter, or so they say. So even though the people of Westchester and Rye own those beaches (Playland and Rye Town Beach), they can't use them to get to the Sound, which they also own.

Years and years ago (probably the late 1980s), Bobby Kennedy Jr. told me that Riverkeeper or the Pace Law School environmental litigation clinic (or both) was hoping that budget cuts would prompt Westchester County to close the Edith G. Read nature preserve, which is on the Sound in Rye, for the winter, because Riverkeeper/Pace was looking for a public trust doctrine case to litigate.

In essence the public trust doctrine says that the waters and the shores of the sea (among other things) are held by the government in trust for use by the public. I'm not in a position to opine as to whether Rye Town and Westchester County are violating the public trust doctrine, but it'd be nice to hear from some lawyers about it.

Low Impact Development in the Connecticut Mirror

2011-10-18T08:47:00.000-04:00

The Connecticut Mirror has a beautifully comprehensive story about how so-called low impact development is and is not being used in Connecticut, and why. It's an excellent primer on the issue of LID (although I would have liked a couple of sentences about the difference it can make to water quality).

I've only recently become aware of the Connecticut Mirror, which is a non-profit public affairs news source staffed by experienced pros, some of whom, I think, were probably downsized by the Hartford Courant. The low impact development story was written by Jan Ellen Spiegel, who isn't listed as a staff writer but is freelancing stories for them, mainly about the environment. That's good news.

Studies of Indian Point by Opposing Sides Reach Opposing Conclusions

2011-10-18T08:09:00.000-04:00

The people who want the Indian Point nuclear power plants to be shut down and the people who want them to stay open both released reports that "prove" their case. So who are you going to believe?

My guess is that if you are inclined to believe the plant should be shut down, you'll believe the study that says it should be shut down. And if not, then not.

Here's the Times story about the two studies.

The firm that did the study for the Indian Point opponents (Riverkeeper and NRDC) is Synapse Energy, a consultant based in Cambridge, Mass. About six years ago, when Connecticut Fund for the Environment/Save the Sound was a leading opponent of the Broadwater natural gas plant proposed for Long Island Sound, CFE hired Synapse to study the need for that facility. Synapse concluded that the demand for natural gas in the region wouldn't justify construction of the plant. A couple of years later New York State rejected the proposed plant for more reasons than I have time to enumerate, although you can find them here if you're interested.

Long Island Sound Talk at Stamford Land Conservation Trust's Annual Meeting

2011-10-17T10:44:00.001-04:00

The Stamford Land Conservation Trust has invited me to give the keynote talk at its annual meeting, on Wednesday, November 16, at 7 p.m., in the Stamford Government Center.

I'll talk about Long Island Sound, of course -- how it came to be in the shape it's in today, as well as trends and accomplishments that are a cause for optimism.

The talk will be in the Stamford Government Center's second-floor meeting room, and it's open to the public. Here's the Stamford Land Conservation Trust's website.

Stamford's Mill River Park

2011-10-14T08:20:00.001-04:00

The office of the ophthamologist who is treating my glaucoma and who removed a cataract from my left eye this summer (but not the ophthamologist who fixed my detached retinas) is across the street from the site where Stamford’s Mill River is being restored, and I couldn’t help but noticing through dilated pupils that not much seemed to be happening there over the last year or so.

The Mill River itself has been re-channeled into a more natural stream bed but the rest of the site is covered with wildflowers and surrounded by a chain-link fence. I had wondered when the fence was coming down, and then I read this story in today’s papers, in which Milton Puryear, the head of the non-profit group that is overseeing the restoration, said, "A lot of people have wondered when the fences are coming down.”

So to reassure folks that the project is still alive, they’re bringing in Governor Malloy and Senator Blumenthal for a groundbreaking tomorrow to mark the official start of the next phase. The new park is expected to be open in the spring of 2013.

It’s a great project, and I look forward to strolling through it after an exam.

By the way, I loved this description:

Seeds planted along the riverbanks have sprouted into lush flowers, including a species of yellow daisy-like perennials called Black-eyed Susan.

That was printed in an old-fashioned medium of communication employing paper with ink impressions called a newspaper.

Hark! Is that the King Tide Approaching?

2011-10-12T16:28:00.000-04:00

I've heard of a spring tide and a neap tide but never a king tide. Apparently one is on its way though and the Long Island Sound Study is crowd-sourcing its extent and with a good rationale:

As sea levels continue to rise due to climate change, this unusual flooding brought during the King Tide will become common as tides continue to rise and fall under an elevated sea level. Although not caused by sea level rise, the height of a King Tide gives us an idea of what the average high tide level will be in 20-30 years.

They want you to take pictures, before and at its height, and then email them in or put them on Facebook. It sounds like a good project. Here are the details.

(Gina says NO one will get the allusion in the title. Anyone?)

A Few Photos of Lobstermen

2011-10-12T14:06:00.002-04:00

I missed it back in early August when the Times online edition published this brief, well-done photo essay of Long Island Sound lobstermen from the Mount Sinai area, taken by Barton Silverman with a short explanation by Kerri MacDonald. There's a video too.

Help Plan the Future of the Sound at this Year's Long Island Sound Citizens Summit

2011-10-11T19:29:00.002-04:00

This year’s Long Island Sound Citizens Summit, which Connecticut Fund for the Environment/Save the Sound is organizing, will be as much a work session as a conference and will be a chance for those who attend to shape the future of Long Island Sound activism.

The goal is to come out of the event with a two-year work plan, based on the Long Island SoundVision agenda, for restoring and protecting the Sound, and so anyone who attends will have a say in that work plan.

I see this as a rare, if not unique, opportunity. In my previous job, I organized eight conferences in 10 years, and I’ve attended plenty of others, and I don’t remember any in which the people who attended the event helped devise such a broad, potentially important document -- that is, the two-year work plan.

The format is simple and conventional -- four morning work sessions, each one facilitated by an expert in some facet of the Sound's restoration and protection. The topics of the sessions are:

A Clean and Healthy Sound: Water Quality
The Sound People Love: Business, Tourism and Recreation
The Sound Environment: Habitat and Wildlife
Getting it Together: The Bi-State Working Group

Participants in each session will use the SoundVision agenda as a guide. Over an hour and 45 minutes, each group will come up with three priorities, hurdles to overcome, strategies to achieve what they want to achieve, key points to make to the public, and target audiences and partners.

Then everyone will re-assemble in the main conference room for a panel discussion among the leaders of the work groups and the audience. I’ll be moderating that discussion and the question and answer session that is part of it.

We’re thinking of trying to employ Twitter as a communications tool during the session I moderate. The plan is to have a laptop project a Twitter page onto a screen. People in the audience can then tweet their thoughts and questions, using the #LiSoundVision hashtag. The panelists and I will keep our eyes on it and react accordingly. We think it might be a good way of hearing from people without having to force them to stand up, wait for the microphone, and then ask their question (which we’ll also do as well).

In addition to all this, Senator Richard Blumenthal and Bridgeport Mayor William Finch will speak.

The Citizens Summit is scheduled 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday, October 28, at Housatonic Community College in Bridgeport.

Click here to register. And if you’re a Twitter user, include your Twitter user name as well.

Once Again, the Myth that Pesticides are Killing the Sound's Lobsters Won't Die

2011-10-06T19:10:00.000-04:00

There's a story in today's Connecticut Post that asserts without a shred of evidence that pesticides were responsible for Long Island Sound's lobster die-off. I don't have the energy to take it apart but here's a link to a post I wrote several years ago, called The Pesticide Myth and Long Island Sound's Lobster Die-Off.

The link to the report is dead in that post but if you click here, the first link will get you a pdf of the report.

Here's what it says about pesticides and their role inthe 1999 die-off.

While it is evident that certain concentrations of these pesticides can kill lobsters, one important question was whether enough of the pesticides got into the LIS water column to cause illness or death in the lobsters. The dispersion of the individual pesticides over time was examined using two independent modeling techniques (carried out by Hydroqual, Inc. and at Stony Brook University) and very conservative assumptions (e.g., 100% of each pesticide applied entered the water before beginning to break down). The results indicated that only a few areas of the far western Sound could have had pesticide concentrations high enough to cause sub-lethal effects in lobsters.

In others words, if every drop of all the pesticides used in 1999 made it into the Sound intact, it would have injured lobsters in only a very few areas of the far western Sound but even then it would not have killed them. That's what sub-lethal means. And of course the only way 100 percent of the pesticides could have made it into the Sound would have been if they were sprayed directly into the Sound. Which they weren't.

I see no reason why if it was right in 1999 it's not right in 2011.

Here's why lobsters died in 1999:

Key findings that directly related to the die-off included sustained, above-average, stress- inducing water temperatures, hypoxia, and temperature stratification, followed by quick mixing of the water column caused by a rapidly moving weather front. Toxic sulfides and ammonium moving from the sediments into the near-bottom water column in late summer and early fall also acted as stressors. Driven by water temperature, these hostile environmental conditions placed undue stress upon the physiology of the lobsters, and may have been sufficient to have caused lobster deaths in absence of any other factors.

Environmental conditions were different this year than in 1999 -- hypoxia wasn't as bad this year; there are many, many fewer lobsters, so overcrowding isn't an issue.

But the unavoidable conclusion is that spraying a relatively small amount of mosquitoes in New York isn't going to kill lobsters off Darien.

Indian Point's Circle of Influence

2011-10-06T19:03:00.002-04:00

Here's a photo, by Mardi Welch Dickinson, that gives a pretty good idea of who should be worried in the event of a serious accident at the Indian Point nuclear power plants. In short, everybody north of Staten Island, south of Kingston, west of Stratford, and east of -- actually I'm not sure. In the photo it's east of Michael Kaplowitz's ring finger.

Giuliani to Tout Indian Point's "Safety"

2011-10-06T09:57:00.001-04:00

Indian Point has hired Rudy Giuliani to be a spokesman in ads meant to assure people that the two nuke plants, in Westchester County, are safe:

“Our goal is to reassure people about the safety of Indian Point,” Mr. Steets said in a telephone interview. “With the high regard people have for Mayor Giuliani, I think we can get that message across clearly.”

People have a high regard for Rudy Giuliani?

Commissioner Esty's Speaking Fees

2011-10-04T13:56:00.002-04:00

Dan Esty, the commissioner of Connecticut's Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, is taking heat for not disclosing that he was paid to give speeches to businesses that his department regulates. The speaking engagements were before he became commissioner. State regs say that as commissioner he has to recuse himself from participating in issues concerning companies he did business with within five years. The Hartford Courant reports:

In 2009, Esty received a $7,500 speaker's fee from United Illuminating, the utility company that supplies electricity to southwestern Connecticut and the New Haven area.

Meanwhile, Esty also received $10,000 fees from two other corporations in Connecticut — UTC Power, a fuel cell company that is part of United Technologies Corp., and ING, the financial services corporation — for speeches about three years ago.

Esty had submitted a recusal list of companies he had consulted for. But his spokesman drew a distinction between consulting and speaking. The spokesman said:

"... There's a real distinction between the kind of relationship you have over time and working closely with the management of a company [as a consultant], as opposed to the one-time 'come in, give a talk, leave' relationship [of speech-making]. It's just very different."

