In June, 2006 the Long Island Sound Stewardship Initiative(LISSI) released its 2006 Stewardship Atlas which identified 33 Stewardship Areas around the Sound in Connecticut and New York. These areas were chosen after a multi-year effort to identify sites with significant ecological and recreational values. LISSI’s goal in identifying these areas was to highlight the ecological and recreational resources, raise awareness of threats to these resources and to facilitate on-the-ground stewardship actions. As described in the Atlas, LISSI “promotes coordinated resource planning to develop a network of partners working in concert to address threats and respond to opportunities within each Stewardship Area.”
With these goals in mind, Regional Plan Association (RPA)-a member of the LISSI Stewardship Workgroup - received funding from the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission (NEIWPCC) to pursue an environmental threat assessment of four sites around the Sound. The sites chosen are actually comprised of all or part of five Stewardship Areas including Lower Connecticut River, Milford Point and Great Meadows in Connecticut and Pelham Bay and Mount Sinai - Port Jefferson Harbors in New York.
The primary goal of the Environmental Threat Assessment project is to identify, prioritize and locate specific, imminent threats to the Stewardship Areas so that resources and efforts can be most effectively directed to those places most threatened. Key to this effort is the involvement of local stakeholders (including representatives from local, state and federal government agencies and non-governmental organizations) with valid knowledge of their respective stewardship area. It is anticipated that this project will help to support each Area’s network of stakeholders and provide them with a physical map to tackle the environmental threats facing their ecological and recreational resources.
