Projects

To support the continuing and extension of the successful 2005 Safe Grounds Campaign reducing non-point source pollution from lawn pesticides and synthetic fertilizers.

To support the measurement of methyl mercury contamination in the Quinnipiac River and the Oysters in New Haven Harbor. The study will evaluate the extent of methylmercury pollution and  help to identify sources and hotspots.

To support the work of the Freedom Lawn Campaign to educate users of 'traditional'  chemical lawn care about the harmful environmental and health effects of pesticides and fertilizers, and encourage a switch to organic lawn care methods that are safe for the natural environment and people.

To measure contamination along the Quinnipiac River and in oysters of the New Haven Harbor and evaluate the extent of mercury pollution and  identify sources and hotspots.

To continue monitoring vegetation change and mudflat development in the Quinnipiac River brackish marshes, and begin to test hypothesized causes for the observed wetland loss.  To complete a nitrogen and trace metal analyses and begin to assess how marsh loss has affected the load of pollutants to the river.

To educate New Haven's youth about the natural and social systems that affect the Quinnipiac River.  To design and execute a community service action project that addresses an issue for youth to identify and teach what they have learned and accomplished to others; thereby building a constituency of urban advocates for the Quinnipiac River.  This project is called Kids Explore!, Kids Do!, Kids Teach!

To make 20 more copies of the Quinnipiac River Report on the water quality of the river.

To collect and  publish a systematic review of municipal land-use regulations in the Quinnipiac River Watershed.

To support studying nutrient export from subwatersheds during storm events, including phosphorus (P), which is the limiting nutrient in fresh waters.

To support the project entitled Bioaccumulation of Sediment Contaminants by Benthos of the Quinnipiac River.  This proposed research is an investigation of the sediment contaminant load of two sites in the Quinnipiac River and the availability of the contaminants to the benthic organisms living in them.