I don't know what the letter of the law says, but in general I buy that argument. On a different scale, I do consulting work and I give speeches, both for money, and to me it's clear. If you're consulting for someone, you are working for them. If you are giving a speech, it's not even remotely the same. it's more analogous to being a freelance writer who is in high demand. Someone pays you for a piece, you write it and submit it, and you move on. Someone calls up you (or your agent), asks you to give a talk, you give it, and you move on. But again, that might not be what the law says.

An Investment in Long Island Sound Would Create Up to 10,000 Green Jobs

2011-10-04T11:54:00.000-04:00

Don Strait, executive director of Connecticut Fund for the Environment, is the co-author of a new op-ed about green jobs in Connecticut. One of the key points is that investing in Long Island Sound can create up to 10,000 new jobs, and very soon:

Our recent experience with Tropical Storm Irene dramatically underscored the need to invest, too, in habitat restoration and clean water infrastructure. With hundreds of miles of the state located on or near water, catastrophic flooding plagued areas of the state that were without adequate coastal wetlands and undeveloped riversides to buffer them from waves and high rivers. Moreover, millions of gallons of raw sewage discharged into our rivers and Long Island Sound because of inadequate and outdated sewage treatment plants. Increased investment in water treatment projects and coastal restoration would not only help protect us in future storms but also create between 8,000 and 10,000 new jobs—and that’s this year and next, not ten years from now. Lower-cost alternatives to clean water infrastructure, like green-infrastructure and low-impact development stormwater management strategies, would create new jobs here in Connecticut, too.

Read the whole thing here, on the Ctnewsjunkie.com site.

Irene Seems to Have Brought a Great Kiskadee to New York

2011-10-03T10:21:00.001-04:00

A great kiskadee in New York City? That's what I read in this morning's Hudson River Almanac. Most of the bird rarities I hear about are along the Sound rather than the Hudson, so maybe it's not surprising that I didn't know of this:

9/20 - Bronx, New York City, HRM 14: Philip and Alice Brickner photographed a great kiskadee from their apartment window at Spuyten Duyvil on the Hudson River just north of Manhattan in the West Bronx. This is the second occurrence of this large tropical flycatcher (8.5") along the Hudson. The previous sighting was 8/31 at 46th Street near the Intrepid Museum on Manhattan's west side, about nine miles south.
- Angus Wilson

[The great kiskadee is most commonly found in tropical and semi-tropical forest settings from Central America into South America. They are occasionally found along the Gulf States of the U.S. with very rare strays into the Mid-Atlantic. For some context on their preferred habitat, the only great kiskadees I have ever seen were in the Amazon rainforest of eastern Ecuador. Tom Lake.]

If it was sighted on August 31 and then again on September 20, it probably traveled up on Hurricane Irene. At least that's my guess.

Pelican in Greenwich

2011-09-30T21:44:00.001-04:00

Matt Houskeeper (@soundbounder on Twitter) sent me this photo of the brown pelican in Greenwich. Here's what he said:

It was still hanging around yesterday, feasting on snapper blues.

Nice shot.

Giant Fish Blenders: A Report on How Power Plants Kill Marine Life

2011-09-30T10:56:00.000-04:00

The Sierra Club released an informative and interesting report on power plants and their effect on marine life, called Giant Fish Blenders.

It's worth reading in light of Soundkeeper's recent announcement that the organization has received a challenge grant to help in the fight against Long Island Sound's power plants. The Sierra Club report includes a useful list of power plants and how many gallons of seawater a day they draw in and discharge. Click here.

Soundkeeper's Fight Against Power Plants Gets a Funding Boost

2011-09-30T09:57:00.000-04:00

Soundkeeper Terry Backer will continue his work to stop power plants on Long Island Sound from killing millions of fish, thanks to a challenge grant that could yield a total of $75,000.

The announcement is here. You can contribute to Soundkeeper's power plant work here

Eating Black Walnuts

2011-09-29T12:18:00.001-04:00

I've always liked it that black walnuts grow around here but I've never had a clue about what to do with them. A writer named Elizabeth Keyser, in Connecticut, harvested a bunch and is going to give it a try. But it takes time, not to mention work. Here's what she wrote, in the New Haven Advocate.

Sewage Spill in Beacon on the Hudson

2011-09-28T17:12:00.000-04:00

Riverkeeper found a raw sewage discharge into Beacon Harbor, on the Hudson River, and put out a public notice because - incredibly enough -- there is no state law or Dutchess County law that requires public notification of a sewage spill. Details are here.

Pelicans in Long Island Sound

2011-09-27T09:17:00.001-04:00

Matt Houskeeper was near the mouth of the Mianus River yesterday and managed to snap a photo of a brown pelican, which you can see on his Soundbounder blog, here.

Brown pelicans are hardly common but they also are far from unheard of on Long Island Sound. They breed further south but young birds often leave the nest and fly north to feed along the coast in late summer and early fall. Like ospreys, they were almost wiped out by DDT but have made a strong comeback.

Birders who report in to the Connecticut Ornithological Association have seen brown pelicans this month in Milford, Bridgeport, Fairfield, and New Haven, although how many individuals that represents is hard to know. The reports always refer to "a brown pelican" or "the brown pelican," so it might be just one bird.

In any case, great sighting, Matt!

Should New York Sell Tidal Land for a Private Development? Mamaroneck Residents Say No

2011-09-26T09:30:00.002-04:00

Some residents of Mamaroneck are trying to convince their neighbors to write to New York State officials to prevent to sale of a half-acre of state-owned tidal land to the Mamaroneck Beach and Yacht Club, which needs to land to build 23 new houses on its property.

The half-acre lies near the entrance of the Otter Creek Preserve, a tidal creek owned by The Nature Conservancy. As part of its application to build the 23 houses, the Mamaroneck Beach and Yacht Club claimed that it owned the half-acre. But a title search showed that the land is owned by New York State.

Now the beach and yacht club wants to buy the land. One oddity: although it’s tidal land, it has been paved and used by the beach and yacht club for decades for parking.

Here’s the memo that’s circulating in Mamaroneck.

Mamaroneck Beach & Yacht Club (MB&YC) has applied to the NYS Office of General Services (OGS) to PURCHASE 0.58 acres of environmentally sensitive tidal wetlands from the State of New York directly abutting Otter Creek at the entrance to the Otter Creek Preserve, one of Westchester’s most extraordinary environmental resources and a designated “critical environmental area.” Comments on this proposed sale must be received by OGS on or before October 11, 2011.

MB&YC wants this public land for a real estate development of 23 “seasonal residences” which depends on MB&YC ownership of these public lands. After telling the public, the Village and the New York Supreme Court that it owned the Otter Creek parcel, MB&YC is faced with the fact that the State claims ownership for the benefit of the people of New York. If MB&YC cannot gain control of this land through purchase from OGS, its current plan cannot go forward because it does not comply with the Village’s Zoning Code. If you believe that the MB&YC’s plan is bad for the Village and that this sale would make a mockery of the Village’s LWRP, that it would totally undermine the Public Trust Doctrine as well as the essence of Coastal Zone Management Programs, you need to make YOUR voice heard by OGS.

Many believe that this issues also go to the core of the State’s obligations to protect the public’s natural resources held in “trust” for the public (Public Trust Doctrine) and the Federal as well as New York’s Coastal Zone Management Policies. We believe that MB&YC’s proposal to use this area as a parking lot serving a luxury residential development is NOT CONSISTENT with either the Public Trust Doctrine or Coastal Zone Policies and that there are far better alternatives available to OGS to restore and protect this critical area for and open it up to the public at large.

OGS should actively consider transferring responsibility for the Otter Creek parcel to either the State’s own Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) or Department of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation so that that agency could enter into a long-term management agreement with a responsible Non-Profit Organization to help protect this area and the adjacent Otter Creek Preserve.

In its application, MB&YC argues to OGS that the area has been a parking lot for over 80 years and that they have used if for over 40 years. However, a Ward Carpenter Survey from 1950 shows the area underwater at high tide. So the property appears to have been filled illegally. In 2009 MB&YC entered into a consent decree with DEC that imposed sanctions on MB&YC because of even more recent illegal filling on this very site as well as other illegal acts.

It is imperative that OGS hear from YOU, as a member of the public, that these lands should not be sold for use in a luxury residential development, but should remain in the Public Trust, be restored as tidal wetlands (and a protected entry to the Otter Creek Preserve) and be opened for public access to this historic intersection of tidal marshlands and Mamaroneck Harbor.

We ask you to send our comments to OGS by email or letter to:
Commissioner RoAnn M. Destito
NYS Office of General Services
41st Floor Corning Tower
Empire State Plaza
Albany, NY 12242

Email: roann.destito@ogs.ny.gov

All comments must be received on or before October 11, 2011. Please
also send copies of your letter or email or write directly to:

The Honorable Governor Andrew Cuomo
Governor of New York State
NYS State Capitol Building
Albany, NY 12224
Email: governor.andrew.cuomo@exec.ny.gov

Is Help on the Way for Long Island Sound's Oyster Growers?

2011-09-23T09:43:00.001-04:00

Following the back and forth the other day over the question of whether Connecticut's oyster growers are eligible for federal disaster aid for the damages they suffered because of Hurricane Irene, Brendan Smith of the Thimble Island Oyster Co. took to Twitter to explain what he knows and to propose an obvious solution, of not for now than for the future.

Here’s his thread. I added the words within the brackets to clarify his 140-character tweets:

[The issue is] bottom vs off-bottom growing. [I’ve been] told by farm bureau if the shellfish sit on the sea floor at any point, [it’s] not farming [according to] fed law

but if shellfish are grown in cages and/or suspended gear for their entire life cycle, then it's defined as farming.

[Regarding the unavailability of federal disaster aid, it’s] Fine if the answer is clear from the Feds, but i was told this was debated before and off-bottom was [defined] as "farming"

CT is another matter for historical reasons, deeming everyone farmers. Big q will be if farm bureau has it right or not...

{Representative Coutrney’s office,] call CT Farm Bureau. they say this been hashed out before, [they are] very knowledgeable about history of debate at USDA.

And if answer is still "no" from USDA - let's change the law! from every aspect I farm, [I] don't fish

Then in today's New London Day, there's a story about the Noank Oyster Cooperative, which has finally been allowed to sell oysters again. The Day reports that Connecticut's delegation in Washington is indeed trying to change the law to make shellfish growers eligible for disaster aid:

David Carey, head of the Aquaculture Division, said Thursday that some shellfish beds in Fairfield County and other parts of the state are still closed.

"Our goal is to get everything open as soon as we can," he said. "But we had a bunch of conditions we're not used to having."

His office, along with Connecticut SeaGrant, has been working on trying to obtain some assistance for the state's shellfishermen to help with their losses, he said.

On Thursday, an announcement came from the state's Senate delegation signaling that it may be easier to obtain help for the state's shellfishermen for future storm losses.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Sen. Joseph Lieberman, both Democrats, introduced the Shellfish Equity Act. It would add shellfish to the list of crops eligible to be covered by disaster relief programs administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Under current rules, they are not eligible.

The state's shellfish industry supports an estimated 300 jobs and generates $30 million in sales annually, Blumenthal's office said in a news release.

"Our shellfish industry - severely damaged by Irene - deserves and needs the assistance that all other farmers receive, so they can recover and rebuild," Blumenthal said. "This measure would treat shellfish farmers on par with other agriculture producers, and ensure that they have the same eligibility for emergency aid."

