Long Island Sound Study

A partnership to restore and protect the Sound.

On this page:

• About the Program
• Types of Assistance
• How This Program Helps Build Resilience
• Connections to Other EPA, Federal, or Non-Governmental Efforts

About the Program

The Long Island Sound Study (LISS), established in 1985 under Sections 320 and 119 of the CWA, is one of the inaugural EPA National Estuary Programs. The EPA, together with Connecticut and New York, established the LISS Management Conference—a partnership of federal and state agencies, user groups, concerned organizations, and individuals dedicated to improving the health of the Sound. The EPA’s Long Island Sound Office (LISO) is responsible for the overall coordination of the LISS Management Conference.

The LISS issued an updated Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP) in 2015. The plan is organized around four major themes: 1) clean waters and healthy watersheds, 2) thriving habitats and abundant wildlife, 3) sustainable and resilient communities, and 4) sound science and inclusive management. The Sustainable and Resilient Communities theme explicitly addresses the risks coastal properties face from rising waters and more intense, frequent storms.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law allocation $106 million to the LISS; this funding will help increase climate resilience in this estuary. The EPA’s July 2022 memorandum “National Estuary Program Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Funding Implementation Memorandum for Fiscal Years 2022-2026 (pdf)” encourages NEPs to “use BIL resources to continue to expand on their climate change adaptation, hazard mitigation, and resilience activities, where appropriate, including protection and restoration of key habitats that increase resiliency and carbon sequestration.” The memo states, “NEPs should elevate climate efforts through BIL implementation including, but not limited to:

• Assessment and planning projects that involve climate change vulnerability assessments, community resilience and adaptation plans, or hazard mitigation plans;
• Restoration, water infrastructure, green infrastructure, stormwater management, and nonpoint source projects that prioritize innovative climate adaptation, hazard mitigation, and resilience solutions;
• Projects focused on climate-related research, including those that measure, monitor, and increase carbon sequestration;
• Projects focused on climate-related outreach and education.”

Types of Assistance

The LISS offers federal, state, and local partners assistance that can help build climate resilience.

Financial Assistance

• Each fiscal year, the LISS supports its partners through various agreements to carry out proposed work addressing its identified priorities and CCMP. Additionally, the LISS supports competitive grant programs:
• The Long Island Sound Community Impact Fund (LISCIF) is a new grant from the EPA that uses Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding to help meet Justice40 initiative goals for disadvantaged communities that are marginalized, underserved, and overburdened by pollution. Eligible projects for this competitive funding must address one of the themes of the CCMP, including enhancing community resilience and sustainability.
• The Long Island Sound Futures Fund that includes a funding priority focused on Sustainable and Resilient Communities to support vibrant, informed, and engaged communities that use, appreciate, and help protect and sustain the Sound; and enhancing natural and community resilience.
• The Long Island Sound Study Research Grant Program funds research projects that help scientists increase the understanding of the connection between nutrient pollution and the Sound's water quality, the impacts of pollution on habitats and fisheries, and the impacts of a changing climate on the Sound and its habitats.

Convening Assistance

• The Climate Change and Sentinel Monitoring technical workgroup collects and synthesizes data to identify climate-related changes to Long Island Sound. This workgroup provides this information to scientists and managers to help them prioritize mitigation efforts and adaptation strategies. This workgroup also hosts workshops and special meetings to collaboratively assess priorities and exchange information.

Outreach and Education Assistance

• The Teacher Webinar and Module: Impacts of Climate Change on Long Island Sound Coastal Marshes provides information on a newly developed teaching module based on coastal marsh and sea-level rise research funded through the LIS Research Grant Program.
• Under the umbrella of the Sustainable and Resilient Communities Work Group, Connecticut and New York Sea Grants hired sustainable and resilient community extension educators to better serve coastal communities facing climate impacts such as more frequent flooding of roads and bridges, wetland loss, erosion and other problems.

How This Program Helps Build Resilience

Under the CCMP, the LISS sets out the goal to support vibrant, informed, and engaged communities that use, appreciate, and help protect Long Island Sound. More specifically, the LISS can help communities prepare for and build resilience to climate change effects (e.g., sea level rise, increased frequency of extreme weather events, acidification). The Sustainable and Resilient Communities Workplan (pdf) identifies five priorities: 1) better-coordinated regional response, 2) better-trained community decision-makers, 3) infrastructure improvement planning, 4) viability of government services, and 5) facilitated implementation. The projects funded through the LISS often work toward increasing coastal resilience through improved data and information.

Connections to Other EPA, Federal, or Non-Governmental Efforts

The Long Island Sound Futures Fund, a partnership among the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the EPA, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, provides communities and local organizations with funding to implement the CCMP. From 2005 to 2019, the program has invested $22.8 million in 450 projects such as installing rain gardens to capture pollutants, restoring tidal wetlands, and providing inner city youth with opportunities to experience the shores and waters of Long Island Sound. With recipient match of $40.2 million, the program has generated $63 million for local management, conservation, sustainability, and resilience. In 2020, the program awarded $3.8 million in grants to 38 stewardship, restoration, resource management, and education projects across the Long Island Sound watershed, including in the upstream states of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Grantees provided an additional $4.6 million in matching funds, bringing total program funding toward local conservation efforts to $8.4 million.

The Long Island Sound Research Grant Program, coordinated by New York and Connecticut Sea Grant, involves natural and social scien¬tists at universities throughout the region. Engaging academic institutions brings in expertise to address immediate issues impacting the Sound and helps to build the regional research infrastructure needed to tackle important man¬agement challenges such as climate change.