Lieberman noted that the state's shellfishing industry has long played an important part in the state's economy.

"It is heartbreaking that their crops were hit so hard by Hurricane Irene," he said. "We will work with our colleagues to enact this legislation as soon as possible."

If approved, shellfishermen would become eligible for two USDA disaster relief programs, the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program and Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honey Bees & Farm-raised Fish program.

Maybe It's Time to Try Blue-Claw Crabs?

2011-09-23T09:32:00.001-04:00

Regulators are still trying to figure out what to do about southern New England's lobsters, which are nowhere near as abundant as they used to be. The latest idea, discussed the other day among lobstermen and Connecticut officials, is to shut the Long Island Sound fishery down for a period of weeks or months every year, to reduce the number of lobsters caught by 10 percent. The New London Day reported:

The reduction is being sought because lobster populations in southern New England are significantly below what the fisheries commission considers a healthy level, and have been for the last 10 years or more. Lobster populations in Long Island Sound, coastal Rhode Island and southern coastal Massachusetts are estimated at 14.7 million adults, compared to the target level of 25.4 million adults....

There are about 130 active lobstermen in the state. A total of 460 hold commercial lobster permits, but many of those are inactive.

I have a couple of questions:

A 10 percent reduction from what?

How do they estimate how many adult lobsters are in that area and how do they come up with a "target level"?

Given the fact the water temperatures are rising in the area, which is at the extreme southern edge of the lobster's inshore range, and that lobsters are a cold-water species, and that lobsters have been dying and getting hit with diseases anyway, I can't imagine that any of it will work. But I guess it's worth a try.

Lobster Die-Off in the Sound?

2011-09-21T16:07:00.002-04:00

Via Facebook, Soundkeeper Terry Backer reports that he's hearing of a lobster die-off in Long Island Sound. Here's what he wrote:

Local Lobster fishers report finding dead and dying lobsters in the wake of the incessant rains and hurricane Irene..There seems to be a pattern of stress on the lobsters after large rainfalls 3 inches or so... The lobsters are still ok to eat..We are investigating this ongoing issue.

Sound Update: The Islands

2011-09-21T16:00:00.000-04:00

Organizational newsletters are rarely interesting but one exception is the Sound Update newsletter that’s available now.

It’s a production of the Long Island Sound Study and is edited by Larissa Graham of New York Sea Grant. The issue -- the summer 2011 issue -- is about the Sound’s islands, or some of them: Great Gull and Plum, which are part of the same glacial moraine that forms the north shore of Long Island, and Hart Island, the Thimble Islands, the islands of the McKinney National Wildlife Refuge (including Falkner, Chimon and Cockenoe), and Davids Island, all of which are along the Bronx-Westchester-Connecticut shore.

I wrote the Davids Island piece and it’s not bad but there are others that are better, in particular the piece about Great Gull and its truly awesome tern rookery. I visited Great Gull for an unforgettable weekend in 1987 and wrote a chapter about it for my book but then decided it didn’t really fit so I left it out. I was glad to learn what’s been going on lately (namely, more of the same, which is good).

Here’s a link to the issue.

Are Shellfish Growers Eligible for Federal Aid? Rep. Courtney's Office Clarifies and Explains

2011-09-20T17:47:00.001-04:00

Representative Joe Courtney’s staff got in touch with me this afternoon to clarify the question of whether Long Island Sound shellfish growers are eligible for federal aid in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene and, if so, what kind of aid they might be eligible for.

The call was prompted by two recent posts of mine: one that cited a Connecticut Mirror story saying they oystermen and clammers were not eligible for USDA disaster assistance; and another that cited Brendan Smith, the proprietor of the Thimble Island Oyster Co., who said Courtney was wrong and that he (Smith) was already working with federal agencies to get help. Those posts are here and here.

The issue is particularly important to Smith because, he says, Hurricane Irene killed 80 percent of his oysters and destroyed half his equipment.

I just got off the phone with Courtney’s office. Here’s what I was told:

During a September 12 phone call among federal officials to discuss disaster aid for Connecticut’s farmers, someone asked whether shellfish growers were eligible for USDA disaster aid.

The answer was clear: although shellfish growers are considered farmers in Connecticut, they are not recognized as such in the federal regulations that govern disaster aid to farmers. Therefore they are not eligible for USDA disaster aid.

But that does not mean they are not eligible for other aid, in particular through FEMA and the Small Business Administration. Courtney’s office is working with both agencies to get help for local shellfish growers.

They also may be eligible for assistance if the Secretary of Commerce declares a “fishery failure,” which he can do only if asked by Governor Malloy.

If Malloy asks, and if the Commerce Secretary concurs, then money will have to be made available through the disaster aid bill now being debated in Congress. Connecticut’s Congressional delegation, led by Representative Rosa DeLauro, wrote last week to Speaker Boehner and Minority Leader Pelosi, asking that shellfish growers be included in that bill, but it is unknown whether they will be.

Thanks to Courtney's office for getting intouch, and kudos to them to keeping an eye on Twitter, which is where this originated.

Oyster Grower Says USDA is Indeed Working to Get Help to LI Sound Shellfish Growers

2011-09-20T09:07:00.000-04:00

Brendan Smith of the Thimble Island Oyster Co., is saying via Twitter that this story (about how Connecticut officials are pessimistic about federal grants to help Long Island Sound shellfish growers whose beds and equipment were damaged by Irene) is wrong.

Smith Tweets at @organicoysters. Here are three Tweets from this morning:

Courtney has no idea what he's talking about. spoke with Farm Bureau today and was told article and Courtney totally off base.

Courtney: "They don't qualify for anything under USDA because they're not defined as agriculture." Wrong. met with USDA...

USDA working on several grants for shell fishermen right now in CT. ex:engine green conversion. we're regulated as farmers etc

The 29-Second Hurricane at Stratford Point

2011-09-20T08:55:00.000-04:00

The Connecticut Audubon Society set up a camera at Stratford Point during Hurricane Irene and took photos every 30 seconds. They then turned the photos into this short, weird video -- a hurricane in 29 seconds. The whole thing looks like an old movie that somehow was colorized. Click here.

The Hudson and the Connecticut Aren't the Only Muddy Waters

2011-09-19T18:38:00.001-04:00

No huge surprise here but the same kind of muddy plume that turned the Hudson River and Connecticut River reddish brown after Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee has descended the Susquehanna River and is now overwhelming Chesapeake Bay. This story, from the Hampton Roads Pilot, in Virginia, indicates that our generation of scientists has never seen anything like it. But it also says that the timing of the storm might mean it won't be quite as disastrous for marine life as feared, perhaps:

Scientists who have witnessed the plume in boats describe it as patchy, with some chunks a half-mile long, and reaching depths to the bottom of the Bay.

"Some of my colleagues who have seen flooding impacts on the Hudson River and the Mississippi River say they have never seen anything so dense, so large, as this," said Michael Ford, ecosystem science manager for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Chesapeake Bay Office, based in Maryland.

"This is certainly new for our generation," Ford added.

The National Weather Service is comparing the floodwaters to those from Hurricane Agnes in 1972, a storm that devastated aquatic life in the Bay.

But that hurricane struck in June, when baby fish were just learning to swim and underwater grasses were still blooming. Irene and Lee walloped the Bay much later, in late August and early September, when most of these natural cycles were winding down.

So the timing of Irene and Lee is much better ecologically for the Bay than Agnes, scientists say, and the storms will not likely leave such a nasty, lasting mark.

The Chesapeake Bay Program, overseen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, estimates the impacts to living organisms will be minimal but still cautions that the sediment plume could cover fragile oyster reefs and grass beds under a blanket of mud.

Restoring River Herring Might Require Curtailing the Ocean Bycatch

2011-09-19T14:55:00.000-04:00

The incredible amounts of silt that washed down the Hudson and Connecticut rivers after Irene probably didn't do much good for fish in those rivers. I blogged about it here, after asking Tom Lake, of the Hudson River Estuary Program, about it.

The long term affect probably won't be terrible, he told me: "that is why fish have so many thousands of progeny, to account for such unexpected losses."

Then he said, "They'll rebound, as soon as we close the coastal loopholes on their harvesting."

I let that remark pass until just now, when I saw, via Twitter, this piece, published in the Patriot-Ledger, which covers (I believe) the Quincy, Massachusetts, area. It was written by Steve Pearlman, coordinator of the Watershed Action Alliance of Southeastern Massachusetts. He wrote that efforts to restore historical spawning runs of blueback herring and alewives (such as the work Save the Sound and the state of Connecticut have been doing to build fish passages on Long Island Sound's tributaries) ...

... won’t truly succeed if river herring continue to be decimated at sea by corporate trawler fleets dragging football field size nets to catch entirely different species of fish: Atlantic herring. Their “incidental” catch of river herring is imperiling commercial and recreational fish such as cod and striped bass that depend on river herring as a key source of food.

A quarter of a million river herring were caught in a single tow by a mid-water trawler in New England in 2008, more fish than were counted in all but one Massachusetts herring run that year.

On Sept. 28, the New England Fishery Management Council meets in Danvers to vote on several approaches to minimize the accidental “bycatch” of river herring. But the few corporate fishing interests that benefit financially from ignoring the bycatch problem will try to stop the council from even considering options that could cost them a bit more to implement. Yet these very options could financially benefit small-scale commercial and recreational fishermen who are harmed by wholesale destruction of this critical part of the aquatic food chain.

The intercept fishery or bycatch fishery have been causing problems for river fish for decades.Let's hopet the fishery management council takes some action.

NRC Says Japan's Earthquake is No Reason to Hold Off on Relicensing Indian Point

2011-09-17T13:38:00.001-04:00

When I covered the Indian Point nuclear power plants, from roughly 1995 through 2000, I always thought the Nuclear Regulatory Commission was serious and diligent about its work. But I also thought they were in the business of regulating nuclear power plants, not putting them out of business, so it always seemed unlikely that they would take any steps to shut down IP or any other nuclear power plant in the absence of a real safety violation.

So it hardly seemed surprising the other day when the NRC said that in the aftermath of the earthquake in Japan and the disaster that befell the nuke plant there, it was not going to suspend the relicensing process for Indian Point and other plants. Riverkeeper, which responded on Twitter with a "surprise surprise," wasn't exactly shocked either.

It's not that the NRC has never taken such a step before. But the only time it did so was after the nation's worst nuke plant disaster, Three Mile Island:

The NRC has a precedent for suspending reviews. After Three Mile Island's nuclear plant accident in 1979, the agency issued no new operating licenses, construction permits, or limited work authorizations for three months.

An Award for Dot Earth

2011-09-17T09:52:00.001-04:00

Congratulations to the highly energetic Andy Revkin, whose Dot Earth blog for the Times is a winner of a National Academics Communications Award.

Rabies Shots

2011-09-14T22:05:00.000-04:00

Day after day the subject that brings most readers to my blog is rabies.

It’s amazing, and I think it says something interesting about people’s interests, what they use the web for and what kind of information is available on the web:

In 2006, Gina and I woke up to find a bat in our room. We went through the procedure of figuring out whether we should get rabies shots, and then we got them.

I wrote about it twice, here and here, trying to be both amusing and informative.

Five-plus years later, searches such as, “where do people get the rabies shot” or “rabies needle vaccine human” are by far the most common searches that bring people to this blog.

I guess what it means is that 1) a lot of people are concerned and 2) there is not a lot of good information out there about what to do.

So let me say it more simply:

We decided to get the shots.

It is highly unlikely that a doctor or nurse or public health official will tell you that you do not need rabies shots. It’s easier to be safe than sorry.

The reason it’s easier to be safe is that rabies shots are no big deal, at all. They do not hurt even slightly -- nothing more than a tetanus shot. The only bothersome thing is that you have to go back over several weeks to keep getting them. But once you get the immunoglobulin shots in the butt (I needed four, Gina needed two, and they really weren’t painful at all), the booster shots themselves are quick and easy, in the upper arm.

So there you go. Now my readership will no doubt double again.

Make sure you consult your doctor.

No Help for Long Island Sound's Oystermen

2011-09-14T12:37:00.000-04:00

The Thimble Island Oyster Company reported via Twitter the other day (@organicoysters) that 80 percent of his oysters were killed by Hurricane Irene, buried under sand and silt presumably. Today there's a news story about how Connecticut's elected officials are highly pessimistic that there will be any aid at all for Long Island Sound oyster growers.

Referring to U.S. Representative Joe Courtney, the Connecticut Mirror reported:

Long before Irene hit, Courtney had begun pushing legislation that would expand USDA's definition of specialty crops to include shellfish growers, which would allow them to tap into key federal agriculture-assistance programs. Tropical Storm Irene, he said, has only served to highlight the need for his bill.

But he's worried nothing can be done in Congress quickly enough to help the state's shellfish industry, which generates an estimated $30 million in sales and provides more than 300 jobs statewide.

Take James Markow, whose shellfish operation in Noank has been suspended for more than two weeks. State officials closed Long Island Sound to shellfish harvesting before Irene hit, fearing that excessive rainfall and flooding would overwhelm sewage treatment plants and contaminate the oyster crops.

"We're shut down. We can't sell anything," said Markow, president of the Noank Aquaculture Cooperative. "Meanwhile, we have employees and insurance payments and rent and leases and all the other stuff that has to get paid... It's really a struggle for us to have zero income for this amount of time."

State officials are working to test the waters and reopen areas they conclude are safe. But the process was setback by Tropical Storm Lee, which dumped more rain on the state.

David Carey, of the Connecticut Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Aquaculture, said the bureau is sampling water now, and noted that parts of shellfish areas in Milford and other areas were re-opened Tuesday.

"We're hoping we're going to be able to open the vast majority either by this weekend or by next week," he said.

According to Carey, there are 45 oyster companies operating 110 boats in Connecticut's portion of the Sound.

The Sound is a No-discharge Zone for Boats; Malfunctioning Sewage Systems are Another Matter

2011-09-14T11:14:00.000-04:00

It's a sad irony that a week after federal officials decided that everything was in place -- enough pump out facilities, educated and willing boat owners -- to declare all of New York's portion of Long Island Sound a no-discharge zone for sewage from boats, a malfunction in Westchester County's equipment caused a spill of 162,000 gallons of sewage into the Sound.

Larchmont-Mamaroneck Patch wrote about it here.

Oddities on Hudson

2011-09-13T18:53:00.000-04:00

The natural world is always producing something interesting and if that interesting thing happens along the Hudson River, an account of it often finds its way into the Hudson River Almanac.

The Almanac is a compilation of natural history observations from the Battery to Lake Tear of the Clouds, produced bi-weekly by New York State’s Hudson River Estuary Program. The version that arrived in my inbox today was largely concerned with the aftermath of Irene. These two entries in particular caught my eye:

9/3 - Catskill, HRM 113: With my house located on lower Catskill Creek, I rescued two pumpkinseed sunfish, a white perch and a spottail shiner from the pit of my cellar's sump pump during my recovery mission from Irene. The basement water was eighteen inches higher than ever before in 35 years. ...

9/3 - Kingston, HRM 92: We went to the lighthouse on the lower Rondout today and there were pumpkins in the water everywhere. I think these are Irene "wash aways" from a pumpkin farm upstream.

I omitted the names of the folks who submitted them, which ordinarily would be appended to each entry. HRM stands for Hudson River Miles. Here’s how the email explains it:

The Hudson is measured north from Hudson River Mile 0 at the Battery at the southern tip of Manhattan. The George Washington Bridge is at HRM 12, the Tappan Zee 28, Bear Mountain 47, Beacon-Newburgh 62, Mid-Hudson 75, Kingston-Rhinecliff 95, Rip Van Winkle 114, and the Federal Dam at Troy, the head of tidewater, at 153. The tidal section of the Hudson constitutes a bit less than half the total distance – 315 miles – from Lake Tear of the Clouds to the Battery. Entries from points east and west in the watershed reference the corresponding river mile on the mainstem.

We need a Long Island Sound Almanac, by the way. I might start working on one.

Graphs Show How Turbidity and Water Flow Spiked in the Connecticut River

2011-09-13T08:25:00.000-04:00

As we drove to and from Providence on Saturday, we tried to see how discolored the Connecticut River still was, from Hurricane Irene's runoff. It was hard to tell from the I 95 bridge.

Then yesterday someone sent me a link to a U.S. Geological Survey site that has a graph showing turbidity in the Connecticut, at Essex, from mid August til now.

Click here and then scroll to see it. The spike in turbidity after Irene is amazing. But it also shows that the river is clearing up, not surprisingly.

And the graphs on this page show how the water flow spiked twice, after Irene and then after the tropical storm that followed Irene. If nothing else, these graphs show you that the Connecticut is a big river.

Fish Die in Droves When the Water Level in Guilford Lake is Lowered

2011-09-13T08:16:00.000-04:00

If you are going to lower the level of your lake in advance of a storm and it leads to 10,000 fish being killed because they don't have enough water, as the Guilford Lakes Improvement Association did, you probably should notify state environmental officials ahead of time. They tend to frown on that sort of thing. The New Haven Register has an interesting story about how good intentions can have bad results, here.

Esty Hears It from Testy Residents on Haddam Land Swap

2011-09-13T08:12:00.000-04:00

Folks in central Connecticut are really pissed still about a deal the Connecticut DEEP made to trade 16 acres near the Connecticut River in Haddam for five times more land next to a state park. DEEP Commissioner Dan Esty took a boat tour yesterday to view the aftermath of Hurricane Irene and then met with residents, and apparently there was a bit of an edge to the meeting.

The Day covered it, here, and also provided a quick summary of other issues -- particularly concerning catch limits on fish in Long Island Sound.

400th Anniversary

2011-09-12T06:44:00.001-04:00

Abbie Rose Walston, a high school science teacher who blogs about her family and their farms at FarmersDaughterCt.com, graciously let me submit a guest post, about SoundVision and the Quadricentennial of Long Island Sound and the Connecticut River.

You can read it here.

On her father's side of the family, by the way, the Rose Farm dates from1646 and is one of the oldest in the country.

Harbor in the Rain

2011-09-10T22:31:00.001-04:00

Indian Harbor in Greenwich was beautiful in the rain at last Tuesday's SoundVision event. Someone at Save the Sound -- Laura McMillan, I think -- took these terrific photos. There are lots more on the SoundVision Flickr page.

Connecticut River: Big Muddy

2011-09-09T22:00:00.000-04:00

Here is a great satellite photo of the Connecticut River spewing amazing amounts of sediment into Long Island Sound. Somebody today told me that an entire huge elm tree washed up on his beach after Irene. And someone else told me that she had heard about an incredible amounts of big debris washing into the sound -- large appliances, lumber, all kinds of stuff.

Here's something fascinating from NASA. I saw it on Facebook from the Connecticut River Watershed Council:

Preliminary estimates of river flow at Thompsonville, Connecticut, (not shown in this image) reached 128,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) on August 30, nearly 64 times the usual flow (2,000 cfs) for early fall and the highest flow rate since May 1984. At the mouth of the river—where flow is tidal, and therefore not gauged—the peak water height reached 6.9 feet (2.1 meters) above sea level, almost a foot higher than at any time in the past 10 years.

Ospreys and SoundVision

2011-09-09T08:07:00.002-04:00

People at Tuesday's Long Island SoundVision press conference, at the Indian Harbor Yacht Club in Greenwich, were excited to see three ospreys using the harbor as a fishing ground. A few dozen of us were inside and on a porch with great views of the rainy seascape as the ospreys flew past, hovered, and then plunged into the water, sometimes emerging with a fish, sometimes not.

One of the SoundVision goals is "Creating Safe and Thriving Places for All Sound Creatures." We've managed to do that for ospreys and we did it simply by banning DDT.

Tom Baptist, the head of Audubon Connecticut, was there Tuesday and reminded me that historically there were an estimated 500 osprey nests along the Sound. When he and Joe Zeranski were researching their book, Connecticut Birds, in the 1980s, there were only five osprey nests.

He told me on Tuesday that while he has counted them lately, he thinks that now there might be more than 500. Every one is a reason for small optimism.

SoundVision in Greenwich

2011-09-07T16:41:00.000-04:00

At the final scheduled SoundVision event, which was held yesterday in Greenwich, federal and state environmental officials announced that the Long Island Sound Study had devised its own 54-point action agenda for Long Island Sound. There were few details and the actual 54-point action agenda is not yet on anyone’s website so we can’t see for ourselves but the word yesterday was that it was “consistent with the Citizen Advisory Committee’s SoundVision Action Plan," which you can find here.

I assume that by “consistent with” they mean “adapted from,” which is good because the CAC worked on their plan for about two years and it seems solid

“We’re going to be working to make the action agenda happen on a day to day basis,” Mark Tedesco, the longtime head of the LISS office, said yesterday, “and the CAC is going to hold us accountable.”

Yesterday’s press conference was the eighth and final event on the SoundVision rollout schedule. In one way, it was similar to all but one of the others: the weather was bad.

Not bad enough to cancel everything, which is what happened to the Mystic and Hempstead Harbor events, but bad enough to keep the Schooner SoundWaters, which was supposed to take everyone for a sail, at the dock. And SoundVision in Greenwich was in that sense the same as SoundVision in Mamaroneck and Port Jefferson and New Haven and Bridgeport.

It was also the same in that a first-rate lineup of officials showed up to declare their support: U.S. Representative Jim Himes, Connecticut DEEP Commissioner Dan Esty, US EPA Regional Administrator Curt Spalding (out of Boston), State Senator L. Scott Frantz, State Representative Terrie Wood and others.

But unless I was mishearing, yesterday was the first time that people representing the state and federal governments actually said, essentially, “Yes -- we are going to do this (or something very much like it).”

As Nancy Seligson, who lives in Larchmont and is co-chair (with Save the Sound’s Curt Johnson) of the Citizens Advisory Committee, said:

“The citizens needs the agencies to push this forward and I like to think the agencies need the citizens too.”

Here’s yesterday’s press release announcing the action agenda:

Top Environmental Officials Announce Action Agenda to
Restore and Protect Long Island Sound

Greenwich, Connecticut, Sept. 6, 2011 – Top officials responsible for the health of the Long Island Sound from the two U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regions, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation, and the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection today announced a blueprint for coordinated actions to be taken through 2013 to protect and restore Long Island Sound. They were also joined by Congressman Jim Himes, Connecticut State Senator L. Scott Frantz, members of the Long Island Sound Study’s Citizens Advisory Committee (LISS CAC), and Save the Sound.

During the final SoundVision schooner event held at the Indian Harbor Yacht Club along the Long Island Sound shoreline in Greenwich, Connecticut, the officials cited recent progress in the Long Island Sound restoration, and announced the Long Island Sound Study Action Agenda: 2011-2013. The Action Agenda contains 54 actions organized around four themes: Waters and Watersheds, Habitats and Wildlife, Communities and People, and Science and Management. Within these themes priority actions are identified to improve water quality, restore habitat, conserve the land, maintain biodiversity, and increase opportunities for human use and enjoyment of the Sound. The Action Agenda is consistent with the Citizen Advisory Committee’s SoundVision Action Plan.

In addition to continuing progress in reducing nitrogen pollution and mitigating combined sewer and sanitary sewer overflows, the Action Agenda commits to research stormwater practices to control nitrogen, pilot innovative strategies to use shellfish and seaweed to mitigate nitrogen pollution, and designate all of Long Island Sound as a “no discharge zone” for vessel waste. New targets are being set to restore 200 acres of coastal habitat and to reopen 80 miles of riverine migratory corridors to fish. And a number of actions target restoration of eelgrass, a critical habitat for shellfish and juvenile fish.

"A clean and healthy Long Island Sound is a fantastic resource for both recreation and a vibrant economy," said Curt Spalding, regional administrator of EPA's New England office. "The Action Agenda is a clear road map for coordinated efforts among many levels of government and concerned communities for us to achieve a cleaner, healthier Long Island Sound for people to enjoy. This collaborative effort underscores our commitment to protecting the Sound."

The Long Island Sound Study (LISS), sponsored by EPA and the states of Connecticut and New York, is a partnership of federal, state, and local agencies, universities, national and local environmental groups, businesses, and community groups whose mission is to restore and protect this great resource. The LISS partnership strives to be adaptable, collaborative, effective, and efficient in the implementation of a Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP) that was developed in 1994. The plan, approved by the Governors of Connecticut and New York and the EPA Administrator, set a goals and targets for improving the health of Long Island Sound.

Periodically, the LISS has developed agreements to guide and prioritize implementation of the CCMP – such agreements were developed in 1996, 2003, and 2006. This Action Agenda identifies priority actions to implement the 1994 CCMP from 2011 to 2013, and sets the stage for a more comprehensive update to the CCMP that is planned for 2014. The actions are specific and measurable, and will build upon the progress made to date by setting clear priorities, responsible entities, and timeframes for the LISS partnership through 2013.

“Partnerships are the key to achieving environmental results,” said George Pavlou, EPA Region 2 Deputy Administrator. “The actions announced today will guide how our federal/state partnership works with the private sector and academic community to protect and restore coastal lands, improve water quality, and strengthen the science that underpins our work.”

“Long Island Sound is a unique resource that must be maintained and restored. As a long time environmentalist, I believe we must do all that we can in order to maintain our nation’s natural resources, and that includes the diverse and beautiful Long Island Sound,” said Congressman Himes. “The SoundVision Action Plan and the Action Agenda unveiled today has made preservation of the Sound a priority, and I look forward to working with our federal and state partners in the future as we move forward with plans to restore the health and beauty of this state treasure.”

Daniel C. Esty, Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental
Protection (DEEP) said, “Long Island Sound is one of our most important natural resources and is critical to our quality of life and economic well-being. The Action Agenda helps sharpen and focus ongoing and new actions that Long Island Sound partners need to take to address conservation and management priorities. The successes we’ve achieved in protecting and enhancing the Sound are a testament to the power of partnerships, and the future challenges we face will be met by the impressive alliance of environmental stewards represented here today.”

“SoundVision and the Action Agenda are investments that support the waters, the wildlife, and the economy of our home state,” said State Senator Frantz. “Without these efforts, Long Island Sound and Connecticut would be a very different place. It is my hope these efforts are furthered so that the generations to come can enjoy the beautiful views we share today.”

“New York State is pleased to continue and reinvigorate our commitment to work with our partners to protect and restore Long Island Sound. The Action Agenda provides a solid framework to continue to improve water quality; protect and restore habitat and living resources; and foster continued cooperation between the federal government, New York, and Connecticut with local governments, interest groups, and the scientific community. A clean and healthy Long Island Sound is vital to our economy and the environment this precious resource sustains.” said Assistant Commissioner James Tierney of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

“We are so pleased that the states will be agreeing to a two-year Action Agenda that is consistent with the goals outlined in SoundVision,” said Curt Johnson, program director of CFE and Connecticut co-chair of the CAC. “This is the first time in several years that federal and state partners have come together on the Sound's coast to publicly announce a shared vision for the preservation and restoration its waters. Together, we will clean the Sound’s waters and coastline, saving the last great places around the Sound for our children and wildlife while creating new jobs and building economic prosperity. Whether it’s joining together in a volunteer coastal cleanup or harbor water monitoring program, or working with our elected officials to continue investing in clean water and habitat restoration job creating projects, the Action Agenda and SoundVision Action Plan will help save the Sound and preserve our local heritage now and for future generations.”

Long Island Sound (LIS) is one of the largest urban estuaries (a coastal body of water where fresh water draining from the land mixes with salt water from the ocean) in the United States. It provides economic and recreational benefits to millions of people in Connecticut and New York, while also providing natural habitats to more than 1,200 species of invertebrates, 170 species of fish, and dozens of species of migratory birds.

Two Things That Struck Me as Odd

2011-09-07T11:41:00.000-04:00

I emailed the editor/publisher of the Greenwich Roundup Blog, telling him that I would be attending yesterday's Long Island SoundVision event and asking if I might submit a blog post to him afterwards. He responded saying, essentially, sure. Then he published my email query and his response, here. Can't say I've ever seen anyone do that before, but what the heck.

And out in New Haven, the folks from Schooner Inc. are holding a fundraiser soon. After my book, This Fine Piece of Water, came out, I participated in a fundraiser for them, on a damp Friday night in East Haven. It was fun and I was happy to do it. Here's what the invitation to this year's fundraiser said:

We invite community members to attend this passport event to share cocktails and light hors d'ouevres with others interested in preserving, protecting, and enjoying this 'Fine Piece of Water' we share in Long Island Sound. Interactive displays of Schooner's programs will bring Long Island Sound alive for our guests and the City of New Haven will share its latest plans for the Canal Dock site.

Did you get that? Enjoying this "Fine Piece of Water" we share. Either they'll be reading aloud from my book of the title has become a generic phrase for the Sound. Of course I stole it from Timothy Dwight, who used the phrase in his "Travels Through New England and New York," and you can't copyright a title. I wish Schooner well. Here's the link to their event page, if you're interested in attending.

Today's SoundVision Event Moves Indoors at Indian Harbor Yacht Club

2011-09-06T10:29:00.001-04:00

Because of the rain, today's SoundVision press event will be indoors at the Indian Harbor Yacht Club in Greenwich. The sail on the Schooner SoundWaters has been cancelled again (which makes them only 1 for 6, I think). Nevertheless today's event promises to be worthwhile. A "major announcement" is planned and a good list of big names will be there.

10:55 a.m. update: It turns out that we'll sail this afternoon if the captain, Justin Cathcart, thinks it's OK to do so.

Here's Save the Sound's media advisory:

NEW HAVEN, CT — Today, the Long Island Sound Study Citizens Advisory Committee and Save the Sound, a program of Connecticut Fund for the Environment, along with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CTDEEP), and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS-DEC) will make a major announcement regarding the next steps for the restoration and preservation of Long Island Sound. LISS and Save the Sound will be joined by Congressman Jim Himes (CT-4), EPA Region 1 Administrator Curt Spalding, EPA Region 2 Deputy Administrator George Pavlou, Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Dan Esty, and Connecticut State Senator L. Scott Frantz (R-Greenwich) for the announcement.

Today’s event will conclude the month-long SoundVision schooner tour that has highlighted a citizens’ vision for Long Island Sound with four major components: protecting clean water to achieve a healthy Sound; creating safe and thriving places for all Sound creatures; building Long Island Sound communities that work; and investing in an economically vibrant Long Island Sound. The SoundVision Action Plan was crafted and unanimously adopted by the 37 members of the CAC, representing business, municipal, environmental, civic and academic organizations from around the Long Island Sound region.

The underlying SoundVision planning process was supported with funding from the Long Island Sound Study, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Sun Hill Foundation. This summer’s schooner tour is made possible by support from the New York Community Trust.

WHO:
Congressman Jim Himes
Administrator Curt Spalding, EPA Region 1
Deputy Administrator George Pavlou, EPA Region 2
Commissioner Dan Esty, CTDEEP
State Senator L. Scott Frantz
Mark Tedesco, Long Island Sound Study
Curt Johnson, CFE and Connecticut CAC co-chair
Nancy Seligson, Town of Mamaroneck and New York CAC co-chair
Denise Savageau, Greenwich Conservation Commission

WHERE: Indian Harbor Yacht Club
710 Steamboat Road

Greenwich, CT

Silt and Fish

2011-09-05T17:24:00.002-04:00

I've been wondering about how the silt in the Hudson (and other rivers) that I mentioned in the previous post might be affecting fish, so I emailed Tom Lake, an educator for the Hudson River Estuary Program and the compiler of the Hudson River Almanac. Here's what he answered:

The "reddish-brown" color is still the contribution from the Mohawk River (Schoharie system) ... Your concerns for the fish are well-founded. Filter-feeders like American shad and river herring (young-of-the-year) are probably not having a good time. YOY blueback herring are probably being swept out of the Mohawk unceremoniously with the incredible flood waters. But then that is why fish have so many thousands of progeny, to account for such unexpected losses.

So I responded:

I'd feel better about that if shad, alewives and blueback herring were thriving.

To which he responded:

They'll rebound, as soon as we close the coastal loopholes on their harvesting. I've seen some nice numbers of baby blueback herring in the last week and I can only hope they are faring OK under the high silt load.

That makes me wonder about Connecticut's rivers though, where river herring aren't doing well at all. I'll ask about that too.

In the meantime, Environmental Advocates of New York posted this on their website:

The U.S. Geological Survey is looking for trends and variations in the amounts of bacteria, nutrients, and other indicators of water quality. Collecting and analyzing water samples following a weather event like Irene can help us better understand how large storm events impact our water resources, and we can use that data to make resource management and response decisions based on sound science.

So, did Hurricane Irene harm the Hudson River and other New York waterways? Only time will tell—it could be weeks or longer before scientists have collected and made sense of all the necessary data. Until then, we’ll save our swimming for the neighbor’s pool.

For more information on the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hurricane Irene activities, click here.

To read more about water quality testing in the Hudson River, click here.

To read more about what Hurricane Irene swept into our rivers, click here.

The Hudson River is Reddish-Brown

2011-09-05T07:48:00.000-04:00
We did the Walkway Over the Hudson, in Poughkeepsie yesterday for the first time. It was great fun, and you'd be hard-pressed to find a more diverse crowd of walkers and bikers north of New York City -- people of all shapes, sizes, colors, languages, ethnicities and (seemingly) socio-economic circumstances. It was terrific and well-worth the trip.

I was amazed that a week after Irene the Hudson River was still reddish-brown with silt. This photo, taken with my IPhone looking down at a marina on the west side of the river, shows the color accurately.

How does all that silt affect the river's fish? I'll have to ask Tom Lake or Steve Stanne, editors and compilers of the Hudson River Almanac for the state's Hudson River Estuary Program.

Bird Homestead in Rye Made it Through Irene Unscathed

2011-09-03T10:02:00.000-04:00
I had been wondering how the Bird Homestead, on Milton Road in Rye (and the Rye Meeting House, which is next door) fared in the coastal flooding that that part of Rye is notorious for, so I sent an email off to Anne Stillman, who heads the Committee to Save the Bird Homestead. Both buildings back onto Blind Brook, where it flows into Milton Harbor. Here's what she said:

The buildings did quite well. The Meeting House took in some water, but it flowed out again relatively quickly with the tide. Nothing inside was damaged. We had lifted the furniture off the floor, and the floors dried out nicely with all the doors and windows open the following day.

A large branch fell on the roof, which punctured partially, but we need to repair the roof anyway. I figured it survived the hurricane of 1938, so it's chances were pretty good.

Meanwhile, despite flooding on the property all around it, the Bird House stayed dry. Greek Revival houses are generally built on a rise in the landscape and have high foundations that require a flight of steps to the entrance, in imitation of Greek temples. These characteristics have served the house well through many floods.

I thought the had a new website but I can't find it. Here's their Facebook page tho.

9/5 Update: The website is www.birdhomestead-meetinghouse.org

No Shellfish from the Sound

2011-09-02T15:54:00.000-04:00
If shellfishing is one of the sustainable activities that should thrive in Long Island Sound, then Irene was a disaster in that sense too. Although it wasn't only Irene. Our crumbling, inadequate, antiquated sewage treatment infrastructure contributed big time. Here's something I saw in the Connecticut Post:

Power loss caused some seepage from sewer pump stations along the Sound and the state received bypass reports from both Bridgeport and Stamford's sewer system, state aquaculture director David Carey said. A bypass report is issued whenever the water a sewage plant is sending into the Sound is not perfectly clear, Carey said.

"The sewers didn't operate normally and they had some impact on us," Carey said. "But it could have just been a little turbidity."

The state closed shellfish farms before the storm as a precaution and they will remain closed until testing is complete, Carey said. The state tested deeper waters off Milford, Norwalk, Westport and Darien on Thursday.

"The bigger weekends for shellfish sales are Memorial Day and Fourth of July," Carey said. "But we typically move a lot of product on Labor Day. The market will be impacted because we're going to move none or close to none this weekend."

The state will test near-shore waters next. It has been in contact with local health departments to get a sense of what conditions are like closer to land and they are indicating the water is clean, Carey said.

In other words, five days after the hurricane hit, the entire shellfishing industry on Long Island Sound is closed. Beaches will be open though, which is something.

Irene, Stormwater, Pollution, SoundVision

2011-09-02T11:27:00.000-04:00
The incredible amount of water that Hurricane Irene dumped onto the Long Island Sound watershed is still making its way into the Sound, carrying pathogens and toxic substances in amounts that are probably unmeasurable. The SoundVision action plan contains two sections that deal with stormwater. I pasted a long excerpt below.

Don't forget Tuesday's SoundVision event, 3 p.m. at the Indian Harbor Yacht Club in Greenwich. Details here.

PCW Action Step 2: Reduce loads from non-point sources
Nutrients and toxics also enter the watershed and the Sound from widely distributed “non-point” sources. These include stormwater runoff from residential and agricultural land.

Immediate actions
• PCW2.1: Identify barriers to green infrastructure implementation. Stewardship and Policy
• PCW2.2: Adopt stormwater performance standards in NY and CT in order to assure that new development is designed so that the site acts like its natural condition—retaining and returning stormwater runoff into the ground, rather than sending it into rivers and streams. Policy
• PCW2.3: Investigate opportunities for implementing green infrastructure in urbanized shoreline communities. Stewardship
• PCW2.4: Ensure NY and CT stormwater permits—construction and municipal separate storm
sewer system (MS4)—are strong and enforced. Policy

Intermediate actions
• PCW2.5: Advocate for implementation and enforcement of Long Island Sound protective model stormwater ordinances that incorporate low impact development (LID) and green infrastructure best management practices. Policy
• PCW2.6: Develop incentive program to encourage LID and green infrastructure and disincentive programs to discourage impervious surface cover. Policy
• PCW2.7: Expand storm-drain stenciling program. Stewardship and Outreach
• PCW2.8: Develop or incorporate an outreach strategy that outlines the prioritized actions of
“preserve land, limit hardening, and undevelop when possible.” Stewardship and Policy
• PCW2.9: Investigate sufficiency of NY and CT Department of Transportation stormwater permits and measures. Stewardship and Technology

Long-term actions
• PCW2.10: Fund research to identify sources and cost-effective techniques for non-point source pathogen reduction in Long Island Sound embayments. Policy
• PCW2.11: Encourage and monitor stormwater management best management practices that
reduce soil loads. Stewardship
• PCW2.12: Continue developing new methods to educate the public about what they can do in their own backyard. Stewardship and Outreach

Action Step 5: Eliminate raw sewage and bacteria impacts
Many of our local beaches and coves are closed for swimming after rainstorms when waste-water treatment plants are overwhelmed with stormwater runoff that has leaked into the sewage collection system. The treatment plants overflow and discharge partially treated sewage mixed with stormwater into the coastal waters. While communities are required to separate sewage and stormwater systems, there are many legal and illegal connections between these systems that contribute to CSO and SSO discharges and lead to closed beaches and swimming areas. The challenge is particularly acute in urban areas where runoff from streets and paved areas can easily overwhelm treatment capacity. Slowing runoff and filtering runoff before it reaches collection systems (green infrastructure) can dramatically lessen discharges of bacteria and pollutants to coastal waters.
On Long Island there are 27 embayments under a pathogen TMDL. Unlike urban areas like New York City, Bridgeport or New Haven, these areas are impacted by non-point source pollution, not CSOs.
Many other portions of the watershed in New York and Connecticut also contribute pathogens pollution from non-point sources like agriculture, improperly maintained septic/cesspool systems, wild animal and pet waste, un-naturally concentrated wildlife, even gardening. This provides conditions in stormwater systems that allow bacteria to be discharged into coastal waters.

Immediate actions
• PCW5.1: Complete green infrastructure feasibility scans for New Haven and Bridgeport, CT.
Technology

Intermediate actions
• PCW5.2: Secure financing and enforcement to eliminate CSOs and SSOs. Policy
• PCW5.3: Reduce beach closings by 50% in five years with coordinated monitoring and targeted stormwater management plans. Policy, Science, and Technology
• PCW5.4: Develop cost effective DNA testing for pathogens to identify the source of pathogen
contributions so that municipalities can concentrate efforts on eliminating highest contributing sources. Science
• PCW5.5: Develop BMPs to reduce non-point source pathogen contributions. Science and Policy
• PCW5.6: Assure that CSO separation projects continue in key communities like New York City
and Bridgeport, CT while encouraging innovative green infrastructure efforts to limit or
eliminate CSO flow by 2020. Stewardship and Policy

Long-term actions
• PCW5.7: Focus attention and funding on implementing urban stormwater green infrastructure
projects. Policy and Outreach

Bad News from My Old Town of Keene, New York, in the Adirondacks

2011-09-01T16:44:00.003-04:00
In the summers of 1980 and '81 I rented a cottage on 55 acres in Keene, New York, in the Adirondacks, owned by Enid and Isaiah Rubin, a terrific couple from Manhattan who were in residence every August. It was a stunning location, rustic without roughing it in the least, and pretty much every day I strolled down the hill to a fast, icy-cold stream called Gulf Brook, just to see what was going on.

Among the people I met that summer were the Rubins' daughters, Hanna and Alissa, who were maybe a few years young than me but of my generation.

In today's Times I saw this sad story, written by Alissa, who works for the Times in its Kabul bureau. She must have been spending part of August in Keene as usual and was there to record the devastation caused by Hurricane Irene.

Lovejoy Oysters: A Treat from the Deep

2011-09-01T15:20:00.002-04:00

I was visiting Soundkeeper Terry Backer at his office on Edgewater Place in East Norwalk yesterday and while he took a phone call I snapped this photo, of an old oyster can from the Frederick P. Lovejoy Oyster Company.

One of the first times I visited Terry his office was in a different building on Edgewater, a rickety old oyster house -- no doubt the old Lovejoy house, because he showed me a sign that said essentially the same thing that the can says:

White Rock and Grassy Hammock Oysters

There are a couple of old posts about this, here.

By the way, given the reputation that oysters have as an aphrodisiac, isn't the name Lovejoy particularly great?

SoundVision: Lumpy Conditions on a Beautiful Sail Out of Old Saybrook

2011-08-25T17:32:00.002-04:00

I can’t make believe I was bummed earlier today when I got the word that Saturday’s SoundVision event in Mystic was being cancelled because of the weather. The crew of the Schooner SoundWaters had already pretty much decided to bag it and head back to a safe berth in Stamford in seas that were already lumpy (more about that later), and so the only thing on Saturday’s schedule was the press conference, which would have meant a round-trip drive of about four hours and 200 miles for a half-hour event. In the rain. And let’s face it, how many reporters are there in eastern Connecticut who would have shown up at 3 p.m. on a Saturday anyway?

So I’ll stay home and for part of the time anyway I’ll probably think back to yesterday’s SoundVision event, in Old Saybrook. It was the fifth SoundVision event this month and at the first four, the two-hour sail that was to follow the press conference was called off because the radar map showed pockets of thunder storms nearby.

Yesterday the weather was fine, though breezy. And so the show went on, with the promise of a reward in the form of a two-hour sail aboard the Schooner SoundWaters.

But first the press conference. Curt Johnson of Save the Sound made the point, as always, that the SoundVision plan was a unanimous production of the Long Island Sound Study’s Citizens Advisory Committee, which includes environmentalists, planners, business people, scientists and more (for all the details, click here). SoundVision, he said, is not just environmentalism:

"This is not an environmental agenda. This is an economic agenda, a business agenda, an agenda for a cleaner and healthier Sound for the next generation."

And then, as always, he introduced the speakers: Michael Pace, Old Saybrook’s first selectman; Congressman Joe Courtney; State Representatives Marilyn Giuliano and Phil Miller; State Senator Ed Meyer; Betsey Wingfield, of the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection; Jacqueline Talbot and Andrea Donlon, of the Connecticut River Watershed Council; Richard Potvin, of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Linda Krause, of the Connecticut River Estuary Regional Planning Agency; and Stephen Tagliatela, the owner of the Saybrook Point Inn and Marina, which is where we were.

Most said something interesting, and even those who didn’t were concise. Among the things that interested or amused me:

Senator Meyer derided a land swap that gave a developer 17 riverfront acres owned by the state in Haddam in exchange for land elsewhere in that town. The legislature and governor approved it, over the objections of Meyer and Miller, among others.

Stephen Tagliatela pointed out that marinas in Connecticut are hardly thriving and could use help from the state government to overcome a competitive advantage held by Rhode Island.

Andrea Donlon said that since 2000, riverfront communities in Massachusetts have made improvements to their sewers that prevented a billion gallons of raw sewage a year from being dumped into the river and yet there is still 741 million gallons a year to remove.

And her colleague, Jacqueline Talbot, spoke pretty much for everybody when she took the mike, the Connecticut River a rich blue behind her, and said, “This beats being in the office.”

An hour or so later the SoundWaters slipped away from the dock, passed a couple of enormous cabin cruisers, and headed for the channel between the breakwaters. The wind was brisk. The low sun made it hard to look west. We motored past the old Saybrook Light and then the new Saybrook Light, and by that time the schooner was hitting turbulence. This was of interest to me, because I’m prone to seasickness. Dianne Selditch of SoundWaters informed me: “I just heard that the word they use for this is lumpy,“ which was a new one for both of us. The sea was indeed lumpy. And rocky and rolly as well.

I tried to enjoy the wind and take in as much oxygen as my lungs could handle. I watched the crew raise two of the three sails (in that wind, three would have been excessive) and enjoyed the quiet that came when the engines were cut. Long Island Sound seemed oceanic. To take my mind off the lumpiness, I chatted with some of the others on board.

I asked the SoundWaters captain, Justin Cathcart, about the difference between a schooner and a sloop, which seemed understandable enough -- two or three masts for a schooner, one for a sloop -- until he started talking about brigs and barks and yawls and ketches, and I lost him. I talked with Andrea Donlon, who drove from Greenfield, Massachusetts, about the 400th anniversary of Adriaen Block’s “discovery” of the river (and Long Island Sound), which no one is making a big deal of. Suzy Allman, who drove from Rye to shoot footage for a video she is making, said the Sound needed a version of the Hudson’s Pete Seeger, to rally people; Justin suggested Billy Joel but then backtracked because Billy Joel apparently is selling his boats and buying motorcycles instead.

And then we hairpinned in the middle of the Sound and headed back to the mouth of the river, moving fast in the wind and on the flood tide. It was obvious I was not going to get sick, nor was anyone else. We sailed past our dock, watched an Amtrak train move noiselessly across the railroad draw bridge, and then turned and headed back. By 7, on schedule, we were at the dock. I drove home in the fading twilight, the sky big and beautiful as the sun set, like a 21st century Hudson River School painting over the industrial waterfront of New Haven.

SoundVision Coverage in the New London Day

2011-08-25T09:38:00.002-04:00
The New London Day's Judy Benson -- easily the best environmental reporter in Connecticut and one of the best reporters of any kind in New England -- was at yesterday's SoundVision event in Old Saybrook, and I didn't recognize her (of course, I only met her once, four years ago, when she and I were part of a panel discussion about Broadwater).

Her story today is a simple and straightforward account of what people said at the press conference.

It Looks Like Clear Sailing for SoundVision and SoundWaters in Old Saybrook

2011-08-22T08:01:00.006-04:00

Here's the National Weather Service Forecast for Old Saybrook:

Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 79. Southwest wind between 5 and 13 mph.

Why would I care? Because the next SoundVision event is Wednesday and, as usual, it is supposed to feature a sail on the Schooner SoundWaters.

But each of the other times a SoundVision event was supposed to feature a sail on the SoundWaters -- in Mamaroneck, Port Jefferson, and Bridgeport -- the threat of thunderstorms was too great and the boat never left the dock.

This week looks like it might be different. The event will start with a press conference at 3 p.m., at Saybrook Point Marina, followed by a chance to go on board the SoundWaters and learn about the ecology of Long Island Sound from its educators. The sail starts at 5, although reservations are required.

Details are on the LISoundVision.org page or the SoundVision Facebook page.

Save the Sound for Babies

2011-08-21T12:08:00.001-04:00
If you’re involved in Long Island Sound issues, you shouldn’t take it for granted that people know what’s going on. The New Haven Register’s TV and radio reporter, Joe Amarante, wrote a rambling, amusing column today about his vacation. It included these three paragraphs (the first sentence is a reference to the SoundVision report):

During that week on the shore came news of the continuing effort to restore Long Island Sound. Thousands of people, rich and poor, enjoy the water, sandy beaches, recreation and business of the Sound. You’d think it would be a high priority in our state, so kids can enjoy its waves and beauty years from now (or just marvel at the posh estates on the water).

I don’t understand the logistics of improving the Sound, really, except they say it involves cutting down on nitrogen.

Having grown up in Morris Cove in the 1960s, I say, “Oo-fa, nitrogen? That’s what Costco puts in my car’s tires!” What we’re really talking about is raw sewage and fertilizer spilling into this key body of water, no? It’s 2011, and we can’t keep sewage from finding its way to the Sound after a rain?

Joe (if I may call you that), the nitrogen issue is this: when nitrogen from sewage treatment plants and other sources reaches the Sound, it acts as a fertilizer and spurs the growth of algae in unnaturally large amounts. When the algae die, the process of decay removes dissolved oxygen from the water. A healthy estuary contains about 8 parts per million of dissolved oxygen. In July and August (and sometimes September), dissolved oxygen concentrations in the western half of the Sound sink below 3 ppm and sometimes fall as low as near zero. This creates a huge area of the Sound where marine life can no longer live and where sometimes fish and shellfish essentially suffocate to death. An analogy would be if somehow we removed the air from a huge forest, making it unlivable for birds and other creatures.

Nitrogen removal from sewage treatment plants is a huge, ongoing project that will ultimately cost about $8 billion, but there has been progress. The Long Island Sound Study’s biennial report, released earlier this month, said this about nitrogen removal:

Since the early 1990s, when baseline discharges were calculated at 59,147 pounds per day, a total of 25,444 equalized pounds per day have been reduced. The ultimate goal is to reduce point source nitrogen inputs to Long Island Sound by another 11,000 pounds.

Fertilizer and stormwater runoff in general are a smaller but still important part of the problem.

About raw sewage you are right to be amazed (and presumably a little outraged) when you ask: It’s 2011, and we can’t keep sewage from finding its way to the Sound after a rain?

Some cities -- Bridgeport and New Haven, for example -- send raw sewage into the Sound after a rain on purpose, using an antiquated system called combined sewer overflows. They are designed to carry sewage to treatment plants during dry weather but to bypass the treatment plants and empty directly into local waterways when it rains.

Replacing them with sewers that are not combined -- that separate stormwater from wastewater -- is enormously expensive. This is from another Long Island Sound Study report:

Full separation of [Bridgeport’s] stormwater and wastewater systems is projected to cost $560 million and take decades. The city has been making progress, though, and has already completed seven projects to achieve this goal with a total expenditure of $50 million. The next project scheduled will achieve separation in the Downtown, eastern portion of the South End, and northern portion of Black Rock. This project will cost $25 million, is projected to be completed in 2017, and will solve most ﬂooding and CSO problems with a solution that (after construction) will be below ground and quite intensive.

Re-read that first sentence: it’s going to take decades! What that means, Joe, is that the work probably will be finished when your grandson is a grandfather. But in the meantime, we need to keep making progress, year by year. Let’s hope we do, for now and for your grandson’s grandchildren.

Horseshoe Crabs, Dead and Alive

2011-08-21T10:35:00.001-04:00
On my visits to the north and west sides of the Great Salt Pond on Block Island a couple of weeks ago, I was amazed by the scores of small, dead horseshoe crabs littering the tide wrack. Most of them were no bigger than a saucer, light brown, almost translucent.

I turned up a bunch of small, live horseshoe crabs while digging for clams, and watched them all swim away and bury themselves. But it made me wonder if the mortality I saw is part of the nature of things for horseshoe crabs or a result of clammers who don’t know what they are doing, or something else.

I was reminded of it today when I saw this story, in the Connecticut Post, about Project Limulus and Professor Jennifer Mattei.

Whales of New York

2011-08-19T08:40:00.002-04:00
Matthews Wills, who I follow on Twitter (@backyardbeyond) went out on a whale-watching boat from Far Rockaway not long ago and encountered a humpback whale near the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. He wrote about it beautifully on his blog, Backyard and Beyond.

Dolphins and More

2011-08-18T08:03:00.005-04:00
Lots of interesting stuff this morning on Twitter via @Soundbounder:

Dolphins have been in Long Island Sound again, as far west as Cold Spring Harbor. So says the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation. About 200 dolphins were here in June of 2009, too, which makes me think they enter the Sound on porpoise.

(Five minutes after I hit "publish post," Matt (@soundbender) sent me this link to a photo taken by Pete Sattler of dolphins near Throgs Neck and a youtube video taken near Rocky Point by someone else. Thanks, Matt!)

Suffolk County has bought and preserved two nice-sounding tracts. As far as I know, nobody in Westchester is preserving land these days, including New York City and Westchester Land Trust. Sept 29 update: I say this because WLT has protected one parcel this year, an 8-acre lot in Pound Ridge, a project which started years ago and finally came to fruition when the owner's representative called me last fall and asked how we could get it finished. There were no other projects close to being completed when I left in June and as I understand it no new projects have come in lately but they're still looking. So to be factually correct, NYC has gotten out of the land preservation business in Westchester and WLT is still in it.

Coyotes might be eating cats on Fishers Island.

Progress on the Sound

2011-08-17T14:05:00.002-04:00
The huge effort to remove nitrogen from treated sewage before it enters Long Island Sound will be judged a success only if it results in a major improvement to water quality in the western half of the Sound.

That hasn’t quite happened. My reading of the data collected by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection is that there has been some improvement but it’s not dramatic. Yet.

But if you believe that the people overseeing the cleanup are right that removing nitrogen from treated sewage will eventually lead to better water quality, then you have to also believe that things are going well, because the progress in nitrogen removal, in my opinion, has been good.

I’m basing this judgment on numbers I saw in the most recent biennial report of the Long Island Sound Study, which was released last week.

Remember that the original goal, set, if I remember correctly, in 1998, was to remove 58.5 percent of all the nitrogen that enters the Sound from sewage plants, by 2014 (that deadline has been changed to 2017 because of engineering problems in New York City and Westchester that have to do, as I understand it, with the size of the plants [NYC] and the fact that there is little room to expand the plants [Westchester]).

The biennial report says that we are 70 percent of the way to the 58.5 percent goal, an improvement of 18 percentage points since 2009. Here’s a quote from the report:

Since the early 1990s, when baseline discharges were calculated at 59,147 pounds per day, a total of 25,444 equalized pounds per day have been reduced. The ultimate goal is to reduce point source nitrogen inputs to Long Island Sound by another 11,000 pounds. In 2010, the states reached 70% of the final reduction target compared to 52% in 2009.

And this:

Ten plants, 8 in CT and 2 in NY, completed final or phased upgrades in 2009 and 2010 at a cost of $339.83 million. … About 60% of the reduction was the result of an interim project completed at the Hunts Point plant in the Bronx.

And this...

In 2010, The Wards Island Plant plant in New York City reduced 3,006 equalized pounds per day from baseline years as part of a demonstration project that involved the use of methanol. The innovative method, available for large plants, is called the SHARON (Single Reactor System for High Ammonia Removal Over Nitrate) process.

The progress at Wards Island and Hunts Point is encouraging because those treatment plants and two others in the Bronx and Queens -- Tallmans Island and Bowery Bay -- are huge: they are responsible for about 700 million of the 1 billion gallons of treated sewage discharged into the Sound every day.

If New York City is succeeding in removing nitrogen, that is likely to be very good news for Long Island Sound.

SoundVision Photos

2011-08-16T17:42:00.003-04:00
Save the Sound has loaded plenty of good photos of yesterday's SoundVision event in Bridgeport onto Flickr.

Captain's Cove Seaport

2011-08-16T12:41:00.005-04:00

Captain’s Cove Seaport in Bridgeport, the site of yesterday's SoundVision event, is easy enough to find but to get there you travel through a landscape of vast vacant lots and industrial facilities -- a concrete plant, a power plant, a sewage treatment plant -- and one newish housing project. I didn't ask, but it might be the area they call the Steel Pier.

Captain’s Cove itself sits alone on the water. It’s well-kept, prosperous-looking, filled with boats, docks, boardwalks, a restaurant with all-weather tables, and an odd area of shops housed in colorful, buildings built on a tiny scale (none of which were open on a gray August Monday afternoon).

The Schooner SoundWaters docks there for two or three weeks in October, to do educational work for Bridgeport schools, and the crew says that being there next to the tiny buildings overnight in the off-season is a truly weird experience, as if a community of small-scale people were waiting til it gets dark to come out and conduct their business. (The photo of Captain's Cove is from Aimee Alvarez's Flickr page.)

SoundVision in Bridgeport

2011-08-16T12:19:00.006-04:00
I heard two things over and over at yesterday’s SoundVision event in Bridgeport:

1. Long Island Sound is important to the region’s economy, which means either a) that Long Island Sound is important to the region’s economy or b) that the economy is perceived as being such an important issue to politicians that they can’t talk about the environment without putting it in the context of the economy. Either is fine, of course, as long as whenever the economy improves they keep talking about the environment.

2. When it rains, as it did in buckets over the weekend and for a good part of yesterday, it is bad for the Sound. Really bad.

Not surprisingly, the two are connected (as is everything, really). One of the speakers at yesterday’s event, which was at Captain’s Cove Seaport, mentioned that if the sewage infrastructure of the communities along the Sound was upgraded, repaired, replaced, etc., it would create 6,000 new jobs.

Some of those 6,000 jobs would be for fixing (or, rather, eliminating) combined sewer overflows, or CSO’s -- old sewers that are designed to carry sewage to treatment plants during dry weather but to bypass the treatment plants and empty directly into local waterways when it rains, so as not to flood the plants.

CSO’s are one of the reasons that heavy rain is really bad for the Sound. There was a heavyweight list of knowledgeable pols at the event -- Senator Richard Blumenthal (that's him greeting Soundkeeper Terry Backer, in the photo), Attorney General George Jepsen, Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch, State Representative Andres Ayala -- but none of them mentioned that Bridgeport’s sewer system is a CSO system. When it rains, Bridgeport’s sewage empties directly, untreated, into local waterways. And certainly nobody who stepped to the microphone mentioned that one of the overflow pipes happened to be discharging raw sewage into the harbor just then, within sight of Captain’s Cove.

Bridgeport of course is not the only Connecticut city with combined sewers, and combined sewers are not the only source of seriously polluted water into the Sound (regular stormwater washing off the streets is bad too). But CSO’s are one of the main reasons why beaches and shellfish beds on the Sound are shut down after a rainstorm.

David Carey, the director of the bureau of aquaculture in Connecticut’s Department of Agriculture, pointed out yesterday that 45 oyster companies in Connecticut operate 110 oyster boats and harvest an estimated 300,000 bushels of oysters a year. Because of the rain and the contaminated water it carries into the Sound, I’d guess that none of them were working yesterday (read this, for example).

And more than one speaker said that Long Island Sound’s economic contribution to the region is $8 billion a year. A good part of that is money spent by people going to the beach. It’s safe to say that it will be days before the water is safe enough for the beaches to reopen.

SoundVision was put together by the Citizens Advisory Committee of the Long Island Sound Study and is being directed by Save the Sound (for whom I have been covering the events as a blogger and on Twitter). One of the goals of SoundVision is to re-energize the people of Connecticut and New York -- including government officials -- so that the Sound cleanup stays on track.

You can see the importance of that if you look at the effort merely to solve the CSO problem in Bridgeport -- which is just one part of a much bigger, much more comprehensive effort. Here’s an excerpt from the Long Island Sound Study’s Sound Update newsletter of fall 2010:

Full separation of [Bridgeport’s] stormwater and wastewater systems is projected to cost $560 million and take decades. The city has been making progress, though, and has already completed seven projects to achieve this goal with a total expenditure of $50 million. The next project scheduled will achieve separation in the Downtown, eastern portion of the South End, and northern portion of Black Rock. This project will cost $25 million, is projected to be completed in 2017, and will solve most ﬂooding and CSO problems with a solution that (after construction) will be below ground and quite intensive.

Here’s what that means: one task (separating Bridgeport’s CSO’s) will cost $560 million. The work has started and after six more years, $485 million worth of work, or 87 percent of the task, will remain undone.

To me, that’s daunting. Let’s hope SoundVision can keep people focused for that long.

SoundVision: August 8 and 9

2011-08-04T12:46:00.005-04:00

Save the Sound has scheduled an additional press announcement for its SoundVision Action Plan, at 11 a.m. Tuesday, August 9, at the Sound School in New Haven.

You can get directions are here.

You can also keep up with SoundVision news on Facebook, here. And if you're a Twitter person, follow the #LISoundVision hashtag.

The Monday, August 8 event, is still set for 3 p.m. in Port Jefferson, with a sail on the Schooner SoundWaters set for 5 p.m. Reservations are required for the sail. Click here.

Piping Plovers in Stratford

2011-08-03T18:03:00.003-04:00
Piping plover nest sites are so rare in Connecticut -- only 46 nesting pairs, as of June -- it's good to see that Stratford seems to be taking their protection seriously as it figures out what to do with Long Beach West.

Fred Musante, who was covering Long Island issues for the Bridgeport Post when I was reporting in the late 1980s, wrote about it for Stratford Patch here.

Long Island Sound E-Book

2011-08-02T18:24:00.002-04:00
A great way to learn about Long Island Sound is to read This Fine Piece of Water: An Environmental History of Long Island Sound in the e-book version. It's here.

SoundVision in Mamaroneck

2011-08-02T12:52:00.007-04:00

I spent much of the 45-minute drive to Mamaroneck yesterday afternoon trying to recall when I last visited Harbor Island Park. For a while it had been my professional turf. I started as a reporter in 1983 at a bureau on Library Lane, across the Post Road from the park, and it was a year later that health officials began to close the park’s beach each time it rained a half-inch or more in 24 hours, because of the contaminants in the stormwater that got swept into the harbor.

It was at Harbor Island in July of 1987 that Mamaroneck’s harbor master, Jim Mancusi, alerted me to one of the worst fish kills on Long Island Sound that summer: we’re scooping them up with shovels, he said, and throwing them into garbage bags.

But I think my most recent visit to Harbor Island was in the summer of 2000, to write about an oil spill from a local boatyard that was spreading over the harbor’s East Basin -- light number 2 oil, if I remember, relatively easily cleaned up and hardly a disaster but an unnecessary insult on an otherwise pleasant park.

Yesterday’s visit was for something more positive -- the first public unveiling of the new SoundVision Action Plan, put together by Save the Sound and the Citizens Advisory committee of the Long Island Sound Study. The Schooner SoundWaters was there, docked about as far up into the East Basin as a boat can go, in an area boomed off 11 years ago to keep the oil out. A few feet away, on a lawn that ran to the seawall above the schooner, 10 or so elected officials and representatives of Save the Sound, the CAC, SoundWaters and the Norwalk Maritime Aquarium stood under a canopy to talk about the SoundVision plan and why it’s important.

I was trying to put stuff out on Twitter and take notes at the same time, with limited success, and so the most succinct way to summarize what they were saying is to excerpt the LISoundVision.org webpage:

There has been significant progress in the last two decades. We've restored and protected over one thousand acres of open space and habitat, re-opened miles and miles of rivers, substantially reduced nitrogen pollution, and engaged thousands of children and residents with education programs and volunteer opportunities. But our heritage—which is centered on appreciating beautiful views of the coast, enjoying our beaches, sailing and kayaking, clamming and fishing—remains threatened. Litter still fouls our coastline. Raw sewage continues to close beaches and shellfish beds. And great areas of open beach, marsh and forest along our coast are jeopardized by over-development.

We need to protect our landscape, not only for the birds, fish and other animals that depend on special habitats, but also to re-build the economically vibrant legacy of shoreline industries and neighborhoods for our children and their children.

Today the CAC, advised by the best Long Island Sound scientists and experts, has developed this practical and attainable Action Agenda to heal and restore the Sound. It's time to bring together all who care about the Sound to make a real difference.

That’s the background. As for the Action Agenda itself, Curt Johnson of Save the Sound summarized it yesterday. Its goals are to protect clean water to achieve a healthy Sound; create safe and thriving places for all Sound creatures; build Long Island Sound communities that work; and invest in an economically vibrant Long Island Sound.

“We’ve made a lot of progress,” Curt said yesterday, “but we have a long way to go.”

He pointed south, to the part of the Sound between Westchester and Nassau counties, and noted that extremely low levels of dissolved oxygen are still common there, to the extent that the area is virtually a dead zone in summer, devoid of marine life. (The Connecticut DEEP has a terrific set of maps showing the extent of the problem, known as hypoxia, over the years, here.)

Curt introduced Nancy Seligson, a Mamaroneck Town Council member who used to be president of Save the Sound. She in turn introduced the politicians: County Executive Rob Astorino, State Senator Suzi Oppenheimer, County Legislator Judy Meyers, Mamaroneck Village Trustee Toni Pergola Ryan.

I listened as carefully as I could but by this time those of us who were not under the canopy -- I counted 35, including reporters -- were sweltering and distracted: thunder was rumbling all around and dark clouds had started to pass above the sewage treatment plant, whose tower -- designed to evoke a campanile on a Florentine piazza -- rose above us. The formal presentation broke up and people started to amble down the ramp to the schooner.

The captain, Justin Cathcart, was on the boat watching the radar, and before the press conference was over he had decided he wasn’t going to take the boat out -- too many quickly-developing cells of thunder and lightning. Hilary Starks of SoundWaters was sitting in the stern calling people who had signed up to tell them the news.

But folks showed up anyway and, despite their disappointment, had a good time. Kids fished horseshoe crabs and channelled whelks out of the touch tank overseen by SoundWaters’ Josh Mayo. (Josh said that when he was a kid, in 1977, the town where he lived in Massachusetts paid a bounty of a nickel apiece of horseshoe crabs, which were sent to the local prison, ground up, and used for fertilizer in the prison’s garden -- a tale that amazed me for its benighted attitude toward wildlife). Veterans of the past decades’ environmental battles greeted each other warmly. Politicians needled each other good-naturedly.

And everyone asked Justin Cathcart why we couldn’t go for just a quick little sail -- and then, when he explained why, pleaded with him.

To no avail. Which was probably the right decision. The clouds beyond the entrance to the harbor were blue-gray and thick. The thunder was never right over us but frequently nearby. And as I drove home at 6, passing the county airport on I 684, hail ticked off the windshield and the rain fell so heavily it was hard to see the car ahead of me. I would not have wanted to be on a schooner on the Sound in such a downpour.